Why not just let the child turn 18 and let her make her own decisions? Why do all this and force the issue with less than a year to her majority? The government is not your friend. It's a blunt instrument now under the control of a deluded ideology.
(Washington Times) - A Hamilton County, Ohio, judge took a transgender teen away from her parents on Friday because they refused to allow the 17-year-old to undergo hormone treatments as part of a female-to-male transition.
Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon awarded custody of the teenager to her grandparents, who will be allowed to make medical decisions for the minor and legally change her name.
The parents objected to the transition procedures because of their religious beliefs and refused to call their daughter by her chosen, male name, court records show.
“It is unfortunate that this case required resolution by the Court as the family would have been best served if this could have been settled within the family after all parties had ample exposure to the reality of the fact that the child truly may be gender-nonconforming and has a legitimate right to pursue life with a different gender identity than the one assigned at birth,” Judge Hendon wrote in her decision.
The custody battle lasted more than a year and included interventions by the Hamilton Country Department of Jobs and Family Services and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where the child is being treated.
The parents ultimately agreed to let the minor reside with her grandparents for the remaining months of her adolescence. The child’s grandparents will be allowed to pursue transition treatments recommended by the child’s doctors after a court-ordered independent psychiatric evaluation.
“Evidence was presented that the parents agree that the child should remain with the maternal grandparents and continue to attend the high school at which the child is excelling both academically and musically,” Judge Hendon wrote in the decision. “The child wishes to remain in the care of the grandparents. The grandparents are suitable caregivers and have demonstrated an ability to meet the child’s needs.”
According to the decision, the legal dispute began in February of 2017 when family services sought temporary custody of the child, alleging parental neglect and abuse.
Those allegations were dropped in subsequent adjudication, but the child was nonetheless placed in the temporary custody of family services and ordered to remain in residence with her grandparents.
Shortly after that, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital recommended the 17-year-old undergo hormone therapy at the hospital’s Transgender Health Clinic. The parents objected, citing their religious beliefs.
Family services then sought to terminate the temporary custody arrangement and grant full legal custody to the grandparents. Both grandparents filed petitions for full legal custody in December.
The parents initially sought treatment for their daughter’s anxiety and depression at the children’s hospital, where they were “legitimately surprised and confused” by the diagnosis of gender dysphoria, according to Friday’s decision. She had lived as a gender-confirming girl until 2016.
Although they objected to the transition treatments, the parents continued to pay for therapy sessions at the children’s hospital.
The parents also said their daughter had threatened to commit suicide if she were forced to return to their home. In medical records admitted during trial, however, the child’s doctors said she was not a suicide risk.
Judge Hendon concluded her decision with a plea for legislation that would give the juvenile court a “framework by which it could evaluate a minor petitioner’s right to consent to gender therapy.”
“What is clear from the testimony presented in this case and the increasing worldwide interest in transgender care is that there is a reasonable expectation that circumstances similar to the one at bar are likely to repeat themselves,” she wrote.
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The names of those doctors who said she is "not a suicide risk" should be posted all over social media for later reference.
ReplyDeleteThis is just the fruit of a long dissipation in western civilization. Recently CS Lewis's book about it was titled "The Destruction of Humanity" ( using up-to-date English)
ReplyDeleteSoon, Mike or a fellow traveler will explain to us how we are not pro-life unless we support this... 😉
ReplyDeleteNeither you, nor the admin are pro-life. you have both replaced Gospel with District of Columbia v. Heller in your hearts.
DeleteI wonder if a teen wanted to convert to Orthodoxy and the parents were against you would also be against such a court decision.
ReplyDeleteVery good Mike. That is right, in a worldview (i.e. Christianity) that does not recognize the Cartesian Self, but rather a hierarchy of being and morality, I recognize that in all but the most extraordinary circumstances the parents of children have the duty before God (notice I did not say "right") to form their children. Thus, I would not want to see a young person succeed in a court against their parents, even if that were to mean they could "convert" to Orthodoxy. I put "convert" in quotes because how could they if they defied their parents in such a way?
DeleteThey should be ruled by their parents.
DeleteI guess St. Barbara is not among your favourite saints.
DeleteI think St Barbara was an exceptional young women. As to the rest of us, well are not as exceptional - I certainly was not at that age...
DeleteYou haven't changed much then.
DeleteAgain, very good Mike. As any confessor will tell you, "change" is mostly a myth of this modern progressive age...
DeleteGovt played an appropriately mediating role between child, doctors, and grandparents on one side, and parents on the other. This particular example isn't about govt. As to whether they should wait until she is 18, one would need to look at the medical understanding of gender dysphoria and how to treat it, and whether treatment of such a child can waitfor treatment given the irreversible developmental changes they are experiencing (which do not care about the otherwise arbitrary age of 18).
ReplyDeleteI think "medical understanding" of "gender dysphoria" and most especially "how to treat it" is exactly the problem - a mere sign of the times.
DeleteIn other words, your faith is misplaced IMO...
What you view as "irreversible developmental changes" are just maturation into normal adulthood according to the chromosomal pairs in every cell of their body.
DeleteCan you explain biologically how a Female/Male Mind gets implanted (by the stork?) in a Male/Female Body?
Is there any other mental disorder that's treated by chemical and surgical alteration of the patient's body, and social policy to make sure everybody calls Bruce "Caitlyn" and lets him use the women's restroom?
I'm not a medical doctor or researcher, but I assume you aren't either. My understanding of where the science of gender dysphoria stands has to do with a region of the brain that is highly associated with gender identity growing differently than expected in a person of a given external gender. This isn't much of an issue prior to puberty. However, the changes brought on by puberty cause significant problems as the person's brain and body develop differently. This is associated with significantly higher rates of suicide and self-harm among those who are not treated with, for example, hormones associated with the gender reflected in the region of the brain mentioned. Since the effects of puberty are not fully reversible and because the effect on not treating this increasing mismatch between body and brain are so high, the current research suggests treatment as early as possible. Thus, there is a timing component that cannot simply wait until 18. One can argue with the science, but that argument needs to be with the science and its methods, not with the results of that science when its findings disagree with one's preconceived notions based on religion alone (yours, not theirs) and limited experience with uncommon medical syndromes.
ReplyDeleteA good introduction to this complex topic can be found here:
Deletehttps://charlierose.com/collections/3/clip/21056
Description of the episode:
"Thursday 06/18/2015
In this episode of the Brain Series, a panel of experts in psychology, pediatrics, and gender studies... examines the complex issue of gender identity and the biology of the brain."
Participants on this panel were:
Catherine Dulac, Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Norman Spack, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Eric Kandel, Professor, Columbia University; Howard Hughes Medical Investigator
Melissa Hines, Professor of Psychology, University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies
Ben Barres, Professor; Chairman, Neurobiology, Stanford Medical School
Janet Hyde, Director, Center for Research on Gender and Women, University of Wisconsin
I don't think anyone known primarily for religious, philosophical, or political blogging were included.