Amish & foster care

[ArtSpitzer at aol.com]

I'd be curious to know whether folks think there were any legal wrongs 
committed in the following story, which comes to me as true, and whether folks have 
ideas about what Dad can or should do:

A 16 year old boy, one of 12 children in an Amish family, got into an 
argument with his father (about clothing) and ran away.   Dad was worried and called 
the police, who located the boy and asked dad to take him back.    But dad 
said “when he is ready to follow the rules."  Whereupon the state child welfare 
agency filed a dependent neglect petition and placed the boy in foster care.

That's not what dad wanted to happen, but he didn’t understand the system.  
Now he has hired lawyer to get it undone and get the boy returned.  But in the 
month that the boy has been in foster care, he has been taken swimming, to the 
arcade, played video games, watched movies, and had his ear pierced, among 
other non-Amish things.  The state child welfare agency has even brought the boy 
back to his home to tell his siblings about life on the outside.   Dad wants 
the boy to come home, but is concerned about how he has been changed by his 
exposure to the modern world, and how that will affect the rest of the family if 
he returns.

Any ideas, other than "Don't argue with your teenager"?   Does a child 
welfare agency have any obligation to try to place a child in foster care in a home 
that reflects his family's non-mainstream but lawful values, or to tell foster 
parents to honor those values?   Does it make a difference whether those 
values are religious or secular values?   Does the age of the child (16) make a 
difference?

Thanks,

Art Spitzer

Arthur B. Spitzer
Legal Director
American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area
1400 20th Street, N.W., Suite 119
Washington, D.C. 20036
T. 202-457-0800
F. 202-452-1868
artspitzer at aol.com
www.aclu-nca.org



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