There are a considerable amount of stories in the news recently that revolve around the rights of the parent. In Massachusetts, the Pelletier family is fighting to regain custody of their 15-year-old daughter Justina after the state took custody of her in February 2013. Just this week, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of the German family seeking asylum because their home country forbids homeschooling. Fortunately, the Romeike family was ultimately granted “indefinite deferred action status,” but the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the appeal speaks volumes. In New Jersey, a 19-year-old has taken her parent’s to court to demand child support even though she chose to leave the house because she did not wish to abide by her parent’s rules.
In all of these cases, the rights of the parents have been called into question, and on radio this morning, Michael Farris of ParentalRights.org joined Glenn to discuss the work his organization is doing to introduce a ‘Parental Rights Amendment’ to states around the country.
“That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Michael, because you also run ParentalRights.org. And you and David Barton have been working on some things. I called David a couple of weeks ago and I said, ‘David, what can we possibly do?’ And he said there is a law in six states that has been passed, and it stops things like Justina,” Glenn said. “You have a right to discipline your child the way you see fit. You have a right to raise them you see fit – religious education and health care are all under this particular law that has been passed in six states.”
The Parental Rights Amendment focuses on two key principles:
- Fit parents should be allowed to direct the upbringing of their children.
- American legislators, not international tribunals, should make the public policy for America on families and children.
Glenn asked Michael to explain what the passage of the amendment at the state level will combat.
“It will stop the government from assuming that it has the ability to parent your child… That whole philosophy needs to be stopped dead in its tracks,” Michael explained. “And we need to say: Parents are in charge of raising their kids… not the government, not the courts, not the public schools, not the kids themselves. Only one person can be the decision-maker for a child. It's going to be the parents. Not any of these other things.”
Pat raised the obvious concern of how this amendment will effect the prosecution of child abusers. Michael explained that cases of child abuse undoubtedly satisfy the “compelling interest test.”
“If you need to stop child abuse, that's compelling interest. And what it boils down to is: Our statute requires them to have evidence of that,” Michael explained. “If you're going to intervene in a family with kids, you have to have evidence that they're harming their child. You got evidence that they're harming their child? Okay. That's fine. But if you don't have evidence that their harming their child and you can’t prove it in court, then you need to let the parents raise these kids.”
You can learn more about the Parental Rights Amendment and what you can do to get the legislation passed in your state HERE.
Glenn believes this legislation will be fundamental to maintaining parental rights and freedoms.
“I so appreciate what you guys are doing… We need to do everything in our power to stop it, and then rely on God,” Glenn concluded. “What we can do is pass this in all of our states. And you can find this at ParentalRights.org. Michael, thank you so much for all the work that you do. I think you're a very important organization.”
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