An “intimate partners without benefits” case, from In re Adoption of G., N.Y. Slip Op. 23454 (Surr. Ct. Dec. 27, 2013): In this uncontested second-parent adoption proceeding, the court is faced with an interesting question: may two close personal friends, who together decided to adopt and have jointly participated in all aspects of the adoption […]
Archive | Parental Rights
When Can Custodial Parent’s Terminal Illness Justify Change of Custody?
Not until the parent becomes unable to care for the children, holds the New Jersey Superior Court in A.W. v. T.D. (N.J. Super. Ct. Ch. Div. Nov. 19, 2013). (Note that this relates to a change in custody, and does not necessarily govern an initial custody decision.) [UPDATE: I now include a link to the […]
“No … Rule Required [Mother to Comply with Social Services Orders] with a Smile on Her Face”
From In re D.R. (Wash. Ct. App. Oct. 15, 2013) (nonprecedential) (some paragraph breaks added, some removed): B.R. gave birth to a son, D.R., on December 10, 2006. Just before D.R.’s second birthday, Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) removed him from B.R.’s care and initiated a dependency proceeding after a neighbor reported seeing […]
Hitting 12-Year-Old Child with Wooden Spoon Need Not Be “Child Abuse,” Even If It Leaves Bruises
So holds the California Court of Appeal in Gonzalez v. Santa Clara County Dep’t of Social Servs. (Cal. Ct. App. Oct. 8, 2013). The court does not holds that such behavior can never be child abuse, but it concludes that the Department of Social Services and the court below didn’t sufficiently consider the possibility that […]
“Messiah” Returns
A month ago, a Tennessee judge ordered that a child’s first name be changed from “Messiah,” reasoning: “The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,” Judge Ballew said…. According to Judge Ballew, it is the first time she […]
State Takes Baby for First 75 Days of the Baby’s Life, Because of Mother’s Use of Poppy Seed Dressing
A federal district court has found that this happened, and that this violated the Constitution. From Bower v. Lawrence County Children and Youth Services (W.D. Pa. Aug. 12, 2013) (some paragraph breaks added): In July 2009, Bower was a twenty years old resident of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. On July 12, 2009 at approximately 7:00 p.m., […]
Parent Convicted for Publicly Humiliating 12-Year-Old as Punishment for Getting an “F”
From State v. Broten (Minn. Ct. App. Sept. 3, 2013) (some paragraph breaks added), which upholds the conviction: In May 2012, officers from the Fridley Police Department were dispatched to a townhome in Fridley to investigate a report of a girl with a shaved head being forced to run outside wearing a diaper. An individual […]
“Woman Sues [Massachusetts] Over Required Contact With Rapist”
A reader e-mailed me about this incident and asked how it could be possible; for some sample coverage, see this WBUR story: A 19-year-old Massachusetts woman is suing the state for requiring her to attend family court with the man who raped and impregnated her. In court filings, the victim, whom WBUR is not naming, […]
No Presumption in Favor of Custodial Parent as to Changing a Child’s Last Name
An interesting opinion today from the New Jersey Supreme Court, Emma v. Evans (N.J. Aug. 12, 2013). In Gubernat v. Deremer, 140 N.J. 120 (1995), a case involving a dispute over a name chosen by the mother at birth (when the parents weren’t living together), the court concluded that, [I]n contested cases the surname selected […]
Judge Orders That Child’s Name Be Changed from “Messiah”
So reports The Tennesseean; the parents came before the court because of a dispute over what the child’s last name should be, but the judge changed the child’s first name as well, giving two reasons: “The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that […]
Poverty and Child Custody
An interesting Appellate Court of Illinois decision, Cole v. Johnson (Ill. App. Ct. July 23, 2013) (some paragraph breaks rearranged); see, in particular, the last three paragraphs: The petitioner is Cody Cole, and the respondent is Kathryn Anne Johnson. They live in Paris, Illinois, and have a two-year-old son, L.C. They were engaged to be […]
Foreign Child Custody Disputes Involving People Coming from Countries That Apply Islamic Family Law
By Eugene Volokh on June 14, 2013 12:20 pm in Islamic Law in the American Legal System, Parental Rights
I blogged about Souratgar v. Fair when the district court decision came down, but now there’s a Second Circuit opinion. Here are the key facts: The boy at the center of this case, now four-year-old Shayan, was born in Singapore in January 2009 to [Lee Jen Fair] and [Abdollah Naghash] Souratgar, who are both residents […]
Tennessee Child Custody Law Favoring Parents Who Can Best Prepare Child for “a Life of Service”
By Eugene Volokh on May 21, 2013 5:55 pm in Atheism, Child Custody and Constitutional Law, Parental Rights, Religious Freedom
I just ran across the Tennessee statute, Tenn Code Ann. § 36-6-404, that provides the factors that courts are to consider in determining physical custody as between two parents. Many states have such lists of factors, but the bold text seems to me to be unique to Tennessee: (b) … The court shall make residential […]
Asylum and Homeschoolers
Jonathan posted earlier today about Romeike v. Holder (6th Cir. May 14, 2013), which reject German homeschoolers’ asylum claim. The opinion is quite readable and persuasive, and I recommend it to those interested in the subject. But here’s my general thinking (reprised from 2010 post on the original immigration judge decision in the case), and […]
Can You Get a Restraining Order Against Someone’s Having Sex with Your Daughter (Who Is Above the Age of Consent But Under 18)?
By Eugene Volokh on March 13, 2013 6:31 pm in Children's Rights, Parental Rights, Sexual Conduct Restrictions
From today’s Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in E.C.O. v. Compton: This case concerns whether a parent may seek an extension of an abuse prevention order under G.L. c. 209A to prevent his daughter, who was sixteen years of age [and thus above the age of consent in Massachusetts] from voluntarily engaging in a sexual […]