I'd be curious to know whether folks think there were any legal wrongs
committed in the following story, which comes to me as true, and whether folks
have
ideas about what Dad can or should do:
A 16 year old boy, one of 12 children in an Amish family, got into an
argument with his father (about clothing) and ran away. Dad was worried and
called
the police, who located the boy and asked dad to take him back. But dad
said “when he is ready to follow the rules." Whereupon the state child welfare
agency filed a dependent neglect petition and placed the boy in foster care.
That's not what dad wanted to happen, but he didn’t understand the system.
Now he has hired lawyer to get it undone and get the boy returned. But in the
month that the boy has been in foster care, he has been taken swimming, to the
arcade, played video games, watched movies, and had his ear pierced, among
other non-Amish things. The state child welfare agency has even brought the
boy
back to his home to tell his siblings about life on the outside. Dad wants
the boy to come home, but is concerned about how he has been changed by his
exposure to the modern world, and how that will affect the rest of the family
if
he returns.
Any ideas, other than "Don't argue with your teenager"? Does a child
welfare agency have any obligation to try to place a child in foster care in a
home
that reflects his family's non-mainstream but lawful values, or to tell foster
parents to honor those values? Does it make a difference whether those
values are religious or secular values? Does the age of the child (16) make a
difference?
Thanks,
Art Spitzer
Arthur B. Spitzer
Legal Director
American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area
1400 20th Street, N.W., Suite 119
Washington, D.C. 20036
T. 202-457-0800
F. 202-452-1868
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aclu-nca.org
**************
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