1. For over 8 years the two parents had both agreed to not vaccinate the child.
2. The father had previously attempted several times to get 50% custody of the child, but failed. That usually doesn't happen unless there are some serious underlying circumstances.
3. This current case was rushed by the father, with a new judge and new lawyer, and their first court appearance was not communicated to the mother. His lawyer then berated the mother for not appearing, saying it was typical behavior for her.
4. There were at least three earlier CPS reports, one of which was for the father watching porn in front of the children, which for some reason were thrown out by this judge. The police had to be called to the school when the father went to pick up his son...because the boy was afraid to go with his father.
5. The day the mother was let out of jail the father was awarded joint custody at a hearing which was not even supposed to be about custody. He was also given an extra day with the child the day after the mother got out of jail.
6. On that extra day he left his son to travel to Los Angeles...with his lawyer...so he could appear on The Doctors TV show.

Cia Parker, I don't think this mother was upset about spending five days in jail, but about her son being forced to have all these vaccines. From what I've been reading in other comments, it seems that the father was only using this as a weapon against the mother, which any impartial lawyer or judge should see straight through. Also, you can discuss all you like before marriage, but some people lie, agree to anything to get what they want, and then think nothing of going back on their promises. I'm also worried that this father has tics, and to me that's a warning sign that the son is going to be genetically predisposed to serious vaccine injury. I think that the parent who is going to have to look after the disabled child post-vaccination should be the one to make the decision. Otherwise, it's time some of these parents went back to the judges and demanded recompense for this situation being forced on them.

I took my Mother to the doctor yesterday.
Sitting in the waiting room was a 30 year old something - very handsome, ginger colored hair man and his 60 some year old mother.

I don't know how the conversation began, but he was speaking to another man and saying that last year he developed a peanut allergy. He said it was not a runny nose, but one where his throat closes up and he cannot breath. It is so bad that if some one is sitting across the room eating some peanut candy from a sack his throat starts to swell up.

So he went to get his epi pen from the drug store and it was 2,000 dollars.
He said, "I told them; I cannot afford this."
The Mother chimed in and said, "It thought they had just made a mistake!"

Ginger hair said, " I can go to the ER or here 20 times and get the shot before it even reaches 2,000 dollars."

I am glad that Del Bigtree was able to make these two sleaze balls to at least look guilty.

We need some GUILT and Shaming in America.

"#RebeccaBredow goes to jail. Dad wins split custody, immediately abandons son to go on The Doctors TV show ‬in Los Angeles. @DelBigtree just happened to be on the same flight. Check it out. @HighWireTalk"

https://www.facebook.com/HighWireTalk/videos/496088100767187/

David,

Usually the parents get joint custody. The child is usually with the mother during the week when he goes to school, and spends many weekends and vacation time with the father. It wouldn't be fair to allow the mother to make unilateral decisions, especially on something as important as vaccination. Since there is no middle ground on this issue, there will always be strife.

In some cases, getting vaccines might save the child's life. I believe, like most here, that more often it damages him, but it's still not something that you should try to take away the pro-vax parent's rights on. At least some children have died from all of the vaccine-preventable diseases.

Sharon

That sounds like excellent advice. I am wondering if these types of considerations should even be incorporated into a pre-nuptial agreement.

Lacking these, it seems to me that the parent with custody, or primary custody, should be able to make these decisions.

To Sharon Kistler, That is an interesting comment. It reminds me of another topic that I would like parents to think about : How do you project to your child a good way of making medical decisions? Children are learning this, whether you think about it or not, right from the time they are 2 or 3.
Here are a couple of examples: A mother of a teenage boy took him to a pediatrician because he was bothered by constipation. The doctor prescribed a typical laxative. The mother was not so happy with that. She knew that there were some natural treatments that could be tried first, nevertheless she said to her son " The doctor prescribed for you, so you had better take it"
A second mother explained to me " Whenever I have a medical problem, the first thing I do is to think of what natural treatment might help me "
I feel that each parent might like to think about their approach to body and medical matters and think whether they might change or refine their approach, and later they need to try talking about their approach to their child and demonstrate to the child how they proceed in real life situations. This is also a good topic for family discussions and the topic of how commercials and advertisements, try to make you use a different approach.
Of course, what I am speaking of is quite apart from the kind of legal drama described above, which must be so very terrifying for the child in question.

Having a child in his now-twenties with special needs, I realize that all divorced parents need to find a way to clarify their medical beliefs and provide for resolution in the event of disagreement into their Divorce decree. If one parent is more holistic in her views, this parent MUST negotiate until she is the one in the decree that gains control and authority to make the medical decisions. Think about the possibilities as your child gets older -- not just vaccinations, but psych meds. Not just psych meds, but possible auto-immunity, cancer, other life-threatening possibilities. If one parent buys into the conventional medical and psychiatric model when the other parent does not (because she understands the fraud and risks associated with conventional treatment), then this awakened parent must have the prescience to get legal medical control in her divorce decree.