A few years ago in Troxel v. Granville, the US Supreme Court reiterated its long-standing rule that parents have the fundamental right to rear their children. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is the law almost everywhere in the world but the US, requires that states respect the obligations, duties, and rights of parents.
Lawmakers in California, however, believe there’s an exception to parental rights when it comes to transitioning a child from male to female or vice-versa. SB 107, recently signed by Governor Newsom, makes the following significant changes in the law:
First, it gives the family/juvenile courts jurisdiction over children from other states who run away to California “because the child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.” SB 107, Sec. 5. If a California court puts the child in foster care, another state law requires the child to receive “gender-affirming care,” including surgery if a doctor says so.
Second, SB 107 gives California custody courts jurisdiction over custody battles merely if the child is in California "for the purpose of obtaining gender-affirming health care. SB 107, Sec. 4. That’s a radical change from normal interstate custody jurisdiction. For example, if two ex-spouses in Georgia disagreed over the use of puberty blockers for their 10-year-old child, one spouse could run to California with the child and claim the “sanctuary” status of this bill.
Finally, other parts of the bill essentially prohibit parents — even those with a court order — from accessing their children’s records related to gender transition medical care.
Some may agree with these changes. Others don’t. But this law contains no age limits, no requirement limiting its protection only to a young person of sufficient age and maturity to be able to make the sort of permanent, life-altering decisions associated with gender change surgery. At a fundamental level, should parents not have a say before a physician performs a double mastectomy on their child?
In other news:
North Carolina: Is the child welfare system about to fail?
Demand for child welfare services in Mississippi is expected to grow.
More states are allowing children to take “mental health days” from school. My daddy, who was chairman of our local school board, let me take those sometimes back in the day.
Is teen violence rising? Here’s a tragic story of some kids shot up after a football scrimmage, presumably because someone didn’t like the outcome.
Speaking of which, Louisiana’s youth detention centers are so dangerous that the state is talking of detaining youth in the infamous Angola prison.
Finally, the US Commission on Civil Rights is going to investigate New York’s child welfare system for racism.
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