The Parents Have no Rights-

Events occurring and how they relate/affect Anabaptist faith and culture.
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Valerie
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The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by Valerie »

I heard this recent event discussed on Christian radio yesterday and looked up the article-
This is heartbreaking to me- what would you do?

http://www.christianpost.com/news/minne ... on-185341/
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Josh
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by Josh »

My opinion? 17 is an adult. Let him go.

Those involved in leading a 17 year old down the path they are will answer to God someday, let us hope they choose to repent before it is too late.
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Valerie
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by Valerie »

Josh wrote:My opinion? 17 is an adult. Let him go.

Those involved in leading a 17 year old down the path they are will answer to God someday, let us hope they choose to repent before it is too late.
I cannot fathom the heartbreak of so many parents- (over many areas their children wander, not just this one) but I think this is a big one- I remember when homosexuality was starting to increase how many parents were devastated- back then, AIDS was 'seemingly' a consequence to this, most people agreed, most people wondered if that was God's judgement- of course now there is much hope for anyone who gets AIDS, so no longer do people wonder about consequences and God's judgement (not assuming AIDS was, but I too considered that)

To give birth to a child and have them make these major changes has got to be nothing less than heartbreaking for a parent.
Challenging- to say the least.
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Josh
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by Josh »

I guess, from my perspective, what is important is to see your children eventually choose, of their own free decision, to follow Christ. Living a good life or avoiding immorality isn't really that great if they never choose to follow Jesus.

Jesus told us the parable of the prodigal son. The father was not focused at all on how the younger brother wasted his life, inheritance, and fell into grave immorality. Instead he rejoiced because the son returned.
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Bootstrap
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by Bootstrap »

I generally think it's a bad idea to have an opinion on this kind of thing without at least looking at the actual case. To be blunt, many media sources, including "Christian" ones, aren't very careful with the facts.

Here are the documents filed for the case, and the son's legal argument is essentially that Minnesota allows "common law" emancipation, rather like common law marriage, which does not require a formal court order.

He says that he left 6 months ago, his mother said she wanted no further contact with him, never sought to use legal means to get him to come back or reported him as a runaway, and did not provide financial support. He has been working two jobs, and is not under the custody of any juvenile court. So under Minnesota law, he says he is legally emancipated from his mother, who has not been trying to act as his mother for at least the last six months - until now.

I don't really know who is right. But I'm not ready to be outraged without knowing a lot more. I think the son is making poor choices. But how would I know if his claims about his mother's behavior are truthful? That's why we have courts to sort this kind of thing out.

Whatever the facts or law are in this case, I would urge all parents to be active in their children's lives.
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Valerie
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by Valerie »

Bootstrap wrote:I generally think it's a bad idea to have an opinion on this kind of thing without at least looking at the actual case. To be blunt, many media sources, including "Christian" ones, aren't very careful with the facts.

Here are the documents filed for the case, and the son's legal argument is essentially that Minnesota allows "common law" emancipation, rather like common law marriage, which does not require a formal court order.

He says that he left 6 months ago, his mother said she wanted no further contact with him, never sought to use legal means to get him to come back or reported him as a runaway, and did not provide financial support. He has been working two jobs, and is not under the custody of any juvenile court. So under Minnesota law, he says he is legally emancipated from his mother, who has not been trying to act as his mother for at least the last six months - until now.

I don't really know who is right. But I'm not ready to be outraged without knowing a lot more. I think the son is making poor choices. But how would I know if his claims about his mother's behavior are truthful? That's why we have courts to sort this kind of thing out.
True- we do not know what has led to the estrangement of their relationship- Josh brought up the Prodigal Son parable, which is really about how God receives us back when we repent- runs to us! Prepares a feast! Doesn't mean that the parent doesn't grieve over the direction of their child while they wait- Teens can be pretty rebellious and many times, the parents practice 'tough love', obviously this teen has had problems anyways- these are the most difficult times for many God fearing parents. I am clueless as to this mothers faith- as a mother, I sympathize with her very much.
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Bootstrap
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by Bootstrap »

Valerie wrote:True- we do not know what has led to the estrangement of their relationship- Josh brought up the Prodigal Son parable, which is really about how God receives us back when we repent- runs to us! Prepares a feast! Doesn't mean that the parent doesn't grieve over the direction of their child while they wait- Teens can be pretty rebellious and many times, the parents practice 'tough love', obviously this teen has had problems anyways- these are the most difficult times for many God fearing parents. I am clueless as to this mothers faith- as a mother, I sympathize with her very much.
Well said. I've done my share of grieving over some of my children's choices, and quite a bit of rejoicing over things that have been restored. I pray that will continue.
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KingdomBuilder
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by KingdomBuilder »

Seems the mothers efforts were all in vain. The child literally turns 18 this summer. What did she expect? To delay his "transition" for a short time? Hardly any sort of a solution.
I imagine all she's accomplished is that she may have further soiled her relations with the child. Obviously there would be some ruffled feathers over the disagreeances they had personally; that's fine. A Christian should oppose such things, but hurling the family conflict into the national spotlight? What good has it done?
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temporal1
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Re: The Parents Have no Rights-

Post by temporal1 »

if the teen's advisors were responsible, why would they not advise waiting a few months (or even years, if that were the case) to gain legal adulthood? .. waiting, self-restraint, are established components of the maturing process. my parents taught me. :-|

the importance of this case, in my view, is questioning general parents' rights to be informed.
the present premise that "anyone EXCEPT the parents" have rights to counsel children/legal minors/dependents, is - wrong.

beside emotions, parents have legal responsibilities and liability that others do not have.
today, "children" are able to stay on parents' health insurance until age 26! :shock:

it seems, "child" is a relative term, depending on what the child+world want, at any given moment. the central formula seems to be to take from parents, while removing their rights. similar to property owners: sitting ducks for taxes.

i'm speaking in generalities, like others, i know little of this case.
the outcomes of these cases can be far-reaching.

"Honor thy father and thy mother," are not on the radar.
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Most or all of this drama, humiliation, wasted taxpayer money could be spared -
with even modest attempt at presenting balanced facts from the start.


”We’re all just walking each other home.”
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