Atheists & Agnostics

And while what the ACLU says is true, that is NOT the case in most Custody and Visitation cases. In such cases the parties are ordered to go to counseling, but who they go to is up to them to select. Once selected the court will issue an order naming the counselor (if the Counselor agrees to take on the case) so that the counselor can released to the courts that the person had finished the sessions.

As I pointed out before, disobeying a Court Order is NOT permitted, what this woman should have done was to ask the court to name a different counselor, one found by her. It does NOT appear that the Mother took that option, instead she disobeyed a court order. Disobeying a court order is NOT permitted in our system of laws, appealing that order is how you handle disputes as to the legality of a Court Order.

Thus the ACLU's statement, "On the face of it" means if the COURT ORDERED her to go to this Counselor, who was selected by the courts not the Mother (a Huge IF), then that violates the First Amendment. On the other hand if the Court just ordered counseling and it was up to the mother to pay for and select such counselor and she picked this counselor, that is NOT a First Amendment issue. I suspect the later is the case for that is the practice in most of the US.