Parental Rights News

Pennsylvania State Representative Wendy Fink is sounding the alarm: The Shapiro Administration has proposed new Department of Health regulations “reminiscent of the COVID lockdown era that would infringe upon constitutional norms and civil liberties.” Some of the concerns include a provision allowing Department of Health agents to enter homes, schools, or other locations without a warrant; a mandate that every vaccine provider report every vaccination to a statewide vaccine database; and a provision allowing DOH staff to interact with children at school without parental notice or consent. You can see Rep. Fink’s page listing her concerns here . Your parental rights should not end at the public-school door, nor be pushed aside simply because the one doing the pushing serves with the state Department of Health. However great the State’s interest in public health, you as the parent are best situated to make the right healthcare decisions for your child . Concerned parents in Pennsylvania are urged to submit comments on the proposed regulations during the public comment period, which ends September 21. Comment letters must be emailed to irrc@irrc.state.pa.us and RA-DHCHAPTR27PROPRG@pa.gov . To be considered, the email must reference Rulemaking #10-242: Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases; IRRC #3490. Any questions may be directed to the office of Rep. Fink, whose contact information is on her webpage . Thank you for making your voice heard for all families in Pennsylvania and for protecting children by empowering parents.

We’re back! The EPPiC Broadcast , the official podcast of the Parental Rights Foundation, launched its 13th season on Tuesday, September 8, with Albany Law School Associate Professor of Law Dale Margolin Cecka. (EPPiC stands for our motto, slightly reordered: Empowering Parents, Protecting Children .) This week, Professor Cecka and I spoke at length about the anonymous Child Protective Services (CPS) call that was used to traumatize the family of former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg earlier this summer. Cecka is an expert on the topic, having first come to the attention of the Parental Rights Foundation with an article she wrote for the Catholic University Law Review in 2015, “Abolish Anonymous Reporting to Child Abuse Hotlines.” As we discuss in the episode, today 47 states allow anonymous reports to their child abuse hotlines , where a single allegation of wrongdoing can lead to intrusion of a family’s home by eager, well-meaning child welfare investigators on a fishing expedition. As Secretary Buttigieg discovered for himself, the investigation alone can be severely traumatizing for both parents and children. Next week, my conversation is with Jim Mason , president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) , and a former president and board chairman of the Parental Rights Foundation. In the episode, Jim speaks about the recent setback that homeschooling suffered in Connecticut , which passed a law restricting homeschool freedom, the first such “step backwards” since the modern homeschool movement began in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. He also speaks of the reasons to remain optimistic, and how homeschooling has now moved “beyond being a movement” to “an enduring American tradition.” Each episode lasts about 30 minutes and highlights one facet of life where your parental rights might be involved. As these two episodes suggest, this season will stay the course set out in the first twelve of finding and balancing experts from both sides of the political spectrum . We’ve found that this helps every listener to find someone they are comfortable with—and to be challenged by someone or something with which they are not. Most importantly, it demonstrates that, regardless of one’s political orientation, we are all in this together. Parental Rights are vital for everyone! Looking ahead, this season will include discussions on reinstating parental rights after their termination (TPR, or Termination of Parental Rights); a poll about educational freedom; a study on Hidden Foster Care across all fifty states; a new book on child welfare reform (not even out yet!); and more. We’ll look at bipartisan legislative issues from Pennsylvania to Texas to Illinois, and follow parental rights in U.S. federal courts. The season runs roughly three months, through the end of November. So, I invite you to take a listen today, and pass it on to your podcast listening friends, too. The EPPiC Broadcast may be just the parental rights coverage you and they have been looking for! Thank you for standing with us to protect children by empowering parents!

Last week I attended the policy summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council, an association of conservative policy organizations, private sector organizations, and state lawmakers, to present the need to take up reform legislation. Specifically, I presented the need to replace “anonymous reporting” with “confidential reporting” to child abuse hotlines.  The following is taken from… The post Why We Need “Confidential Reporting” Reform appeared first on Parental Rights Foundation.

Ideas that take root in the United Nations have an unsettling tendency to eventually make their way into America’s courtrooms. That’s why the Parental Rights Foundation submitted a comment to the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Child Privacy last month, urging respect for the privacy of the child’s family and home, and not just the… The post Do Children Have a Right to Family Privacy? appeared first on Parental Rights Foundation.