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Welcome to the EPPiC Broadcast: Empowering Parents and Protecting Children. Featuring personal stories, breaking news, and insightful commentary, we’ll encourage and inform you on the issue of family and parental rights as you guide and protect that child who is your world.

The views and opinions expressed by our podcast guests are not necessarily those of the EPPiC Broadcast or the Parental Rights Foundation. In the interest of furthering our nonpartisan mission of educating the public about parental rights, we seek to feature a broad diversity of views and opinions relating to parental rights. If you have thoughts about our podcast or a particular podcast guest, we welcome your feedback at foundation@parentalrights.org.

Recent Episodes

All Episodes

When CPS Is at the Door, with Jim Mason, Kathleen Creamer, and Martin Guggenheim

By Sheila Roberts | November 12, 2024

This week, we have the privilege of hosting not one, not two, but three guests! We speak with Jim Mason, the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, Kathleen Creamer, the managing attorney at Community Legal Services’ Family Advocacy Unit, and Martin Guggenheim, the founder and retired co-director of New York University School of Law’s Family…

Rewind: Before You Call CPS, with Vivek Sankaren

By Sheila Roberts | November 5, 2024

This week, we’re rewinding to a conversation with Vivek Sankaran from June 2021.  When faced with a struggling family, bystanders can be quick to call CPS, not realizing that child protective agencies often aren’t equipped to help families and rush to punish them instead.  Vivek Sankaren is working to reform this broken system and provide…

100 Years of Pierce v. Society of Sisters, with Melissa Moschella

By Sheila Roberts | October 29, 2024

This week, our guest is Melissa Moschella, professor of practice and philosophy at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Center for Church Life. Her areas of expertise include natural law, biomedical ethics, and the family, especially parental rights. She’s also the author of To Whom Do Children Belong: Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children’s Autonomy.  This week, Melissa…

Parents Defending Education, with Nicki Neily

By Sheila Roberts | October 22, 2024

This week, our guest is Nicki Neily, the founder and president of Parents Defending Education. Parents Defending Education is a national grassroots organization working to preserve parents’ voices in their children’s public school education. Today, Nicki tells us how she came to found this organization and about the important work it is doing.  The EPPiC…

Star Wars and CPS, with Josh Gupta-Kagan

By Sheila Roberts | October 15, 2024

What does the recent Star Wars show The Acolyte have to do with the flaws in our real-world child welfare system? As it turns out, more than you might think!  This week, our guest is Josh Gupta-Kagan, a clinical professor of law and director of the Family Defense Clinic at Columbia University’s School of Law.…

Narrowing the Front Door, with Angela Burton

By Sheila Roberts | October 8, 2024

Our guest this week is Angela Burton, founder and co-chair of the New York City Narrowing the Front Door workgroup. Angela is also the founder of the Repeal CAPTA workgroup. Previously, Angela has worked within the New York State child welfare system and she currently works closely with families navigating the system.  Today, Angela tells…

Parental Rights & Appreciation Month, with Jackie Rosario and Patti Sullivan

By Sheila Roberts | October 1, 2024

This week, we talk with Jackie Rosario, board member at the Indian River Public School Board in Florida, and Patti Sullivan, Parental Rights Foundation State Coordinator in Florida. The Indian River Public School Board recently passed a proclamation declaring October “Parental Rights and Appreciation Month.” Jackie and Patti tell us about how they passed the…

Working Toward Systemic Child Welfare Reform, with Chris Gottlieb

By Sheila Roberts | September 3, 2024

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We’re kicking off season 9 with returning guest Christine Gottlieb. Chris has been newly appointed the Director of the New York University School of Law’s Family Defense Clinic. Today she tells us about the work the Clinic does to defend individual families in child welfare cases and to advocate for…

Listening to Lived Experience with Sixto Cancel

By Sheila Roberts | May 7, 2024

This week, we’re joined by Sixto Cancel. Sixto is the founder and CEO of Think of Us, a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to reform and transform the child welfare system, led and guided by people who have been directly impacted by this system. Sixto tells us about the work that Think of Us is doing,…

Recapping the National Conference on Parent Representation with Kathleen Creamer

By Sheila Roberts | April 30, 2024

This week, Kathleen Creamer is returning to the EPPiC Broadcast. Kathleen is the managing attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. This week, Kathleen gives us an overview of many topics under discussions at the ABA Center on Children and the Law’s recent National Conference on Parent Representation, which featured…

Progress for Parental Rights in Texas with Andrew Brown

By Sheila Roberts | April 16, 2024

What effects would legislation proposed in various states have on families and the states’ child welfare systems? To answer that, we looked to Texas, where the same measures have already become law. This week, we talked with Andrew Brown, vice president of Policy with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, about some of the laws Texas…

New Parental Rights Legislation, with Patti Sullivan

By Sheila Roberts | April 9, 2024

This week, we’re talking with Patti Sullivan, the Parental Rights Foundation’s Florida State Coordinator. Patti and Michael were in DC to bring attention to two national bills aimed at protecting parental rights: the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act and the Parental Rights Amendment. They discuss those bills and their efforts in this episode. The EPPiC Broadcast is…