Religious Disputes in Child Custody Cases Raise First Amendment Issues for Courts

The Wednesday New York Times notes that courts around the country are confronting a proliferation of child custody disputes with a religious dimension. Such cases may, for example, involve challenges to a parent's suitability for custody based on the allegations that his or her extreme or unusual religiosity could adversely affect a child's development or may involve requests for the court to direct one of the parents to refrain from behavior due to the potential effect on the child's religious upbringing or on the relationship with a parent with certain religious beliefs.  The article includes a brief discussion of the recent Oregon dispute over whether a custodial father's desire to have his 12 year old son circumcised as a result of the father's conversion to Judaism could create a basis for a change in custody if the child did not want to undergo the procedure.      

Eugene Volokh provides a great treatment of the First Amendment questions posed in this kind of disputes in his article, Parent-Child Speech and Child Custody Speech Restrictions, 81 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 631(2006).   

JFB