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Child Abuse Case Law

Child abuse has engendered a set of case law that is intended to protect children from both abuse and neglect by their parents. These laws sometimes interfere with another legally protected activity, the free exercise of religion. Several legal cases in recent years have tested the limits of religious expression with reference to children, notably cases in which parents who do not believe in medicine have prevented their children from receiving medical treatment for religious reasons. The issue has become enmeshed with what might be called the larger parental rights movement which holds that all decisions regarding the welfare of children should be made by parents and not by government or the courts. What has developed in these cases is a conflict between the desire on the part of society to assert children's rights and to protect children and the belief that religious liberty is not to be infringed upon by government. In the clash between the need to protect children and the need to protect and encourage religious expression, the needs of children should prevail.

The issue is raised perhaps most often with reference to the beliefs of members of the Christian Science Church. Caroline Fraser says that what most people know about this church is that its members do not believe in medical science, or what they call "materia medica":

They generally do not accept medical care for themselves, and many do not permit it for their children. They believe they can heal through prayer (Fraser 105).

Some children have died because their parents refused to allow medical treatment for such religious reasons. Fraser cites the case of Andrew Wantland in La Habra, California, a child who died of the effects of childhood diabetes when his parents refused any medical treatment. The California Penal Code holds any person responsible who "willfully causes or permits any child to suffer. . . or permits that child to be placed in a situat...

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Child Abuse Case Law. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:24, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692134.html