Posts by Sheila Roberts
McAuliffe: Parents can’t be trusted
Note: this article was originally published as an email by HSLDA. Late Tuesday night, former Virginia governor and current gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe communicated one of the most radical policies I’ve heard from a mainstream politician in over a decade. When asked why he vetoed a bill requiring parental involvement in school library resource selection,…
Read MoreALEC: The Time Is Now to Halt Anonymous Child Abuse Reports
According to national figures, nearly 3.5 million children are the subject of a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation each year. Only 17% of these investigations result in a finding of abuse or neglect. In 83% of these cases, the investigation is closed as unfounded or unsubstantiated. Among anonymous reports to child abuse hotlines, that number…
Read MoreMust See Parents’ Rights Video
On Saturday, August 28, Parental Rights Florida and the other champions of their recently passed Parents’ Bill of Rights celebrated the victory together. Part of their dinner included this eight-minute video of their accomplishment. The Florida Parents’ Bill of Rights demonstrates what can happen when the right people grab hold of the right idea at…
Read MoreTime to Take Action in Your State
It is time to take action! As I reported last week, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) voted unanimously to adopt our model bill to end anonymous reports to child abuse hotlines, replacing them with confidential reports instead. That makes right now—and these next 2-3 months—the ideal time to reach out to your state lawmakers…
Read MoreNew Family Protections in Texas, Florida
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday signed a law that will protect families from unnecessary separation on the opinion of a single child abuse pediatrician. At the same time, the Florida legislature sent its Parents’ Bill of Rights to Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature, which is expected at any time. Listen to the Second…
Read MoreLending a Little HELP to the Senate’s Discussion
It happened so fast, coalition colleague Andrew Brown referred to it as a “fire drill.” Last Monday afternoon, our coalition was contacted by staff for the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (called the HELP Committee): they were going to be discussing a bill to reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA),…
Read MoreDC “Legislative Disease” Spreading as Warned
Minnesota citizens rally in 2019 to oppose a change in state law that would have limited their choices as parents. Unfortunately, we were right. Last fall when DC was considering a bill authorizing minors as young as 11 to consent to vaccines without their parents’ knowledge or consent, we warned that if the effort passed,…
Read MoreEmpowering Volunteers to Bring Change to the States
I was sitting at my desk on a Monday morning in 2009, skimming the news for parental rights stories, when I got a call from someone I’d never met. Her name was Teri: she was a concerned mother in Oklahoma, and she had just heard then ParentalRights.org president Michael Farris on a radio show over…
Read MoreBig News! Florida Passes Parents’ Bill of Rights
In our largest 2021 parental rights victory to date, the Florida legislature passed House Bill 241, the Parents’ Bill of Rights, on Thursday, April 22. The measure passed the House by a vote of 78 to 37 on April 1, while a bill with the same content, S.B. 582, worked its way through the Senate.…
Read MoreParents’ Bill of Rights Making Progress in Florida
The proposed Parents’ Bill of Rights in Florida has taken great strides in the past week, and it is well on its way to being adopted into law. First, House Bill 241 passed the Florida House by a vote of 78–37 on Thursday, April 1. Then, Senate Bill 582 was taken up in the Senate…
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