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What are the legalities involved? I believe that while the child is in foster care (reunification as a goal or not) the biological parent does not have any of the custodial rights of the child, but only visitation rights.
Compare to a divorce situation: mother has sole managing conservatorship and father has visitation only. That means that dad doesn't have any of the rights of parenthood like taking a child to the doctor's or approving of an underage marriage or filing a lawsuit on the child's behalf or obtaining a passport, etc. The only right dad legally retains is visitation. Since he is still legally Dad, the courts can change those rights to reinstate them at a later date if they so choose. Right now, the mom solely holds those rights.
Back to foster care: in this situation, mom does not have legal rights as the child's guardian. Her rights are to visit, which according to hospital policy can only happen during certain hours. The courts can reinstate those rights at a later time, but right now she doesn't have them.
Her child was hospitalized and ill. He didn't need a visit at ten at night. Yes, it might stink. But I think Tabby made the best decisions for the child's sake. It is her job to focus on the child's needs, not the mother's. I think whether or not she should have tried to bend the rules would be a matter of circumstances and personalities--totally subjective--and not something that we should second guess her about here.
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