Courts Use COVID to Take Kids from Parents

In April 2020, NBC ran a story about a doctor in Florida who was kept from her children on the pretense that her job posed a COVID risk to them. That same month, CNN ran a story about an E.R. doctor who similarly lost custody temporarily because a judge decided her job was no longer safe.

“The Court does not enter this Order lightly but given the pandemic in Florida and the recent increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases, the Court finds in order to insulate and protect the best interests and health of the minor child, this Order must be entered on a temporary basis,” the judge wrote in that court ruling.

This phenomenon, however, is hardly limited to healthcare professionals with immediate exposure to the virus. On the contrary—even though COVID-19 has been consistently shown to pose no substantial threat to children—in a number of recent cases around the U.S., judges have used marginally COVID-related reasons to justify denying a parent custody or even altering a pre-existing custody agreement.

The American Conservative interviewed Melanie Joseph and Dr. Micheline Epstein, both of whose custody cases have recently received media attention. Both told TAC that their situations provide windows into widespread judicial tyranny in the U.S.A.