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Court Ruling On Out-Of-Control Children Worries California Parents

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) —Screaming, yelling, temper tantrums and breaking curfew.

They're all things most parents deal with at some point with their child. But would you ever define your child as out of control?

A new court of appeals ruling says the state can now remove an out-of-control child from parents' custody, even if the mother and father are not to blame for their behavior.

The thought of 2-year-old Colton or 11-month-old Chloe being deemed out of control by the state raises some immediate red flags for their mother Nova Katz.

"What are my boundaries? What is an out of control child? So, yeah, that raises a lot of questions for me," she said.

Those questions come after the 2nd Court of Appeal ruled if a child faces a substantial risk of harming themselves or others, the state can remove them from custody of a parent, even if the mother or father is not to blame.

"The decision does not give the state free rein to intervene in families when children have a tantrum at the grocery store," said McGeorge School of Law professor John Myers. "This decision is aimed at those who have demonstrated a chronic set of behaviors that are genuinely dangerous."

With the decision solely based on a state worker's professional assessment, we wanted to know how the state defines an out of control child.

Myers says it comes down to the broad term of "neglect."

"You can only intervene in this kind of a circumstance if their behavior poses a substantial risk of serious physical harm," he said.

But the necessity of that intervention is still being hammered out in the court system with two dueling decisions over the culpability of parents in these types of cases.

"Sometimes it's necessary that a child be removed, but I think you can support change and out of control behavior by providing structure in the house actually," said parent Monica Levacy.

Myers believes the Supreme Court will ultimately have the final say on this issue, but a decision likely won't come for another six months to a year.

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