Unvaccinated mother stripped of parental rights

https://news.yahoo.com/judge-strips-chicago-mother-parental-142800477.html

Hmm ... the start of a trend?

Quote: missedhervee

https://news.yahoo.com/judge-strips-chicago-mother-parental-142800477.html

Hmm ... the start of a trend?

I don't suppose that your realize how overbearing that is. Welcome to the 4th Reich R.I.P. United States of America

This has been an ongoing issue since vaccines (and to some degree with prior vaccines) with divorced parents differing on vaccinations views.


However, the purpose of family court (in relation to children) is to find "in the best interest of the child", and having an unvaccinated mother visiting a child (who cannot be vaccinated by no fault of their own) during a pandemic was determined to not be in the best interest of the child.

I do not see an issue. In a world where kids cannot be vaccinated (not at that age anyway) for this vaccine it is imperative that the adults in their life are to protect them. I have a low opinion of anti-vax parents so my bias is against them to begin with, at least this one was not claiming religious exemptions (from what I read).

While I am pro-vax the judge went too far and if an appeal is filed the decision will (almost certainly) be reversed.

The father didn't even ask for that relief, the judge made the ruling out of left field (pun intended), imposing his beliefs on others.

Why should the mother be punished?

Had they stayed together and not litigated the matter, in other words if they were an intact family, no court in the land would dare to intervene via dependency or equivalent to take parental rights away from an unvaccinated mother, with one possible exception.

One possible exception might be if the child is in fragile health with a defunct immune system.

Quote: missedhervee

One possible exception might be if the child is in fragile health with a defunct immune system.

I hesitate to agree even with the exception because it implies a court could also make the same ruling for an intact family.
This leads to the Courts taking the child away from un-vaxed parents because of the court's interpretation of a child's "fragile health"
Do we also allow Courts to take obese kids away from parents if we catch them at the McDonald's?
The point is, where does it end in interfering with a parent's right to parent their kids if they aren't putting them in immediate danger?

Less than 400 deaths for Americans under the age of 18 in the US to date from Covid.
US Population under the age of 18 is 75 million and most are not fully vaccinated.
I bet 50% of kids have had Covid as they are the demographic that has been the least locked down/socially distant.
800 deaths from pneumonia for those under 18 in the same 18 month time period.
The stats don't lie, your kid was more likely to die from pneumonia than Covid-19 over the last 18 months.

As a former family law attorney I can envision such a scenario, a "worst case" sort of thing.

Intact family has ill child; call it leukemia or some other disease that wipes out the kid's immune system.

Both parents are unvaccinated and quite rabid about their beliafs in that regard; in passing they tell their child's doctor about their trip to Sturgis to mingle with fellow unvaccinated bikers, and about heir daily association with similarly unvaccinated individuals.

They tell the doc they don't ever wear a mask or maintain social distancing.

The doc points out that their refusal to get the shot coupled to their carefree lifestyle exposes the child to higher risk of life -threatening infection; the parents laugh and say "it's just a flu."

The doc is genuinely concerned about the health and safety of the child, and after a bit of reflection feels it is incumbant upon him to make a mandatory report of possible child abuse to Children's Protective Services about the matter.

The case winds up on the desk of a left-leaning social worker, who in turn contacts a liberal attorney general (they are the lawyers in this type of case).

The AG staffs it with other left-leaning AG's and they decide that a "test case" is needed, so a dependency action is filed; without notice the child is taken from the parents and they are told to go to court.

Something like this could happen, and for all I know probably already has happened.

"Test case," is along the lines of what I was thinking on this one. I'd say the judge is obviously in the wrong, here, but who the hell knows what higher courts will decide? That's assuming this is appealed. Even if it is appealed, wouldn't the mother getting the vaccine and the judge thereby granting custody back render the appeal moot?

It's a really bad precedent, but you are probably right. It could or has happened.
The fear of Covid has made the government cross lines that should never have been crossed.
Its the age old battle of collective rights vs. individual rights.
Good news for Conservatives is SCOTUS is set up to side with protecting individual rights over collective rights for a decade at least.
That is the Trump legacy & Thank God for that!

Quote: JCW09

It's a really bad precedent, but you are probably right. It could or has happened.
The fear of Covid has made the government cross lines that should never have been crossed.
Its the age old battle of collective rights vs. individual rights.
Good news for Conservatives is SCOTUS is set up to side with protecting individual rights over collective rights for a decade at least.
That is the Trump legacy & Thank God for that!

Yeah, I can't put 100% blame on the righties for the whole anti-vaxx thing. The Government did massively overreach, especially depending on what state a person is in. The business closures were unnecessary, draconian and likely accomplished very close to nothing. There's no question as to the negative things that the business closures accomplished.

Nor trusting the vaccines because the Government is promoting it is not a good point, in this case, but I could understand why they would feel that way. An individualist approach can sometimes be good for the collective. As far as masks are concerned, as we can see even in states where they weren't mandated, many businesses chose to require them of their own accord...for what limited (and, yes, non-zero) good that they did.

To be clear, I am vaccinated and having weighed the pros & cons, it made sense for me to get vaccinated.
But I tend not to want to force my beliefs about what is good for me onto someone else.
Hell, I don't know what is best for your life.
But I sure don't want the government or anyone else telling me how to run my life either.
Gather your data, think for yourself, make a decision and live with the consequences of your choices.
That is at the core of American Freedom. If you don't like it, there are plenty of places to move to that will take you in.