Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
Children Rights to Religion
Is it legal for a parent to keep a child away from their religion, friends, and force them to change schools (from private to public)? The parents are divorced and the child is 13. What laws in the US protect child's rights to these?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Children Rights to Religion
Normally the parent with primary custody has the right to make those decisions, although the other parent can follow other traditions when the child is with him or her. Children have no rights to make these decisions, that's part of being a child and not an adult. The child can make his or her own religious choices when they turn 18.
Re: Children Rights to Religion
Unless you can show that the child is irreparably harmed for lack of access to these items and it would be in the child's best interest to continue in thise activities, there is no law that says a child must have religious training or the other items of which you speak. Many children grow up just fine and find a faith to practice without the intensive training you suggest. So if you want the child to have the training you suggest, you will have to convince a judge that the child would be better off with the training. Good Luck.