Last year an interesting case was decided by an appellate court in Wyoming.  The case related to the custody of children who were removed from their parent’s home because of neglect.  Later, the mother left the state and abandoned  all contact with the children. The father, however, continued his efforts with the state’s child social service agency to rejuvenate his relationship with the children. One of the principal concerns of the government’s agents was the father’s continued use of marijuana.  As a result, the agency refused to allow the father access to the children when urine tests confirmed the father’s use of marijuana.  Resultantly the father’s contact with the children became sporadic. 

Ultimately, the father requested the trial court to provide him with some assistance.  The trial court determined that the child service agency could not condition the father’s access to the children with marijuana abstinence.  The Court observed that there was no evidence that the father’s use of marijuana hindered his relationship with the children.  On appeal, the court affirmed the trial court’s ruling and rejected the social service agency’s contention that continued use of marijuana by the father would affect the health and safety of the children.  Specifically, the Court concluded that social service agency had “not provided evidence to connect the father’s marijuana’s use with his unfitness as a parent” and that was especially so, given the fact that the father never used marijuana in the presence of the children.