Joining the Parental Rights Movement, with Shaun Alexander and Ethan Demme

Welcome to week two of our celebration of 15 years of ParentalRights.org! This week, Michael talks with Shaun Alexander, 2005 NFL MVP and Vice President of the Parental Rights Foundation, and Ethan Demme, CEO of  Demme Learning and former chairman of the Parental Rights Foundation Board.  Shaun and Ethan share why protecting parental rights is important to…

Read More

15 Years of Parental Rights, with Michael Farris

In this first episode of our fourth season, we talk with Michael Farris, founding president of ParentalRights.org and currently the president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom. This month, ParentalRights.org is celebrating its 15th anniversary! To celebrate, we’re interviewing key figures from our organization’s history, beginning with our founding president.  Michael explains to us why he…

Read More

Keeping Children with Their Parents, with Shanta Trivedi

Our child welfare system exists to protect children from harm. Yet, in most jurisdictions in America, courts fail to consider the trauma that children will suffer if they are removed from their parents. The best way to protect most children is to support their parents and families. This week, Michael talks with Shanta Trivedi, an Assistant…

Read More

The Right to Choose a Babysitter, with Peter Kamakawiwoole

A new law in Virginia makes it illegal for parents to choose babysitters based on shared beliefs. Not only does this new statue violate previously existing law, it represents a dangerous threat to parental rights. This week, Homeschool Legal Defense Association staff attorney Peter Kamakawiwoole, who has helped us to file suit against this law, joins us…

Read More

The Case for Blind Removals, with Dr. Jessica Pryce

Our child welfare system removes minority children from their parents’ homes at a much higher rate than white children. What if there were a way to remove racial biases from CPS child removals and end the over-representation of black and minority children in our child welfare system?  This week, Michael talks with Dr. Jessica Pryce,…

Read More

Making More Time for Parents, with Andrew Brown

The 21st Century Children and Family Act, recently introduced into the House of Representatives, promises to reduce “legal orphans” in the foster care system by supporting families up front and keeping them together. Can we expect to see this change succeed? This week, Michael talks with Andrew Brown, a distinguished senior fellow of child and family…

Read More

Parents and the 2021 Virginia Election, with Generation Joshua

The recent Virginia gubernatorial election signaled a win for parental rights, arguably on a national level. Will the growing grassroots support for parental rights continue? This week, Michael talks with Joel Grewe and Jeremiah Lorrig, director and deputy director, respectively, of Generation Joshua — an organization dedicated to educating youth about the political process and…

Read More

What Will It Take to Reunite Families?, with Martin Guggenheim

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was passed in 1997 to keep children from languishing in foster care, but today it gives state agencies a cash bonus for breaking families apart. How did we get here, and what can we do to give families a fighting chance to stay together?  This week, we talk…

Read More

The Problem with ASFA, with Jerry Milner

This week, Jim talks again with Jerry Milner, former Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Jerry now works with Family Integrity & Justice Works. Jerry explains why the Adoption and Safe Families Act, created in the 1980s, needs to be reformed to preserve families, rather than…

Read More

A Pandemic of Child Abuse?, with Anna Arons

In March 2020, we heard ominous warnings of ‘pandemic of child abuse’ accompanying the COVID-19 shut downs. Children went home, away from the watchful eyes of mandated reporters, and back to their families.  But did cases of child abuse actually increase during the added stress of the pandemic?  This week, Jim sits down with Anna…

Read More