Care and Protection of Eve.

Summary

The court held that parents who temporarily lose custody retain constitutional rights to direct their child's religious upbringing. Applying the Massachusetts constitutional free-exercise standard, the court concluded that the Department of Children and Families failed to show that exempting this child from routine vaccinations would substantially hinder its compelling interest in child health, particularly because Massachusetts permits religious exemptions and the department had not consistently vaccinated the child's siblings. The court therefore reversed the order permitting vaccination.