Announcing PRF’s New Board of Advisors

I couldn’t be more excited to tell you about a new development in the structure of the Parental Rights Foundation: We’ve formed a brand-new Board of Advisors!

For 17 years, starting as ParentalRights.org in 2007 and then as the Parental Rights Foundation from 2014, our organization has gathered and shared some of the best scholarship in the country pertaining to the history and constitutional nature of parental rights.

When new parent groups arose out of the general dissatisfaction that followed the COVID pandemic in 2020, many of them looked to us as the “older sibling” organization who has been here all along, knows what’s going on, and has the information they need to make wise policy decisions and adopt meaningful goals and aims.

In state houses and even the halls of Congress, we have a reputation for being scholarly and serious. We are a well-respected voice for parents and families across the country.

And we have faithful supporters like you to thank for it.

But now, we’re taking it a step further. Now, the academic and policy giants who have provided that scholarship all along are gathered on one Board of Advisors where they can continue to weigh in, bringing their highly recognized names and credentials with them.

What’s more, we’ve managed to bring together scholars from across the political spectrum—experts who don’t necessarily agree on everything, but who share the same heartbeat for parental rights that you do.

To make it work, we chose to form our Board of Advisors into two committees, allowing us to bring together the top scholars in each of the two primary areas we work in: the Constitution, and Child Welfare.

The Committee on the Constitution

The Committee on the Constitution aims to provide policy and scholarship to support our efforts to amend the Constitution to include parental rights. This committee includes former Parental Rights Foundation president Will Estrada and former U.S. Representative Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), the congressman who first introduced the Parental Rights Amendment in Congress all the way back in 2008.

It also includes Melissa Moschella, a professor of philosophy at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C, author of To Whom Do Children Belong, and a repeat guest on our EPPiC Broadcast podcast. (That’s a hint to visit parentalrightsfoundation.org/podcast, search for “Moschella,” and listen to her episodes!) 

And we just added Emilie Kao, formerly of Heritage Institute and now a VP at Alliance Defending Freedom, who brings years of experience to our advisory board. She has presented to the UN in New York and Geneva and was an adjunct professor of International Human Rights Law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.

And, of course, the Committee on the Constitution would not be complete without the primary author of the proposed Parental Rights Amendment, Michael Farris. 

While I am honored to have Mike return to parental rights as the new chairman of ParentalRights.org, announced in November, I am far more excited to have him on this Board of Advisors. This is the place where his voice and his pen will be able to make a real difference.

The Committee on Child Welfare

Then there’s the Committee on Child Welfare, where we have gathered scholarly giants and front-line veterans of the family defense realm. 

Josh Gupta-Kagan, a law professor at the Columbia University School of Law, in a 2020 law review article coined the term “Hidden Foster Care” to describe instances when child welfare agencies push parents to “voluntarily” place their children with relatives (“or else we’ll place them with strangers”). Such arrangements do avoid the foster care system, but they also avoid data tracking, court oversight, and any due process protections.

Kathleen Creamer is the managing attorney of the Family Law Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. She leads a team of attorneys on the front lines defending families from intrusive “child welfare” investigations. She is also on the steering committee of the American Bar Association’s National Alliance for Parent Representation, among other posts and honors related to family defense.

And Joyce MacMillan is a community activist and organizer from New York City who has spoken before Congress and multiple public rallies, as well as being often quoted in major media publications, to call attention to the plight of families caught up in “the System.” Herself an African American mother who has been through a CPS investigation, Joyce is a sympathetic voice for families whose parental rights are overrun. (And you can hear her on our podcast, as well!)

And just as the Committee on the Constitution would not be complete without Michael Farris, so the Committee on Child Welfare would not be complete without Dr. Martin Guggenheim of New York University School of Law’s Family Defense Clinic. Marty is recognized by many in the country, and by all the scholars listed above, as “one of the leading experts on children’s rights and family law,” per his NYU website bio. Marty has been working on the front lines to defend families for more than 40 years, including through the Family Defense Clinic, which he founded 25+ years ago. He is the author of numerous works, including What’s Wrong with Children’s Rights (where he faithfully takes issue with those who “treat children’s interests as antagonistic to those of their parents”).

The Impact

These are not the entirety of these committees; we are still working on adding to each group. But this sampling provides a picture of the stature and quality of scholars we are gathering to promote the cause of the Parental Rights Foundation.

With them on board—and on speed dial!—the impact we can have on legislatures, in Congress, and even in the public discourse is greatly increased.

Undoubtedly, these highly respected voices will create additional opportunities for our organization to influence the culture and the legal landscape of family defense and parental rights.

But that also means we need the resources to pursue those opportunities. And that’s where you come in.

Can I count on your support today to help us seize the opportunities created by this Board of Advisors going forward?

Your gift of $5, $10, or even $100 can empower us to publish research, articles, or reports by members of this illustrious board. You can also empower us to take these resources to local, state, and federal lawmakers who need to know the latest and most reliable facts about constitutional parental rights and the state of families in the “child welfare” system.

I am simply humbled by the opportunity to be associated with some of the finest minds in the fields of parental rights and family preservation. And I am likewise humbled by the generosity that private donors have shown our organization over the years.

Right now, your investment can empower us to continue to carry the message of parental rights to every corner that needs to hear it, even as these scholars and family defense veterans help us sharpen and amplify that message to its fullest effect.

Together, we truly can protect children by empowering parents with our new Board of Advisors as we continue to preach the truth about family preservation: that children thrive best when they can safely stay in their parents’ care.

Would you please help us respond to these new opportunities by sending in your best gift today?