The case detailed how these agencies usurped Calgaro’s parental rights over her minor son, providing him with transgender services and narcotic drugs. The youth was handled by the defendants as an emancipated minor despite there being no court action to that effect. Neither the school district, county, nor any of the medical agencies named in the lawsuit provided notice or hearing to Calgaro, prior to terminating her parental rights over her minor child.

In May 2017, District Judge Paul Magnuson dismissed Calgaro’s lawsuit. He admitted that the boy was not legally emancipated by court order and agreed that Calgaro’s parental rights “remained intact.” Despite these facts, the judge decreed that the de facto emancipation of Calgaro’s minor son by the county, school, and medical care providers did not constitute an infringement of constitutionally-protected parental rights.

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal pointed out, “The U.S. Constitution says that parental rights of fit parents are fundamental rights, fit parents’ parental rights over unemancipated minors cannot be terminated without due process. U.S. District Court Judge Magnuson decided that the defendants did not emancipate Ms. Calgaro’s son because only a court order can do that. However, then, oddly, Judge Magnuson ruled that Ms. Calgaro’s claims were meritless because she did not name a specific policy of the county or school that caused the violation and deprivation of her parental rights.”

“There’s a real disconnect in the District Court decision where the mother’s parental rights are admitted but not honored. Then, at the same time, the District Court claims those agencies which are violating Calgaro’s rights are doing nothing wrong,” explained Kaardal. “The U.S. Court of Appeals needs to untangle this incompatible scenario by stating how the law of parental rights and emancipation work in an administrative state by addressing emancipation procedures in a way that protects parental rights, and by clarifying the law in a way that does not violate those rights.”