By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
A federal appeals court has given new legal protections for parents whose only “offense” is taking pictures of their babies’ butts.
In an often strongly worded opinion, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said there is evidence that two Arizona child welfare workers violated the rights of a couple by removing their three children from their home simply because they had taken naked photos of the girls. The judges said there is a well-established and overwhelming right of parents to control their children without government supervision.
Tuesday’s ruling, unless overturned, clears the way for the couple to sue the state workers who had made the removal decision on their own, without even seeking a court order. The judges said all the evidence showed the parents had done nothing wrong and that the children were in no immediate danger, if any danger at all.
The case dates from 2008 when a Wal-Mart employee, developing photos, saw several pictures of naked children and called police. According to court records, the pictures involved their daughters, then age 5, 4, and 1 1/2, nude and lying on towels.
“I can only imagine how many parents in this country would be subject to criminal charges, and at risk to having their children removed from their home, if this case went the other way. I am disheartened to hear so many cases about children being removed from safe homes over such silly nonsense. Times have surely changed.
There is so much hypersensitive scrutiny focused on parenting decisions these days that it is almost paralyzing for parents. If you attempt to parent while walking through the grocery you can be certain that someone is watching and waiting for you to make one mistake. Next thing you know your kids are placed in a foster home. Unbelievable.
A detective interviewed the parents and asked about one shot which had some genitalia showing, though not frontally. The father responded that’s not going in the album and he would not share it with anyone. And when the detective asked the father why he would take the photo in the first place, he responded, “So when we look back on ’em years later, look at their cute little butts.”
