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Decide Orders New York Lady to Take away Accomplice Flag or Danger Custody of Biracial Baby

A judge recently ordered a New York woman to remove a stone adorned with a Confederate flag from her home, otherwise custody of her biracial child could be lost.

In a 5-0 ruling, Appellate Judges of the Third Division of the New York State Supreme Court allowed a couple to maintain joint custody of their biracial child, but ordered the mother to keep the Confederate flag stone until June 1 to remove.

“As such, while the first amendment is recognized as protecting the mother’s right to fly the flag, if she is not removed by June 1, 2021, her continued presence will constitute a change in circumstances and the family court will take that into account in future interests analysis, “wrote Judge Stanley Pritzker in the May 6 ruling.

According to the ruling, the parents, identified only as Christie and Isiah, were given joint custody of the child in 2017. However, when an attorney for the child recommended that the mother’s house be the child’s primary residence, the father appealed.

While the ruling did not identify the child, it stated that they were born in 2014 and are currently attending school in the Dryden Central School District in Ithaca, New York.

The verdict says that although the mother was not approached by either the family court or the child’s attorney, the mother admitted having a Confederate flag stone on it, but “testified that she never or never used racist slurs in front of the child Has.” . “

“Given that the child is a mixed race, it seems obvious that the presence of the flag is not in the best interests of the child as the mother must encourage and teach the child to adopt his or her mixed race identity rather than being into it a world to bump into that only makes sense through the tortured lens of cognitive dissonance, “the verdict reads. “Furthermore, and pragmatically, the presence of the Confederate flag is a symbol that ignites the already strained relationship between the parties.”

The verdict also included details of the father’s testimony, which stated that he and the mother had “difficulty communicating” and that the child had behavioral problems such as “kicking, spitting, hitting and swearing a lot”.

A Confederate Navy Jack flag sits at the base of Confederate Mound, a memorial to more than 4,000 Confederate prisoners of war who died in captivity at Camp Douglas in Chicago on August 23, 2017 and were buried around the memorial. A couple was allowed to keep joint custody of their biracial child, but ordered the mother to remove a stone with the Confederate flag by June 1.
Scott Olson / Getty

Speaking to the New York Post, Jason Leifer, who represented the child on the case, suggested that the judges “get something out of the hat” by focusing on the rocks, as this was never the subject of the parents’ disagreement over that was child.

In a statement sent to Newsweek, Leifer wrote: “The legal standard in a custody case is ‘the best interests of the child.’ A court weighs all evidence and legal arguments and then determines custody, placement and visit based on what The problem with this appeal decision is that it does not set a standard for determining the true worth of harm in cases where one parent believes the other parent (or the court) does not consent . “

“This part of the appeal decision was made even on the assumption that the mother (despite having a biracial child) had racist views, which was not supported by the evidence on file,” Leifer told Newsweek. “With this decision, this appeals court has only opened the door for the litigants in the Third Division to argue that the political views and opinions of parents are harmful to a child without the need to prove actual harm.”

In his email, Leifer also stated, “Although this decision does not apply nationwide, the appeals court may need to step in to address this issue so that freedom of speech is not compromised.”

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