Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Pennsylvania

Juvenile facility and religion

My 14 year old son was charged with attempted destruciton of property, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 90 days at a private juvenile facility sub-contracted by my state. The program is very good and my son is making wonderful progress.

The night relief worker at the my son's cottage gave him some literature that I find disturbing. We are Catholic and the literature called the Catholic church ''evil'' among other things. (I can provide a URL to the actual literature since it is also online.) This wasn't just a difference of opinion on religion but outright nastiness, including scare tactics about a life in the ''lake of fire'' for following the Catholic faith.

I'm very upset that this would be given to my son at time when he was removed from his family, feeling scared and hopeless. He was emotionally vulnerable which make this literature even more disturbing.

Do I have the right to insist that this man who provided the literature be relieved of his position? The facility did not condone this but this man is an agent of the facility. What are my rights as a parent?


Asked on 3/07/03, 6:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sheldon G. Bardach Law Offices of Sheldon G. Bardach

Re: Juvenile facility and religion

As a parent you have every right to be outraged at the conduct of the provider of such material and the institution which hired him. It is, however, a private facility, as you noted. As a result, they may do whatever they wish, you should know whether this is a faith based organization you have placed your son in, and probably make every effort to stop this behavior, including notifying the judge in your son's case of the event. If you can't stop the behavior and have the man terminated for his conduct, you must talk to the judge about moving your son to another facility.

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Answered on 3/08/03, 12:27 pm


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