Parental Rights in Wyoming
Resolution Supporting the PRA
We did it! Thanks in part to your support, in 2012, the Wyoming legislature adopted a resolution (HJR 3) calling on the U.S. Congress to propose the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and to pass it to the States for ratification. (The resolution was adopted with special dispensation during the budget session; since it wasn't related to the budget, a 2/3 vote was required to even allow it to be heard and assigned to a committee.) (Learn more about state resolutions.)
Wyoming Parental Rights News
One False Allegation Changed Everything
Dear Champion of Parental Rights, One hundred and forty-eight days. Imagine if that’s how long the government kept your child from you, without any evidence or justification. It sounds like a nightmare, but it was a reality for Georgia mom Amy Spencer. And she is not alone. Too many American families are facing similarly devastating…
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Wyoming State Law and Parental Rights
Protected
We did it! Thanks in part to your support, as of July 1, 2017, Wyoming law provides:
14-2-206. Protection of parental rights.
(a) The liberty of a parent to the care, custody and control of their child is a fundamental right that resides first in the parent.
(b) The state, or any agency or political subdivision of the state, shall not infringe the parental right as provided under this section without demonstrating that the interest of the government as applied to the parent or child is a compelling state interest addressed by the least restrictive means.
Don't Miss a Critical Issue!
Wyoming Courts and Parental Rights
Protected Under Statute
Wyoming courts have also affirmed parental rights as fundamental, recently (2022) including strict scrutiny.
Ailport v. Ailport, 507 P.3d 427, 441 (Wyo. 2022):
"[¶43] Parents have a fundamental due process right to guide the upbringing of their children, including determining the level of contact with their grandparents. To satisfy strict scrutiny, § 20-7-101 must be interpreted to protect parents' fundamental right by requiring grandparents to prove parents are unfit to make visitation decisions for their children or the parents' visitation decisions are or will be harmful to the children. Only after the grandparents make that threshold showing by clear and convincing evidence may the district court determine what visitation is in the best interests of the children."