After a joyful family reunion, euphoria quickly turns to anger after the lost offspring is used by its parents as a biological weapon against the Borg and Voyager must rush to the rescue to save the boy from impending re-assimilation.
The episode raises an interesting moral question: Is it legitimate to use one's own child as a weapon against an overwhelming enemy if this is the only chance to defeat their superiority? As with every Borg episode, this episode is all about who determines the individuality of a living being and what defines individuality in the end. This question is taken to the extreme when Icheb's parents not only want to sacrifice him for a supposedly higher goal, but they have also genetically bred him for that very purpose.
I disagree with some reviewers who see using a child as a living weapon as a valid option. Basically, this is the same as what happens in many parts of the world today - when parents instill hateful ideologies in their children at an early age and thus raise them to be terrorists and martyrs. These people, who are constantly being attacked by the Borg, would of course have had other ways to defend themselves. Among other things, resettlement. Or one of the adults could have genetically modified themselves with the pathogen and then embarked on a self-determined suicide mission. Knowingly sacrificing someone else without their consent in order to defend yourself is morally wrong and unjustifiable.
At least now we know that Seven might not be the worst mother after all. Punishment protocol 9-Alpha is still pretty humane compared to what Icheb's birth mother pulls out of the hat.