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“Many people working in the hospitals — doctors, nurses, so many of us — are parents.” Across the U.S., workers who are responding to the coronavirus pandemic are fighting to retain custody of their children amid fears of Covid-19. https://nyti.ms/39XReuA
Dr. Bertha Mayorquin is a physician employed by a hospital in New Jersey. Strained by the pandemic, the hospital asked her to start treating non-coronavirus patients in need of urgent care. Dr. Mayorquin felt obligated to help. https://nyti.ms/34iTgnG
But when Dr. Mayorquin left work on a Friday expecting to pick up her 2 daughters for the weekend, her soon-to-be ex-husband presented her with a court order granting him sole temporary custody of their children. https://nyti.ms/34iTgnG
Dr. Mayorquin had intended to spend the weekend celebrating her younger daughter’s 8th birthday. Instead, she spent it frantically assembling 50 pages of paperwork to try to reverse the court order. https://nyti.ms/34iTgnG
For health care and other essential workers, the custody battles are infused with heightened controversy. Some of those workers insist they are taking precautions to keep their children safe and shouldn’t be punished for doing crucial services. https://nyti.ms/34iTgnG
But as their counterparts sometimes see it, the jobs pose too great a risk to other members of their families https://nyti.ms/34iTgnG
Families across the U.S. are confronting similar questions to the ones Dr. Bertha Mayorquin faced. Family law varies by state, and even by local jurisdiction. In the midst of the pandemic, the legal landscape has become more uneven and confusing. https://nyti.ms/34iTgnG
When parents do seek help from the courts, they are getting very different responses. Some courts are largely shuttered. Others are holding emergency hearings online. Read @mega2e's full report here. https://nyti.ms/34iTgnG
