Vaccines and Decision-Making in Colorado
With the recent increases in COVID cases around the United States, the issue of vaccines is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. In this series of blog posts, we’ll discuss how vaccinations can affect various parts of divorce and post-decree proceedings.
More parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children. Colorado is one of 45 states (and the District of Columbia) that allow vaccine exemptions for religious reasons. However, even if the parties agree not to vaccinate during the marriage, it is common for one parent to change his or her mind after a divorce. If the parents have joint decision-making, they often end up back in front of a judge to resolve the dispute.
A Colorado court cannot decide whether a child should be vaccinated or not. However, the court can grant sole decision-making to one parent, allowing that parent to make the decision about vaccinating the children. Before awarding sole decision-making, the judge must find that the current arrangement would endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair the child’s emotional development AND the harm caused by the change is outweighed by the advantage to the child.
A determination of whether your child’s physical or emotional health is endangered will depend greatly on the facts of your case. Have family members had adverse reactions to vaccines? Does one party travel frequently, especially internationally? Do the children or a family member have an autoimmune disease so that vaccines are contraindicated?
No matter whether you are advocating for vaccines or not, here are some tips that can increase your likelihood of success at a hearing:
1. Outline your position clearly. What vaccines are you wanting your children to receive (or not)? What are yours reasons for wanting to vaccinate (or not)? Examples include: international travel; school registration; autoimmune or other health risks; history of adverse reactions to vaccines.
2. Get expert testimony. Some pediatricians will work with parents to develop alternative vaccination schedules, which can often be a compromise. If you are wanting to vaccinate, medical testimony and/or research about the risks of disease can be very helpful. If vaccines are not recommended due to health risks, you will want medical testimony from the doctor who is counseling against vaccination.
3. Consider including provisions about vaccines in your Parenting Plan. Deciding your intent to vaccinate or not at the time of the divorce may be helpful in preventing disputes in the future.
Do you have more questions? I’m here to help.