A Texas court issued an order prohibiting a mother from communicating with her children—for life. The order would apply even after the children become adults. If allowed to stand, this order would set a dangerous precedent for parental rights. Unfortunately, it’s already been affirmed by one appellate court.

Through a legal loophole, the mother’s parental rights were virtually terminated with very little notice and almost no opportunity to effectively respond. How did this happen?

To strip parents of their parental rights, Texas law generally requires a termination of parental rights. That process, while imperfect, has numerous procedures designed to give parents plenty of notice and lots of opportunities to defend themselves and fight for their children.

Contrast that with the process to get a protective order. Typically, a protective order is a temporary measure to protect an individual from immediate harm. Protective orders usually involve restrictions on contact and communication and are often used during divorce proceedings against a dangerous parent.

But in this case, the court allowed a protective order to virtually terminate one mother’s parental rights. This is a blatant violation of due process. There was almost no notice or time to prepare for legal proceedings. There was no trial by jury. And the basis for the protective order was an alleged crime for which the mother was never convicted.

Although this particular case arose from a divorce proceeding, it could also be used by child protective services after receiving a report of abuse or neglect. Simply by accusing parents of abuse, a CPS worker could obtain a lifetime protective order against the parents without due process.

The case was appealed and has unfortunately been affirmed by the first appellate court. It has now been appealed to the Texas Supreme Court.

Because of our concern about this loophole potentially being exploited by CPS, Heritage Defense Foundation took action by filing an amicus brief in support of parental rights.

After we filed our brief, the Texas Supreme Court apparently recognized the significance of this case and is allowing the appeal to move forward to examine the issue further. We will keep you posted as hopefully the Texas Supreme Court undoes this bad precedent and we are able to secure a new precedent to win a solid victory for parental rights.

If you want to help us fight important battles like this one, please consider donating to Heritage Defense today.