Opinion ID: 1908241
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The limited character of the state's intervention.

Text: In her eloquent and passionate brief in this court, appellate counsel for the mother argues that the heavy hand of the state has been unnecessarily and improvidently injected into the lives of this mother and child, and that the court has failed [in its duty] to tread lightly when insinuating itself into the bosom of the family. According to counsel, the trial judge failed adequately to acknowledge [t]he intangible fibers that connect parent and child. Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248, 256, 103 S.Ct. 2985, 77 L.Ed.2d 614 (1983). Quoting from In re Rinker, 180 Pa.Super. 143, 117 A.2d 780 (Pa.Super.Ct.1955), counsel goes on to argue that [i]t is a serious matter for the long arm of the state to reach into a home and snatch a child from its mother. It is a power which a government dedicated to freedom for the individual should exercise with extreme care, and only where the evidence clearly establishes its necessity. Id. at 783. The argument is cogently presented, but we do not believe that it carries the day. In evaluating counsel's position, it is important to identify accurately what is at issue here and what is not. The trial judge did not terminate the mother's parental rights, nor has the judge been asked to do so. Further, the judge did not place E.H. in foster care with strangers. On the contrary, the effect of the court's intervention in the life of this family was to place the child with the father, with visitation rights ordered for the mother. Before the court intervened, the child lived with the mother, and it was the father who had the right to visitation. The judge exercised restraint in dealing with a difficult situation. Although Dr. Hutchinson recommended that the mother have only supervised visitation, and although counsel for the District urged the judge at disposition to impose such a restriction, the judge held that the mother should continue to have the right to unsupervised visitation. The judge also left the issue of E.H.'s permanent custody to the colleague who was presiding over the separate custody litigation between the parties. We have no quarrel with E.H's view that all branches of the government must exercise a prudent restraint when called upon to intervene in the lives of parents and their children. At the same time, however, the courts of this jurisdiction must carry out the legislative policies set forth in § 16-2301 et seq. We are satisfied that the trial judge conscientiously enforced the statute without unwarranted intrusion upon the mother's parental prerogatives. In order to protect the interests of E.H., the judge did what she reasonably believed she had to do, and no more. Accordingly, the judgment is Affirmed.