Parents who are disabled face challenges unique to them. When it comes to being named the primary residential parent to their children, they often face discrimination and other roadblocks. In response to this, the National Council on Disability has published the report Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and Their Children. The goal of the report was to advance understanding and promote the rights of parents with disabilities and their children. There are approximately 4.1 million parents with disabilities in the United States, which is about 6.2 percent of all American families with children under the age of 18. According to this report, parents with disabilities are the only community who are forced to struggle to retain custody of their children, and removal rates for parents with various kinds of disabilities can be as high as 70 to 80 percent. The report chronicles the discrimination that parents with disabilities have had to deal with, and it recommends actions that should be taken immediately to ensure the rights of parents with disabilities and their children.
What Tennessee’s laws say
In 2013, Governor Haslam signed Senate Bill 749 into law that amended Tennessee Code Titles 33, 36 and 37 relative to parenting plans involving disabled parents by adding this language: “The disability of a parent seeking custody shall not create a presumption for or against awarding custody to such a party but may be a factor to be considered by the court.” The basis for adding the subsection was the fact that the General Assembly of Tennessee concludes that, ” strong and healthy families are the foundation of an orderly and prosperous society; and. . . it is the policy of the State of Tennessee to foster the growth and preservation of strong and healthy families in Tennessee.” The language of the bill goes on to recount the fact that many Tennesseans with disabilities have suffered discrimination in child welfare and parenting time proceeding because of their disabilities, and that they are making sure that no citizen of the state will suffer discrimination from any child welfare agency, or any custody proceeding solely because of a person’s disability.
While judges have a whole host of factors to consider when deciding parenting or residential time, either in divorce or between unmarried parents, any disability that one of those parents might suffer from will not be used to deny that parent time with their child.
If you are a parent who has a disability and you are concerned that your rights are not being protected, an experienced family law attorney from the law office of Miller Upshaw Family Law, PLLC would be happy to review your case and discuss your legal options. Here you will find the support and the strong advocacy you need. To reserve an in-person or video consultation with an experienced Nashville family law attorney, please contact us.
Karla C. Miller has devoted her entire career to the practice of family law in Tennessee. She attended Auburn University and Nashville School of Law, and upon graduation in 1996, she opened her own law firm and has been assisting families throughout Tennessee since then. Learn more about Karla C. Miller here.
