You may have thought the debate on disciple, specifically corporal punishment, was long over. Especially in a state like California. There are more signs that all is not lost in America. Child abuse should never be tolerated, but it is important for parents to retain the right to biblical disciple that brings loving correction and character to a child’s life.
SFGATE.COM reports:
A Santa Clara County woman who spanked her 12-year-old daughter in the rear with a wooden spoon should not have been labeled a child abuser, said a state appeals court Tuesday, ruling that social workers and judges must consider a parent’s right to impose “reasonable discipline” on a child.
The Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose stopped short of deciding whetherVeronica Gonzalez had acted reasonably and legally when she swatted her daughter several times in 2010, hard enough to leave bruises, after the child stopped doing most of her schoolwork and lied to her parents.
But the court said the Santa Clara County Department of Social Services had violated Gonzalez’s rights by disregarding parents’ authority to discipline their children and refusing to allow testimony by the daughter, who disputed many of the social worker’s accusations against her mother. The court said the department must either hold a new hearing or dismiss the case.
Neither the department nor the Superior Court judge who upheld its finding that Gonzalez had abused her daughter gave “any weight to the right of a parent to impose reasonable discipline on his or her child,” Presiding Justice Conrad Rushing said in the 3-0 ruling, published as a precedent for trial courts statewide.
Although beating a child may amount to abuse, Rushing said, it depends on the circumstances, including whether the parent intended to inflict bruises. No evidence was introduced showing that Gonzalez intended her daughter to be bruised, Rushing said.
Gonzalez’s lawyer, Seth Gorman, declined to comment on the ruling. The county’s lawyer was unavailable for comment.
The case is part of a broader debate on corporal punishment, child well-being and parental rights. California law prohibits schools from beating or spanking children, but when then-Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, proposed in 2007 to extend the ban to the home for children younger than 4, she quickly backed off in the face of overwhelming opposition.
Parents can be prosecuted for inflicting “unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering” on their children, under laws that take into account their intent and the extent of the injuries.
Oh my, how I remember the threat of the wooden paddle in the school principal’s office decades ago. Sure keep me & quite a large number of my school mates in line!!! I went to that office once; the paddle was retrieved from the desk drawer and placed on the principal’s desk top. I managed through that without receiving it’s implied discipline but it was enough that I NEVER saw that paddle again!!! What was even worse was the threat of the principal calling my parents to the school! Abuse, NO – appropriate amount of discipline – YES; as long as we remain humans, it’s a necessity! Worked for me !!! If discipline is not a necessity, why do we have any laws at all to try to maintain civility in our nation. It is unfortunate we can not all abide by the ultimate laws and/or direction of GOD instead of needing man made laws & discipline but we are humans after all!