Another Factually Innocent Family Fractured by a Medical Misdiagnosis Brenan and Sydney Schneidermann are factually innocent. They did what any loving parents would do: immediately sought medical care for their son, Walker, after finding him unresponsive. Following his death, they faced the unimaginable: accusations that they had caused it through what is commonly known as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) or Abusive Head Trauma (AHT). The couple faced decades in prison for a crime that never occurred, due to a medical misdiagnosis. As a result, Brenan and Sydney’s daughter was removed from their care twice. After a lengthy family court case that lasted a year, she was returned home, and the charges against Brenan were dismissed. However, prosecutors moved forward with the criminal case against Sydney. When investigating potential child abuse or non-accidental trauma or injury, ruling out underlying medical conditions is a critical step to prevent false accusations. In the Schneidermann case, this did not happen. Walker’s autopsy results were treated as definitive proof that a crime had occurred. However, the medical examiner’s opinion failed to consider the possibility that Walker had underlying medical conditions. Independent medical experts later confirmed these conditions existed. They found clear medical and scientific explanations for his death. The Schneidermann case is another example of a rush to judgment based on incomplete medical and scientific findings, driven not by evidence but by assumptions. By ignoring these legal doubts, the state seeks to prosecute the factually innocent. Medical and scientific uncertainty should not be treated as criminal probability, and independent medical opinion should not be ignored simply because it contradicts the state’s assertion that a crime might have occurred.

Sometimes, all a family needs is someone willing to listen. ❤️ When families come to You Are The Power feeling unheard and falsely accused, simply being listened to can bring overwhelming relief, and ignite a fire in them to share their stories and help others facing the same fight. You can help bring families home. Visit our Family Reunification page to learn about the families we’re fighting for, share their stories, and take action to help reunite families.

Today is National Wrongful Conviction Day Roughly 2 million Americans are incarcerated in the U.S. prison system, and an estimated 4-6% are factually innocent. If just 5%, or 100,000 men and women, are innocent, that means 1 in 20 criminal cases results in a wrongful conviction. Leading contributing factors to wrongful convictions include false confessions; witness misidentification; police, prosecutorial, or other government official misconduct; perjury or false accusations; inadequate legal defense; false or misleading forensic evidence; and flawed or exaggerated scientific testimony at trial. The state has adopted its acceptable error rate of 5% and rarely reverses course. Since 1989, only about 4,000 people have been exonerated. You Are The Power’s standard is factual innocence. When we declare a client innocent, we are right—100% of the time. Through our advocacy, we work to prevent wrongful convictions and ensure that no innocent person stands trial for a crime they did not commit—or, more often in family policing and child welfare cases, for a crime that never occurred. Clients such as the Tallons and Freemans in Georgia, Kristy Anderson in Massachusetts, and the Pattersons in Florida, all factually innocent, still face the termination of their parental rights or decades in prison because of several wrongful conviction factors cited above, while the state continues to operate according to its established pattern of inaccuracy and its acceptable margin of error.

What is You Are The Power? Just a few short years ago, we began as an idea: a “what if.” What if we took the Principle of Human Respect and used it to advocate for those harmed by their local government? What if, through action rather than empty rhetoric, we demonstrated that fighting back and winning was possible? Most importantly, what if it worked? With a nearly 100% success rate, we have done just that, and we’re just getting started.

Kristy Anderson needs your help. Since her son, Oliver, was medically kidnapped by Massachusetts state officials in 2024, Kristy Anderson has been fighting in the court of public opinion and the court of law to bring her son home. Even after a judge returned custody of her other two children, baby Oliver has been stuck in DCF official’s custody and Kristy has been allowed just two one-hour supervised visits per week. There is a lack of evidence, a long track record of dedicated care by this loving mother, and a powerful government system that has been shown, time and again, to make mistakes that tear families apart. We are working alongside Kristy to make things right, and she needs your help, too