Can a parent with child custody stop the other parent from enrolling a child in a religious camp during that parent’s summer timesharing? The Nebraska Supreme Court recently answered that question, and the answer is important for every child custody dispute involving religion.
Reason to Believe
The parents were married in 2010 and had two children. They stipulated to a property division and agreed to joint physical custody on a rotating schedule giving each parent equal time.
However, the parties could not agree on one aspect of child custody, the children’s involvement in the Father’s church, and whether the children could attend a church-affiliated overnight camp during the Father’s parenting time.
The Father wanted joint legal custody and testified that the parties agreed on most things. The Mother wanted sole legal custody, saying she had handled most major child-related decisions and did not trust Jacob with big decisions because of his dishonesty about an affair and communication problems.
While both parents had been raised in the religion associated with Jacob’s church, the Mother left the church about five months before filing for divorce, objected to some of its teachings and disagreed about continued church attendance.
The church camp included Bible classes, crafts, activities, nature, and religious themes, but the camp director testified that children did not have to be affiliated with any religious organization to attend and that the primary focus was fun, friendship, and independence.
The Father’s parents lived on the camp property as caretakers; he had attended the camp, served as a counselor, sat on the camp board, and described the camp as a major part of his life and faith development. The Mother had also enjoyed the camp as a child but later opposed the children attending that church camp, even during Father’s timesharing, but did not object to a nonchurch camp.
At trial the court awarded the Mother sole legal custody, allowed the Father to discuss religion and involve the children in church activities, but ruled church camp was to be decided by the Mother as sole legal custodian.
The Father appealed.
Florida Child Custody and Religion
I’ve written about the intersection of religion and divorce. Religion, religious beliefs, and religious practices are not statutory factors Florida courts consider when determining parental responsibility.
Nor is religion an area in which a parent may be granted ultimate responsibility over a child. Instead, the weight religion plays in custody disputes has grown over time in various cases. Why?
Because placing restrictions on a parent’s right to expose his or her child to religious beliefs has consistently been overturned by courts in the absence of a clear, affirmative showing that the religious activities at issue will be harmful to the child.
Generally, Florida courts will not stop a parent from practicing their religion or from influencing the religious training of their child inconsistent with that of the other parent. Religious practices can be restricted, however, when there is a clear, affirmative showing that they “will be harmful to the child.”
Nebraska
The Nebraska Supreme Court recognized the family judge heard the conflicting evidence, observed the witnesses, and ultimately concluded that sole legal custody should be placed with the Mother because joint legal custody would not be in the children’s best interests and affirmed the grant of sole legal custody.
However, the high court also recognized that fit parents have constitutional rights when it comes to their children’s religious upbringing.
Accordingly, a court can only restrict a parent’s religious practices with a child only when those practices pose an immediate and substantial threat of harm to the child’s temporal well-being. Any restriction must also be narrowly tailored.
At trial, the family judge found little or no evidence that the father’s religious practices harmed the children and also found no basis to restrict him from discussing his beliefs or involving the children in church activities during his parenting time.
Given those findings, the Supreme Court concluded there was no basis to let the mother veto the children’s attendance at church camp during the father’s parenting time. The Nebraska Supreme Court case shows a constitutional limit to a parent’s designation of sole legal custody.
The Nebraska Supreme Court opinion is here.
