Originally Posted by djplong

Care to define that? ...the parental rights, I mean.

And I'll give you a situation that actually happened to me and ask how your definition of parental rights would handle it.

Friend of mine was in her teen years - out of school, I forget the EXACT year. She was taking a walk with a male friend through the woods. The sat down for a while chatting, etc. When she came home, her mother was angry at her when she saw a piece of a leaf in her hair (she had butt-length blonde hair). She immediately accused my friend of sleeping with the guy she'd taken a walk with. This wasn't true in the least. After a bit of arguing, she told her daughter to take the trash out. So, my friend did that and was surprised to discover she'd been locked out of the house.

She was wearing nothing but a light shirt and skirt - barefoot. It was fall and the evening was going to get rather chilly. Her mother refused to open the door and was rcontinuing to rail on how she was SURE her daughter was sleeping around.

I know about this because my wife and I took her in that night.

Stories like these get around and I honestly believe that's how some kids get TOO scared of parental reactions to things. They hear about what is, to them, unthinkable, and it plants doubts in their minds.