NewsTidbits
Good News from ALEC
What better way to introduce important parental rights reforms than to propose them to all 50 states at once? This opportunity may sound unbelievable, but the Parental Rights Foundation has the chance to do exactly that. The Parental Rights Foundation (PRF) is a member of the nonpartisan American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). As the “laboratories…
Read MoreWhat Is the Biggest Threat to Parental Rights?
I’ve been fighting for parental rights for over ten years, and you might be amazed to hear what I’ve come to believe is the biggest threat to parental rights. Because the biggest threat to the legal rights of families in America today isn’t that more than 2,000 children are removed from their families every three…
Read MorePhila. Public Defenders, Lancaster Co. Foster Parents Hit with $4.5M Judgment in Child Abuse Case
For a period of three-and-a-half years, the children were taken to the basement of the Lancaster County home in which they lived, were told to lie down on a freezer, and were beaten by hand or with objects, according to court papers https://www.law.com/thelegalintelligencer/2018/11/26/phila-public-defenders-lancaster-co-foster-parents-hit-with-4-5m-judgment-in-child-abuse-case/?fbclid=IwAR0ZUqTWgk3_wNqH6AhENR7jdmt9Uuop9oP0qRsLHoLG2eREpuOTjQ9HDWs&slreturn=20190101095057
Read MoreQuick Take: Good and Bad News
Good news: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against counties examining “the genitals of children removed from homes on suspicion of abuse without a court order or consent from their parents.” Bad news: San Diego County had been performing these examinations “even in cases in which sexual abuse was not suspected.”…
Read MoreThe State “Assigns Legal Parentage”?
James Dwyer, a respected law professor at the prestigious College of William and Mary, has written another book. According to this summary, Dwyer believes the state “assigns legal parentage”–in other words, children belong to the state, and the state allows parents to parent. Thus the state should evaluate parents at their children’s birth and decide…
Read MoreAlfie Evans: A Judge, Not Parents, Decides a Baby’s Fate
Picture from #ALFIESARMY Twitter page Earlier this year, the world watched as baby Alfie Evans’ fate was decided, not by his loving, fit parents, but by a judge. Below are some news articles on the case, along with brief commentary. Alder Hey spent more than £145K on legal fees – This article explains that the…
Read MoreCharlie Guard: Do Parents or Judges Decide?
The United Kingdom’s highest court has determined it was in Charlie Gard’s “best interest” for his parents to give up on him and watch him die. The European Court of Human Rights sadly agreed. Under European law, this rendered Charlie hopeless, his parents powerless to intervene. His parents raised more than $1.6 million in private…
Read MoreMedical Child Abuse: Sean’s Story
Gary and Nancy took their nine-month-old son, Sean, into his “regular pediatrician’s office” (p. 25) because he seemed to be having trouble moving around. Due to an orthopedist not being able to see him quickly, though, they wound up at a hospital. At the hospital, Sean was subjected to a skeletal survey and CT scan…
Read MoreMedical Child Abuse: Justin’s Story
Imagine taking your 35-day-old infant, who had been ill since birth and under medical care, into the hospital due to vomiting and being told that the CT scans showed “an acute skull fracture” (p. 33). In reality, baby Justin did not have a skull fracture, but no one knew that yet. His parents had no…
Read MoreMedical Child Abuse: Baby Richard’s Story
Imagine finding yourself accused of child abuse because you can’t explain how your four-week-old baby fractured his leg. That’s exactly what happened in the case of baby Richard. The parents simply took their 4-week-old baby boy to the hospital for a swollen leg, and then found themselves accused of abuse. To prevent losing custody, they…
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