Abusing parental rights.

I just read your article about the Texas state removal of the FLDS children ("Whose Children Are They Anyway," June 23). I absolutely agree with the author. Particularly with these comments: "If the state can take children without due process from this religious group, then it can take them from anyone whose religious or personal beliefs are disfavored by the state. This episode should be a warning to all families that an arbitrary attack by the state against a family can happen to any of us and that a court will likely not protect the family from overreaching state social workers or false reports of child abuse."

Unfortunately, as the author suggests, this exact scenario does actually happen every day in individual cases that land in "family" court. Here is an example: based on nothing but hearsay evidence, Pennsylvania "family" courts routinely remove children from their parents and award custody to grandparents. The courts sometimes award them full custody or "shared" custody with the custodial parents, simply because the grandparents filed a request. The reasons vary, but most are unsubstantiated accusations by the grandparents, or because of the custodial parents' line of work. The courts then say it has nothing to do with parental fitness or the health of the child.

In another example, most states have third-party visitation "laws." These are private civil lawsuits, aimed primarily at single parents, that grant visitation rights to persons other than the parents. These give only lip service to due process. With the way the laws are written and the anti-parent flavor of the proceedings, parents routinely lose these private lawsuit attacks on their families and on their parental rights. Again, the courts will say it has nothing to do with parental fitness or how well the child is doing. The only thing at issue is that a third party filed a private lawsuit petition against a fit, custodial parent.

MARY CULLUM

Cincinnati, Ohio