Court Reverses Father's Punishment

[kibbles]

For anyone who is familiar with some of my posts at CS, you should know I have very liberal views with regards to disciplining children. But, this story even had me give it a WTF look:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/canad..._court_offbeat

I had to bring it over here to get everyone's opinion. First of all, how can this even be enforced or how can the courts butt in this much?

[Greenday]

How was this case even allowed in court? The girl was posting inappropriate pictures of herself on the internet. Why the hell shouldn't her parents punish her?

[kibbles]

How was this case even allowed in court? The girl was posting inappropriate pictures of herself on the internet. Why the hell shouldn't her parents punish her?

I know!! And how can they enforce the ruling (re: overturning the grounding)? And isn't it a danger of setting a precedent?

This story makes no sense to me whatsoever.

[AFPheonix]

What was the exact punishment meted by the father?

Still though, I'm trying to figure out how, as long it was not physically or emotionally abusive, the court could even step in.

[daleduke17]

What was the exact punishment meted by the father?

Still though, I'm trying to figure out how, as long it was not physically or emotionally abusive, the court could even step in.

The punishment was grounding from the computer and not being allowed to go on a class trip.

[IDrinkaRum]

I saw this at a Child Free live journal community I frequent. (I have a child, but do support those who don't want children). I was appalled about it. WTH is wrong with the judicial system? How could they have even allowed this case to go so far as a ruling was issued? This could be a bad precedent. Oi.

[Boozy]

People worried about "precedent" need not do so. First of all, this was a court in Canada, not the US, so Americans can rest easy.

More importantly, this is a court in Quebec. Due to it's French roots, Quebec has a hybrid legal system. While the US and the rest of Canada operate under traditional British common law system, Quebec still maintains a civil law system that separates public and private law. (While obviously both Canada and the US maintain a civil law system, it is far more limited than that of Quebec's.)

Basically, and without getting bogged down into legal details, the Quebecois system is entirely different than what we're used to. This is why the ruling doesn't make sense to us. The case would not have even been heard in other provinces, and the only precedent set is within the province of Quebec.

[Greenday]

That may be so, but the fact that the court actually ruled in favor of the kid is quite troubling.

[Boozy]

Meh.

As a Canadian, I'm used to hearing about things like this happening in Quebec. We usually just shrug it off.

The Quebecois do their own thing.

[MystyGlyttyr]

The only thing I can wonder is where the fuck she got a lawyer...

[DesignFox]

it tells us mysty....she took a court appointed lawyer.

WTF indeed...

It's like that episode of Rugrats where Angelica's dad dreams that she took him to court over forcing her to eat broccoli...

Only this isn't a dream for this kid's dad...

[IDrinkaRum]

I've read a little more about this. From my understanding, maybe I'm wrong, but the girl was grounded, ran to her mother's house (the parents are divorcing) and it was the mother's idea to sue the dad.

As for precedent, there might be a lot of teenage kids looking for lawyers so they don't have to be grounded neither.

[anriana]

The article makes it sound like there is some kind of custody dispute. Maybe the father didn't have custody of the daughter?

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Apparently the girl was punished for posting pictures of herself on a dating site. She was banned from using the internet. Then she got into a row with her stepmother, so her father barred her from going on this class trip, which the girl considered to be a once in a lifetime experience that she would never have again.

The girl had a lawyer before she sued for the punishment. In the local court system apparently a child in the midst of a custody dispute is appointed their own lawyer to look after their interests during the dispute. Not only that, but this custody dispute has been going on for TEN YEARS. I think Daughter is having to resort to the courts because Mommy and/or Daddy are too busy using her to get back at one another. Daddy is now refusing to let Daughter back into his home because he 'has no authority over her' and Stepmommy is giving interviews to the media about what an evil and manipulative child she is.

According to the girl's lawyer, the decision ended up in court after a long, escalating dispute between the girl and her father and stepmother, which ended with the girl being expelled from her father's house and living with her biological mother since May.

After learning all of this, I believe what is going on is that either one or both of the parents is causing problems to get back at the other, and the judge is being forced to rule on little things like this because the parents refuse to sort even the smallest things out for themselves. Unfortunately, there are parents like that out there. My cousin Whit spent most of her childhood being used by her father to get back at her Mother; Whit has some serious emotional problems now, and she actually HATES her father. Refuses to even speak to him.

[Greenday]

It seems like a lot of divorced parents use their kids to get back at their ex's. I know my dad did.