| Abstract: | Responds to comments by R. E. Redding (see record 2002-08415-038) and by the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists and Social Workers et al (see record 2002-08415-039) on the present author's original article (see American Psychologist, 2001, Vol 56, 885-894) which advocated parental licensing, a process requiring prospective parents to meet legislatively defined criteria before they could conceive or adopt children. Redding argued the unconstitutionality of this proposal, and the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists and Social Workers et al took issue with Lykken's statement that persons "incapacitated by physical or mental disorder" be required to submit to a special dispensation by the family court to be licensed. The author responds that other legal scholars support the proposal of parental licensure, while they note that under the current judiciary, such measures would confront many obstacles. The author also explains his use of "incapacitated" with reference to the disabled with the intent to reflect the inability to perform basic and necessary parental functions as a consequence of mental or physical disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
