Parents’ rights to the custody and care of their children are fundamental,
recognized and protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution and Article 10 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. Children also have a respective constitutional interest in having their natural parents raise them.
A child’s interest in being free from abuse and neglect, coupled with the State’s interest in its citizens’ safety, sometimes leads to State intervention that initiates a care and protection (C&P) case against an at-risk child’s parent or parents. With such fundamentally important interests at
stake, the government has the burden of properly balancing each party’s interests before depriving a parent of custody.
