Pictured above: Parental Rights Foundation Vice President Patti Sullivan with January Littlejohn at a Florida event in 2025.
In this episode, Allison Green, Chief Legal Officer at the National Association of Counsel for Children, and Natalece Washington, Policy Counsel at NACC, join us to discuss the Counsel for Kids Campaign and the effort to guarantee legal representation for children in foster care. They explain the current gap in access to counsel across states and make the case for why children, like parents, should have representation in proceedings that deeply impact their lives and family relationships. They highlight how legal advocacy for children can improve outcomes, including faster reunification, fewer placement disruptions, and greater stability. Allison and Natalece also explore how children’s attorneys function within the courtroom, the distinction between best interest and stated interest models of representation, and how these approaches affect both children and parents. The conversation touches on the challenges families face in navigating the child welfare system, the importance of accountability in service provision, and the growing momentum among states to expand access to counsel for children. They also discuss ongoing federal efforts and what the future may hold for ensuring every child’s voice is heard in court. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, President of the Parental Rights Foundation. Stay informed on parental rights news by signing up for email alerts at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/ . Resources Mentioned: NACC Model of Representation Chart Daily Caller Article by Allison Green: Victory For Kids And Fiscal Responsibility Hiding In Plain Sight
Today, it is my honor and privilege to announce the first-of-its-kind Parental Rights Foundation publication , The State of Parental Rights in America 2026 (SOPRA-26) , featuring scholars and lived-experience experts from the Parental Rights Foundation’s Board of Advisors . The publication strives to take a snapshot of where we are in our defense of parental rights (and the families they protect) right here at the start of 2026. The journal features a few data points to help us track progress year by year, from the number of children in foster care to the list of states with parental rights statutes. But its true strength is in the articles, which take on the issues and highlight the cases that are of greatest importance right now. Columbia University professor Josh Gupta-Kagan takes on the issue of “Hidden Foster Care,” or out-of-home placements that are supposed to be voluntary (but often aren’t) in the interest of avoiding foster care. Martin Guggenheim , NYU professor of law emeritus, writes about the hypocrisy of a child welfare system that claims to seek the best for children, while persisting in practices we all know to be detrimental. And lived-experience advocate (and activist powerhouse!) Joyce McMillan highlights legislation in New York that offers a rare and welcome step forward in protecting families from anonymous hotline calls. These three represent the Parental Rights Foundation’s Board of Advisors Committee on Child Welfare. They are joined by three additional scholars from the Committee on the Constitution. Constitutional lawyer Michael Farris , founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association and the Parental Rights Foundation, rejoices in the Supreme Court’s overturning of a case he himself argued decades ago—one that never sat well with him. Melissa Moschella , professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, offers a Catholic perspective on the importance of the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor , probably the most important parental rights case in a quarter century (and, incidentally, the same case Michael Farris celebrates in his article). And Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Emilie Kao tackles the “mature minor doctrine,” opining that it may be time to end this notion in state and federal law. In light of existing Supreme Court precedent, it is certainly a discussion whose time has come. When we first launched the Foundation in 2014, our mission was to provide research with which to educate policymakers, lawmakers, and the general public on the important matters of parental rights. In the years since, we have also found it important for these conversations to take place across the political aisle. With this publication, we lean into both. I dare say many readers will find something in SOPRA-26 that they disagree with. But you will find much more that you can cheer on and support. That’s the beauty of working together across the aisle: it drives us to always “keep the main thing the main thing.” We come from all walks and from many different places on the political spectrum. But we stand united in this: that parents, not government bureaucrats, are in the best position to make the decisions for children, leading them to become their very best selves. I hope you will enjoy reading SOPRA-26 as much as we enjoyed putting it together. I am deeply indebted to our entire Board of Advisors, especially these six who authored papers for this inaugural publication. (Hopefully other members can add their voices to the next edition, too!) Protecting children by empowering parents. It’s the Foundation’s motto, and the theme of the State of Parental Rights in America 2026 . I hope you’ll download and enjoy your copy today—and share it with those who need to hear these voices!
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…
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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.
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…
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