Friday, July 27, 2007

Use martial arts class to win custody

Prof. Volokh, an indignant law blogger, writes:
From what is otherwise a pretty standard "best interests of the child" analysis in a child custody case, Foster v. Waterman, 2007 WL 2119125 (Iowa App. July 25):
Harold argues that Anjela is a child of one-fourth of Korean heritage and it is important for her to be allowed maximum involvement with her heritage.
Seems to me that courts have no business deciding, whether in a child custody case or elsewhere, how much and what sort of a connection a child should have "with her ethnic heritage." ... And it's just zany for a court to view a parent's willingness to enroll the quarter-Korean child in a martial arts class as remotely relevant to the child's best interests.
So a white mom get custody of a 7-year-old quarter-Korean girl in part by promising to enroll her in a martial arts class!

Volokh doesn't do family court cases, or he might be outraged by how all the other child custody cases are decided as well.

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