The record in this case provides no basis for a visitation award under the applicable legal standard, the record is so manifestly inadequate to overcome the presumption of parental autonomy that we can ourselves decide, and we do determine, that visitation should NOT be awarded. These are just a handful of cases that prove parents have the autonomy to decide what is best for their children. The list goes on and on. These statutes were not written for any and all third party, or extended family member to have visitation. The way, in which our current statutes are written, the statutes do not defend the constitutionally protected rights of parents.
Parents have the inherent right to choose who their children associate with.
The courts must apply these criteria in accordance with the compelling state interest test under which the state must justify its intrusion in the parent's and child's life. Whether you are a single parent, mother or father, or an intact family, parents should have the complete liberty to make important life decisions regarding their own children. By allowing these lawsuits into the courtroom, we are wasting the court's time, and dragging fit parents and their children, through years of legal battles to fight these frivolous lawsuits. These lawsuits are destroying our families financially and emotionally. Let us remember, the same family that is being destroyed, is the same family that has to support this child.