Tag Archive for: best interest of the child

Judge takes breast cancer into account in child custody ruling

In Wisconsin, a judge who makes child custody decisions needs to keep the best interests of the child a primary consideration. Broadly defined, a child’s best interests include maintaining his or her relationships with parents, siblings, and other family members as well as the mental and physical health of the parties. A judge can consider physical health of a parent, but a recent case from another state illustrates how controversial this consideration can be.

A judge presiding over a divorce case has ruled against giving a mother afflicted with stage four breast cancer custody of her children because it is unknown if she will recover from the disease. The judge awarded custody of the two children to their father and has stated that the children, ages 5 and 11, must move from their mother’s home by June 17.

The woman and her ex-husband will share custody. However, due to the fact she needed to move to another town for her cancer treatment, she can only invoke the shared custody on weekends and holidays.

The judge’s decision has caused concern with cancer experts and family law attorneys. Some experts on the matter reported they believe that making custody decisions based on protecting a child from an ill parent could have repercussions on future cases.

Experts on both sides of the argument spoke out on reasons for being in favor or against the judge’s decision. A psychologist, in favor of the judge’s ruling, said that children do better with contact with a non-ill parent and in a world free of cancer. A doctor on the other side of the argument said that although this may be true, not seeing the ill parent could also harm the children because children need honest answers about why the other parent isn’t around.

An appeal has been filed to allow the children to stay with their mother.

ABC News, “Judge Cites Mom’s Breast Cancer in Denying Custody of Children,” 5/10/2011

Mother with cancer loses custody of her children

Child custody battles in Wisconsin are seldom easy. One such battle recently fought in another state, though, has been tougher than most.

In this case, a North Carolina mom was fighting two battles at once: She wanted to retain custody of her children, and she was also battling Stage 4 breast cancer.

Earlier this month, the mother lost her legal battle. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the woman’s two children, a 6-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl, must move from their home in Durham to live with their father in Chicago before the start of the new school year.

The mother is appealing the decision. However, it’s unclear if the Supreme Court would want to uproot the children again after they move to Chicago.

This child custody battle was a particularly messy one, according to a recent story in Time Magazine. Both the mother and father in this case were painted as parents who were far from perfect. The sides in the case accused each other of infidelities, domestic violence and poor parenting skills.

Nevertheless, the supporters of the mother wonder if she isn’t being discriminated against because she has cancer. An oncologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham told the court that there is no reason to believe that the mother in this case could not be one of those cancer patients in which the disease does not progress any further.

This painful case is a reminder of how important it is for family law judges who are making child custody rulings to consider the best interests of children involved.

Source: Time, “Mom with Cancer Loses Custody of Kids,” Bonnie Rochman, Aug. 13, 2011

Immigration status not relevant to custody, appeals court says

Should a mother’s status as an illegal immigrant have any bearing on whether she is entitled to custody of her child? That was the question faced recently by an appeals court in a child custody case watched closely by immigrants’ right advocates in Wisconsin and elsewhere. To the relief of many such advocates, the court concluded that immigration status had no bearing on the issue of custody.

The case involved a young mother who was an undocumented immigrant living in the United States. In 2009, after becoming an unwed mother at the age of 17, the woman moved in with her daughter’s paternal grandparents and continued to live with them until September 2011. At that time, after a fight with the grandmother, the mother moved out and took her daughter with her. This led to a custody battle between the mother and the grandparents.

The custody dispute proceeded to trial, at which the mother’s status as an illegal immigrant was called into question. Basing his decision at least in part on the mother’s immigration status, the trial judge awarded sole custody of the girl to her grandparents. Following an appeal, the court of appeals reversed the lower court decision and returned the girl to the custody of her mother.

A court generally decides child custody disputes by looking at what is in the best interests of the child. While custody may be awarded to a grandparent or someone other than the biological parent, typically there must a showing that the parent seeking custody is an unfit parent or that the child somehow would be in danger in the parent’s care. In this case, with the help of qualified legal counsel, the mother was able to convince the appeals court that her immigration status did not make her an unfit parent or endanger her daughter in any way.

Source: Star Tribune, “Immigration status not a factor in custody battle, Minnesota court says,” Abby Simons, April 8, 2013