Something most people don’t take into consideration when going through a separation are the decisions that will need to be made regarding their children’s health. Decisions such as whether or not the children will be vaccinated.

Whether you feel strongly one way or the other, vaccinations can prove to be a point of contention if not addressed during the separation process. This can lead to draw out court cases.

Take for instance, a recent case where there was an issue for a determination whether an 8 year old girl should be immunised according to conventional immunisation methods or homeopathic principles. The parents had been separated for a while. The child lived with her mother and spent time with her father on alternate weekends.

The mother was in favor of the homeopathic path, as a homeopathic practitioner, and applied to the Court for orders that her daughter continue to be homeopathically immunised. What she was requesting from the Court was a restraint that kept the father, a medical doctor, from immunising their daughter using conventional methods in the future. Her fear was that the new step-parent would immunise their daughter while she was spending time in her father’s household.

While there had been no issue during their marriage and subsequent separation, the addition of a new factor (the step-parent) caused tension regarding the health of their daughter. In this case, while both parents made a strong case, the Court found that the risk of harm due to a traditional vaccination program was not great enough to outweigh the risk of infection. In this case, the Court ordered that the child be conventionally immunised against threats such as polio, mumps, and measles.

However, had both parents come to an understanding and agreement from the start on the health and well-being of their daughter, this entire process could have been avoided.

It is important to keep in mind that while you are facing challenges and frustrations right now, you do need to be mindful of the future. No one knows what the future could hold, but you do know that separating will bring in a multitude of branching paths you are likely to have to navigate. And if it should come down to taking the decision to Court, while the Court will take your beliefs as a factor in their consideration, they will more likely be moved based on medical and scientific recommendations to keep your child’s best interests at heart.