Texas Values Supports Father in Parental Rights Custody Case before Texas Supreme Court

The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the Relator C.J.C case which could re-write parental rights and custody laws in Texas.

The case revolves around custody of a young girl whose mother was tragically killed in a car accident. The mother and father have been separated, and the father was previously granted joint custody with the child’s mother, which he has continued to have throughout his daughter’s life. At the time of the mother’s tragic passing, she was engaged to another man who is now seeking to have joint custody with the biological father. The child has been living with her father since the tragic accident and the courts have never found the father to be unfit or unable to be the sole legal provider for his daughter. If the court grants the other man legal joint custody, someone with no biological relation to the child, it would set a dangerous and unprecedented statute.

Texas Values believes that strong families are founded on the ideal of a lifelong marriage of one man and one woman, and is committed to connecting children to their mothers and fathers, for the good of children and society as a whole and therefore has filed a legal Amicus Brief in support of the father’s sole custody with the Texas Supreme Court.

Texas Values President and Attorney Jonathan Saenz said “As we said in our brief, if courts begin requiring fathers to share their parent privileges with other men who have no familial relationship with their child, then the status of fatherhood becomes diminished—and so do the incentives of men to become fathers and to fulfill their duties. This precedent would impact these legal rights for mothers as well.”

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About Texas Values

Texas Values is the largest statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to standing for faith, family, and freedom in Texas. More information is available at txvalues.org.