Supreme Court Denies Case of Christian Parents Whose Trans-Identifying Child Was Taken From Them
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to take up the case of two Indiana parents who asked the court to intervene after the state's Department of Child Services took their trans-identifying child away from them due to their Biblical beliefs about sex and gender.
This week the high court denied a writ of certiorari in the case of M.C., et vir v. Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) submitted by Jeremy and Mary Cox.
The Indiana Family Institute along with Becket Law, a non-profit legal group, presented the petition on behalf of the parents who wanted the Supreme Court to hold the state accountable for removing their child from their home.
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"No other loving parents should have to endure what we did. The pain of having our son taken from our home and kept from our care because of our beliefs will stay with us forever," said the couple in a statement after the Supreme Court's announcement.
"We can't change the past, but we will continue to fight for a future where parents of faith can raise their children without fear of state officials knocking on their doors and taking their children," they added.
As CBN News previously reported, DCS initiated an investigation of the Cox's home because they were not referring to their son with a cross-gender name and pronouns, nor were they endorsing their child's self-identification as a girl because of their Christian beliefs.
DCS pressed for the child's removal from the home arguing, "We just feel that at this point in time... she should be in a home where she is [accepted] for who she is."
A trial court removed the Cox's son from the home and barred them from speaking to him about the topic of sex and gender.
Court documents contend that the child, identified as A.C., was removed from the home partly because of a severe eating disorder that allegedly could have gotten worse if he had returned home.
Although DCS voluntarily dismissed all allegations that Mary and Jeremy abused or neglected their child, an Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's decision ruling the restriction on the parents' religious instruction was permissible under state and federal constitutions.
The couple was only allowed to visit their son for 2-3 hours a week, but all other contact was limited. He eventually aged out of the foster care system while out of their custody.
The parents filed the petition in December asking the Supreme Court to answer the question, "When can the state muzzle parental speech and remove a child from the home of admittedly fit parents?"
Their case also suggested that DCS and the state court actions conflicted with the high court's "precedents on parental rights, free speech, and religious exercise" by increasing "governments' power to remove children from fit parents."
"...the Court should take this uniquely apt vehicle to clarify the rights of parents to share their religious beliefs about gender with their own children," the writ suggested.
Despite having the case denied, both the IFI and Becket Law vow to continue to fight for parental rights.
"Though SCOTUS denied the Petition of Mary and Jeremy Cox yesterday, we did accomplish the goal of placing this fact pattern in front of SCOTUS as a real and growing threat to parental rights, freedom of religion, and free speech. These constitutional principles represent a cause–not just a case–and we will continue to advocate for that cause in law and culture," said Joshua Hershberger, IFI's General Counsel.
Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, added in a statement, "Loving parents should not lose custody of their children because they disagree with the state about gender. We are confident that the Supreme Court will ultimately protect this basic right and ensure that parents can raise their children consistent with their religious beliefs."
