Friday, October 19, 2012

In Re: Christina Adams and Jack A. (Cal. Ct. App. - Oct. 16, 2012)

Father and Mother have a child.  The child has Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism.  Father and Mother get divorced.

Father's a special education attorney and has a master's degree in psychology.  Mother has written a published book on autism, give lectures on the subject, and plans to write several more books on the subject in the future.  Father and Mother both care deeply about their son, but have diametrically opposing views about how best to deal with their child's disabilities.

What could possibly go wrong?

Everything.

I'll let you read the whole thing.  Two well-meaning parents.  But a total train wreck nonetheless.

Mother thinks that Father's an uncaring, selfish and profoundly dangerous parent who's letting the child view pornography, play with knives and potentially drown on a boat.  Father thinks that Mother is a nutjob who "has turned our son's disability into a cottage industry.  She spends her time researching treatment methodologies for autism that often have little or no proven validity.  For example, Mother has for several years fed [our son] camel's milk as a purported treatment for autism.  Mother stopped taking [our son] to his previous pediatrician of seven years because the pediatrician was critical of camel's milk as a treatment for autism . . . . [and now] takes [our son] to a 'naturopathic doctor."

Yikes all around.

Needless to say, the parents can't agree on what middle school their child can attend.  And can barely talk to each other at this point.  Prompting nuclear litigation that needs to be resolved by the Court of Appeal.

I'm not kidding when I say this is a train wreck.  You don't want to watch.  But you can't help yourself.