Children & the Law Blog

Although this article is one month old, I thought that the recent indictments in the FLDS case in Texas and the similarities between that case and this one as pointed out by Eugene Volokh of the Volokh Conspiracy, would make this an interesting article to post.

It was reported by both the Winnipeg Free Press and the Volokh Conspiracy that Child and Family Services removed two kids from their father’s home due to “concerns their father — an alleged neo-Nazi — was filling their heads and marking their bodies with messages of hate.” The parents claim “their right to freedom of speech shouldn’t be interfered with and [deny] they are polluting the children’s minds.” However, there are clearly other indications the couple might be unfit parents since “the little girl had missed 39 days of school this year. She told authorities that’s because her parents sleep in and don’t want to get her ready or take her. There were also expressed concerns about alcohol and drug use in the home.”

Eugene Volokh and others have expressed concern over the potential repercussions of these actions of removing children from parents with unpopular beliefs.

Nonetheless, the article — and other press coverage I’d seen — does suggest that a big part of this matter turns on what the parents are teaching the children. (According to the CFS, “Religious (and) political practices that would be harmful to children and cause them to be at risk would be one of the considerations when assessing risk to a child,” and CFS’s definition of harm seems to go beyond imminent danger of physical harm, such as when a religious practice leads parents to refuse to treat their children’s illnesses.) And while I agree that children can indeed be harmed by their parents’ teaching them bad ideas, it strikes me as very dangerous for the government to be able to take children away from parents on these grounds. Imagine whom the government might decide to turn against next.

Sources and Additional Reading on this Case:

McIntyre, Mike. Alleged Neo-Nazi’s Kids Taken. Winnipeg Free Press, June 9, 2008.

McIntyre, Mike. Mother Calls Self ‘White Nationalist’. Winnipeg Free Press, June 11, 2008.

McIntyre, Mike. Alleged Neo-Nazi’s May Get Kids. Winnipeg Free Press, June 11, 2008.

McIntyre, Mike. Raising Baby Bigots: Should Child Welfare Intervene?. Winnipeg Free Press, June 14, 2008.