Illinois Judge Allows Unvaccinated Mother To See Her Minor Son, Reversing His Own Decision

The week started on a happy note for a divorced mom, who can now see her 11-year-old son despite not taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

An Illinois judge, James Shapiro, had earlier barred her from doing so, but on Monday he reversed the decision. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Cook County judge also asked other parents in his courtroom about their status of vaccination and ordered them as well as children to get vaccinated.

In the case of the divorced mom, Rebecca Firlit, Shapiro said that “this court hereby vacates paragraph 3 of its Aug. 11, 2021 order based on the absence of a pleading or hearing on serious endangerment” pursuant to Illinois law.

Her lawyer said that in the case of Firlit, Shapiro exceeded his judicial authority. The attorney said that his decision to reverse his own ruling was spurred by national backlash, and she thinks there has been a lot of media outcry.

On why she refused to get vaccinated, Firlit said, “I’ve had adverse reactions to vaccines in the past and was advised not to get vaccinated by my doctor. It poses a risk."

On Monday, Firlit, who divorced her husband seven years ago and had been sharing custody and parenting time, expressed her happiness, and said that she was looking forward to see her son. She was surprised on learning about the judge's decision, but also felt grateful.

On the other hand, Firlit’s ex-husband Matthew Duiven's lawyer was not happy with it, and called the judge’s reversal “unfortunate," and said that he was working on an emergency motion to challenge it. The attorney has been supportive of the initial decision to block the mother's access to her son, and said that there are children who lost their lives because of COVID-19, and that he thinks every child should be safe, so he agreed that the mom should be vaccinated.

When Firlit was initially not allowed to meet her son, she said that she missed him more than anything, and it had been very difficult, reported FOX 32 Chicago. She had said that it was not in her son's best interest to be away from his mom, and that she was not posing a danger to him.