James v. Rowlands

PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

The Fourteenth Amendment protects parents’ fundamental right to participate in the care, custody, and management of their children. Lassiter v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 452 U.S. 18, 27, 101 S.Ct. 2153, 68 L.Ed.2d 640 (1981). This right extends to parents who, like the plaintiff here, have shared legal custody but lack physical custody of their children. See Brittain v. Hansen, 451 F.3d 982, 992 (9th Cir.2006). In this case, we are asked to determine the circumstances under which the Fourteenth Amendment requires public officials to inform a parent with only joint legal…