
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991                   TAG: 9103130156
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

COURT OVERRULES CHURCH CLAUSE IN CUSTODY CASE

A judge cannot force a parent to send a child to church as part of a child custody agreement, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in a Smyth County case.

"The state may not require a citizen to attend any religious worship," said the opinion written by Judge Norman K. Moon and joined by two other judges.

But the court said a custody agreement can bar an unmarried parent from having a member of the opposite sex stay overnight while the child is in the home.

The court ruled in the case of Mary N. Carrico and Ronnie Wayne Blevins, who were divorced in 1988 after seven years of marriage. Blevins got custody of their 7-year-old son.

Carrico lived with a man to whom she was not married and until a year ago kept her son Monday through Thursday. She asked to change the agreement so that the boy would stay with her every other weekend, holidays and during the summer to make school arrangements easier.

Circuit Judge Charles H. Smith Jr. approved the change with the condition that Carrico take the boy to church or allow the father to do so.

"The trial court concluded that this was a reasonable request by the father in light of the fact that the child had been reared to go to church and worship God," the appeal ruling said.

But Carrico said she did not agree with church teachings and only attended church during her marriage at her husband's insistence.

The appeals court said requiring the boy to attend church on Sundays would force Carrico to attend church against her will or surrender some of her visitation time with her child.

Smith included the condition barring overnight guests after Blevins testified that his son once got upset about Carrico's boyfriend being in the house.

The appeals court said the Virginia Supreme Court has held that a parent can lose child custody for living with someone outside of marriage.

"Here, there was evidence that the father had strong religious and moral views against the child being in the home with the mother and the boyfriend," Moon wrote.

"Although we do not hold that the moral values of the custodial parent are necessarily the deciding factor, we do hold that they may be considered in imposing visitation restraints," he said.

by CNB