Letter from Executive Director

I look forward to seeing many of you at our first annual conference on Oct. 20th at the Columbus Airport Marriott.  If you need directions, please visit our website.  For those of you who are unable to attend the conference, please contact Matt Fuerst at mfuerst@law.capital.edu if you would like to receive the written materials relating to a particular part of the conference agenda.

One of the conference sessions, entitled “Protecting Children from Tobacco in School and at Home,” will discuss child custody issues relating to smoking.  As overwhelming scientific evidence has developed linking secondhand smoke to a wide variety of illnesses, courts have begun to issue custody and visitation orders protecting children from secondhand smoke exposure.  In addition to chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular illness, children exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to develop respiratory ailments including asthma.  The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that up to 1,000,000 children a year have their asthma symptoms exacerbated by exposure to secondhand smoke.

The Tobacco Public Policy Center recently released a fact sheet discussing the legal issues related to child custody and smoking.   As the fact sheet notes, “The courts have a duty to protect children who appear before them in custody-related matters and Ohio courts are increasingly issuing orders that prohibit parental smoking in the home when children are present.”  Courts are on solid legal footing when they issue such rulings.  Just this past August, an appellate court in Ashland County, Ohio upheld a custody order stating that the custodial parent “shall not smoke in the presence of the children, or otherwise expose them to second-hand smoke.” (Day v. Day, 2005 Ohio App. LEXIS 3940 (Ct. App. -5th Aug. 22, 2005)).  The court rejected a constitutional challenge to this provision, noting “an avalanche of authoritative scientific studies” establishing the dangers of secondhand smoke.

The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium (of which the Tobacco Public Policy Center is a member) recently published a legal synopsis entitled “Secondhand Smoke and the Family Courts: The Role of Smoke Exposure in Custody and Visitation Decisions.”  This valuable resource, written by Kathleen Hoke Dachille and Kristine Callahan, is available on the TCLC website.  As far as I am aware, this publication is the most thorough review available of child custody and visitation decisions from around the country.

I look forward to an interesting and productive discussion of this issue – and many others – at our conference on October 20th.