Court Opinion

ID: 9721700
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:05:39.788887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:28.183061
License: Public Domain

BURKE, J. dissenting: Jacqueline, now 15 years of age, is finishing her sophomore year at Immaculata High School in Chicago. She lives with her mother and brother in their home nearby. Immaculata is an excellent school. Many of her schoolmates in grammar school are with her in high school. She is an average student. She likes Immaculata and wishes to continue her studies there. Ferry Hall is also an excellent high school. Jacqueline visited that school. Nevertheless she desires to remain a student at Immaculata High School. Her feelings should be considered. The agreement between the parents should not be the sole criterion in determining the welfare of their daughter. She should be consulted. She is not a chattel to be shunted around. She has rights independent of the parents. We should be reluctant to interfere with the decision of the chancellor. He saw the parties. He talked to Jacqueline. She has a home and is now in a good school with friends. The majority opinion would wrench her from this environment and send her among strangers away from home. The cases cited in the majority opinion involve a change of custody. The instant case concerns the selection of a school. In the Wade case the court in deciding that the custody of Sharon Wade should remain with her father, said (179): “The welfare of the child is pre-eminently the thing to be considered.” It is interesting to note that in the Dunning case the court affirmed the order changing the custody of the two children from the father to the mother on the ground that this disposition was in the best interest of the children. In Nye v. Nye, 411 Ill 408, 105 NE2d 300, the court said (415): “The guiding star is and must be, at all times, the best interest of the child.” Following this precept Jacqueline should be allowed to continue her course at Immaculata High School, and the order should be affirmed.