Smoking foes try to stop parents from lighting up

[MadMonk]

In this article it mentions that Oklahoma has a law pertaining to not allowing foster parents to smoke in their own home around children. Anyone know of this? I'm not a smoker so this may have slipped under my radar, but it seems a little invasive to me.
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/200...2826-9119r.htm

Anti-smoking activists who are driving cigarettes from public places across the country are now targeting private homes -- especially those with children.
Their efforts so far have contributed to regulations in three states -- Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont -- forbidding foster parents from smoking around children.

[PUGalicious]

What about the health of the foster children?

Being a foster parent is a volunteered responsibility. When watching others' children, the government does indeed have an interest in safety. That's one reason child care providers (even those within the home) are under government scrutiny.

[MadMonk]

So are foster children more susceptible to 2nd-hand smoke problems than birth children? I understand your point, but it would be a very small leap from this to doing the same thing for anyone who has children.

In a highly publicized Virginia case, a judge barred Caroline County resident Tamara Silvius from smoking around her children as a condition for child visitation.

See?

[PUGalicious]

Are foster children more susceptible? In some cases, yes because of diminished health from abuse and neglect; in other cases, no. But in all cases, they are someone else's children.

The overall question, though, is worthy of consideration. Children do not have the capability to choose not to live in a smoke-filled home, yet their health is jeopardized just the same. The government interjects itself in other cases of an unhealthy environment, like bug-infested homes, unclean living environments, unsafe living conditions, etc. etc.

I guess the larger question would be, if the parents are responsible enough to watch out for their children's health, who is there to protect the children?

[Midtowner]

Do foster parents have a higher standard of care than birth parents? Certainly. They're members of the DHS child welfare team. Foster parents are in essence contractors for the state for the purposes of caring for the wards of the state. They are subject to any rules that were agreed on in their contract, and further any regulation that the state prescribes for them.

As far as Article 10, Section 72 which governs foster parents, I couldn't find this smoking provision. How exactly does the state go about imposing this rule if it's not a statute? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

[MadMonk]

I understand what you are saying on foster parents, but what a parent who smokes being denied visitation rights if they smoke in the presense of the child?

[Midtowner]

Things such as this have happened...

[Jack]

Don't you just love the discrimination showed towards smokers? A parent smoking doesn't impact their ability to raise a foster child.

[PUGalicious]

...but it does impact the health of the foster child...

Don't you just love the selfishness of the smoker who doesn't care how their habit affects others around them?