I would like to see a thread with poll about "What should happen if/when Casey has another child."
I work for the state of Florida in child welfare and know a lot about the standards for removing children from homes as well as terminating parental rights. They are in civil court, so if a parent "pleads the fifth" and refuses to testify, the court can draw inferences to what they answer. Also, there are different standards of proof...for finding a child dependent on the state, the standard is preponderence of the evidence, and for terminating parental rights (which can be done based on EGREGIOUS abuse or neglect, including a parent's overt act or failure to act which causes another child's death) the standard is clear and convincing...a lower standard than beyond a reasonable doubt. ALSO, there is no right to a jury...so a judge, who knows the law, understands the law, makes the decision.
Anyways, long and short of it is, I felt a lot better when I thought about it and realized that if Casey does have another child in Florida, that child could be removed at birth and her rights terminated. I can only hope that whatever attorney is faced with the choice about whether to proceed along that line has the courage to act protectively.