Keli Goff: Should a Parent Who Kills One Child Be Allowed to Have Others?

But perhaps the only thing more troubling than the story of these men is the fact that they are not actually strong candidates for “Worst Father of the Year,” not even close. They may have created children and abandoned them, but at least they didn’t physically harm them. A better contender for the title might be the dad who, along with his wife, decided to pimp out his 14-year-old daughter to a 60-something man in exchange for the man covering the couple’s car payments. Then, of course, there is the woman who filmed herself raping her 10-month-old because her boyfriend asked her to, a definite contender for both the “Worst Mother of the Year” title and “Worst Human Being Ever” title. My point with these horror stories? Despite a new, terrible story emerging each and every day about people harming children (other people’s and their own), saying that not every person should be allowed the privilege of being a parent remains one of the most controversial things anyone can say, despite the fact that it is 100-percent true. (Click here to see a list of the worst celebrity parents.)

Before the ACLU and every pro-life group in America team up to start a petition lambasting me, no, I am not advocating some mass sterilization program. But I am here to raise a question. If a doctor is found to have committed multiple errors or acts of negligence that harm patients, he eventually loses his license to practice medicine. If a police officer is found to have harmed too many suspects without cause, she loses her badge. If a teacher is caught sexually abusing a child, he can never teach children again. So why is it that as law currently stands, there is nothing to stop that same teacher from having his own children with a spouse or partner after serving his time (which, as I have written before, is likely to only be a few years)? Similarly, if a man or woman is convicted of severely injuring one of his or her children, even an injury that results in death, currently nothing can be done to monitor in any way this person’s treatment of future children that he or she may have after being released from prison. Does that make sense to you? It certainly doesn’t make sense to me.