Child Abuse and Neglect Law

Generally a child can be removed from his parents if the child is abused or neglected by a parent, and if removal is necessary to avoid immediate risk to the child's life or health. A child can be considered abused or neglected if a parent does not provide proper supervision, or harms the child, or allows others to harm the child, or exposes the child to a substantial risk of harm.

The legal language is convoluted, but it boils down to this: the child can be considered abused or neglected if a parent does not provide proper supervision, or harms the child, or allows others to harm the child, or exposes the child to a substantial risk of harm. It's this last possibility that would matter in a case in which parents gave their children supposedly abusive names.

News reports quote forensic psychologist N. G. Berrill saying that naming a boy Hitler could be considered child abuse, partly because it shows that the parents themselves are acting childishly, not like responsible adults. Berrill also suggests that, "You can name your dog something weird, but [the Campbell parents] think they're making some kind of bold statement with the children, not appreciating that the children will have separate lives and will be looked at in a negative light until they're able to change their names. It is abuse."

Of course, reasonable people can have different opinions, and another psychologist might agree with little Adolf's father, Heath Campbell, who is quoted as saying, "I think people need to take their heads out of the cloud they've been in and start focusing on the future and not on the past. There's a new President and he says it's time for a change; well, then it's time for a change. They need to accept a name. A name's a name. The kid isn't going to grow up and do what [Hitler] did."

So, if you were a Family Court judge in Holland Township, you might have to decide which of these arguments is more convincing. Adolph Hitler (the leader of the Nazis, not the child in New Jersey) never had any children. If he had, we can only wonder what effect that name would have had on their lives.

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