New Name, Same Aim

The second season of the Parental Rights Podcast launched Tuesday, under a different name: the EPPiC Broadcast.

Launched in January of this year, the Parental Rights Podcast’s first season featured such guests as the Jennifer Pelletier family, law professor Maxine Eichner, New York City activist Joyce McMillan, and constitutional law professor William Wagner. Season one concluded at the end of June, and you can listen to all 25 episodes at ParentalRightsFoundation.org/podcast.

With the approach of the second season, the Foundation opted for a name change. The switch from “Podcast” to “Broadcast” better reflects the structure of the program, which sounds a bit like a classic radio talk show or interview. Meanwhile, “EPPiC” stands for “Empowering Parents, Protecting Children,” because those values are the heart of our organization.

The first episode of season two, released on Tuesday, features “unschooling” advocate and alternative-education policy advisor Kerry McDonald, a research fellow with the CATO Institute and a policy advisor at the Foundation for Economic Education (Fee.org).

In this episode, Kerry and I discussed the current trends in education, as the 2020 pandemic has pushed a lot of parents to withdraw their children from public schools and to search for better alternatives. We also talked about the changes this year has brought within the public school structure.

Upcoming episodes will include the following guests:

• Josh Gupta-Kagan, author of the law review article “Hidden Foster Care”
• Parental Rights Foundation founder and constitutional law scholar Michael Farris, talking with current president Jim Mason on how the ongoing shift on the Supreme Court is likely to affect parental rights
• Demme Learning’s Ethan Demme (who is also chairman of the Foundation’s board), with more education analysis
• Attorney Diane Redleaf on the case of Vanessa Peoples, a mom whose story was featured in a recent ParentalRights.org newsletter

In November we will welcome Richard Wexler, founder of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, to take on rumors that child abuse is running rampant in the shadows caused by COVID-induced lockdowns; and we’ll bring you post-election analysis with Joel Grewe of Generation Joshua.

I hope you’ll check out the latest episode and work us into your regular weekly schedule. Each episode, lasting 30–45 minutes, will feature a different scholar, activist, witness, or victim of parental rights abuses; broaden your understanding of parental rights; and keep you informed of emerging trends or concerns.

We count season one a huge success (our weekly downloads were especially high for a fledgling new podcast), and we anticipate even bigger things from season two. We’re already seeing a terrific lineup fall into place.
I hope you’ll join us. To put it simply, this season is going to be EPPiC!

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Executive Director