Opinion ID: 1613517
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: constitutionally protected parent-child relationship

Text: Although this court, considering a child custody case, has expressed that the question present in every habeas corpus case is the best interests of the child, L.G.P. v. Nebraska Dept. of Soc. Servs., 239 Neb. 644, 646, 477 N.W.2d 571, 573 (1991), we cannot overlook or disregard that the best interests standard is subject to the overriding recognition that the relationship between parent and child is constitutionally protected, Quilloin v. Walcott, 434 U.S. 246, 255, 98 S.Ct. 549, 554, 54 L.Ed.2d 511 (1978). See, also, Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982); Shoecraft v. Catholic Social Servs. Bureau, 222 Neb. 574, 385 N.W.2d 448 (1986). [A] parent's desire for and right to `the companionship, care, custody, and management of his or her children' is an important interest that `undeniably warrants deference and, absent a powerful countervailing interest, protection.' Lassiter v. Department of Social Services, 452 U.S. 18, 27, 101 S.Ct. 2153, 2159-60, 68 L.Ed.2d 640 (1981). As the U.S. Supreme Court stated in Quilloin, 434 U.S. at 255, 98 S.Ct. at 555: We have little doubt that the Due Process Clause would be offended [i]f a State were to attempt to force the breakup of a natural family, over the objections of the parents and their children, without some showing of unfitness and for the sole reason that to do so was thought to be in the children's best interest. Smith v. Organization of Foster Families, 431 U.S. 816, 862-863 [97 S.Ct. 2094, 2119, 53 L.Ed.2d 14] (1977) (Stewart, J., concurring in judgment). Cf., Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972) (parents have fundamental liberty interest in right to teach their children religious beliefs and moral standards); Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972) (the integrity of the family unit is protected by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1925) (parents have a fundamental liberty interest in directing the education of their children); In re Interest of R.G., 238 Neb. 405, 470 N.W.2d 780 (1991) (the parent-child relationship involves a liberty interest). Consequently, in the context of a marital dissolution action, we recently stated in Stuhr v. Stuhr, 240 Neb. 239, 245, 481 N.W.2d 212, 216 (1992): In the absence of a statutory provision otherwise, in a child custody controversy between a biological or adoptive parent and one who is neither a biological nor an adoptive parent of the child involved in the controversy, a fit biological or adoptive parent has a superior right to custody of the child. A parent's superior right to custody of a child was also recognized in Nielsen v. Nielsen, 207 Neb. 141, 149, 296 N.W.2d 483, 488 (1980): Where the custody of a minor child is involved in a habeas corpus action, the custody of the child is to be determined by the best interests of the child, with due regard for the superior rights of a fit, proper, and suitable parent. The courts may not properly deprive a parent of the custody of a minor child unless it is affirmatively shown that such parent is unfit to perform the duties imposed by the relationship, or has forfeited that right. The right of a parent to the custody of his minor child is not lightly to be set aside in favor of more distant relatives or unrelated parties, and the courts may not deprive a parent of such custody unless he is shown to be unfit or to have forfeited his superior right to such custody. Accord Peterson v. Peterson, 224 Neb. 557, 399 N.W.2d 792 (1987). See, also, Marcus v. Huffman, 187 Neb. 798, 194 N.W.2d 221 (1972); Carlson v. Wivell, 181 Neb. 877, 152 N.W.2d 98 (1967). A biological or adoptive parent's superior right to custody of the parent's child is acknowledgment that parents and their children have a recognized unique and legal interest in, and a constitutionally protected right to, companionship and care as a consequence of the parent-child relationship, a relationship that, in the absence of parental unfitness or a compelling state interest, is entitled to protection from intrusion into that relationship. Hence, the parental superior right to child custody Protects not only the parent's right to the companionship, care, custody, and management of his or her child, but also protects the child's reciprocal right to be raised and nurtured by a biological or adoptive parent. See Bellotti v. Baird, 443 U.S. 622, 99 S.Ct. 3035, 61 L.Ed.2d 797 (1979) (both parents and children in a familial relationship are protected by the U.S. Constitution). Establishment and continuance of the parent-child relationship `is the most fundamental right a child possesses to be equated in importance with personal liberty and the most basic constitutional rights.' Johnson v. Hunter, 447 N.W.2d 871, 876 (Minn.1989) (quoting from Ruddock v. Ohls, 91 Cal.App.3d 271, 154 Cal. Rptr. 87 (1979)). See, also, In re Adoption of A.G.K., 728 P.2d 1 (Okla.App.1986) (a child has a constitutionally protected right in preserving parent-child relationship); Com., Dept. of Social Services v. Johnson, 7 Va.App. 614, 376 S.E.2d 787 (1989) (a child has a fundamental right in establishment and continuation of the parent-child relationship). Accordingly, a court may not, in derogation of the superior right of a biological or adoptive parent, grant child custody to one who is not a biological or adoptive parent unless the biological or adoptive parent is unfit to have child custody or has legally lost the parental superior right in a child. Stuhr v. Stuhr, 240 Neb. at 246, 481 N.W.2d at 217. Parental unfitness means a personal deficiency or incapacity which has prevented, or will probably prevent, performance of a reasonable parental obligation in child rearing and which has caused, or probably will result in, detriment to a child's well-being. Ritter v. Ritter, 234 Neb. 203, 210, 450 N.W.2d 204, 210 (1990).