Now What Will We Do with It?

Are you ready to shine a new light on parental rights?

We have just launched a plan that will see President Donald Trump address the Parental Rights Amendment.

Love him or hate him, President Trump draws media attention.  The press examines and reports on everything he does.

So we’ve launched a campaign to get him to weigh in on our Amendment, which we believe will help draw more attention to this vital cause.  But it’s going to take all of us to make it work, and additional resources to support the follow-up. That’s why I’m writing you today.

On September 22, 2011, then-President Barack Obama launched a program on the White House website allowing anyone to set up a petition to the President. Under the program, any petition receiving at least 100,000 signatures within a 30-day time period would receive a response from the Executive Office.

President Donald Trump has continued this program—committing himself to speak to your issue—and we are going to take advantage of it.

The plan is simple.

We have posted a petition on the official White House website calling on President Trump to urge Congress to take up our Amendment.

Legally and constitutionally, the President has no role in amending the Constitution.

But that doesn’t mean the President can’t use his powerful influence to call Congress’s attention to the cause.

So that’s exactly what we’re petitioning him to do. And he will have to respond.

We launched our petition on the White House website at midnight Eastern time on Thursday, October 24. From that point we had 30 days to reach the required number of signatures.

We’ve already secured our first 5,000 names, and now we’re working to keep the ball rolling.

And that’s where you play a vital role.

It will take all of us working together—volunteers, donors, allies, friends, acquaintances, board members, and staff—to get the petition in front of enough people to reach 100,000 signers. And we only have 26 days left to do it!

It’s an achievable goal. But it will take a lot of work to get the signatures. And even if—when—we succeed, that won’t be the end of it.

Remember, the point of all of this is to draw attention to our cause.

Even with a successful petition, we don’t expect Congress to suddenly drop everything and take up the Amendment. But we’re not looking for a huge, immediate change in Congress. We’re looking to make changes in their constituents.

We want more people like you and me to be aware of parental rights.

They need to know what is happening in America, and why parental rights matter today.

Because when people know, they care, and when people care, they fight.

That’s why we’re calling attention to the plight of families across the country who have been ripped apart without cause by a “child welfare” system that has too much power and not enough oversight.

People need to know about the fit families being torn apart, and the innocent children who suffer years of trauma from even brief run-ins with wrongful social services cases. They need to know about children like Justina Pelletier, or Corey Widen’s eight-year-old daughter, and the innocent Arizona family. All of them have suffered greatly because parents’ rights are not protected.

These are families who should be able to take their child to the doctor without fear of their child being taken away. Who want to let their kids play outside without rigid supervision.

Families like mine. Families like yours. Innocent families who did nothing wrong, yet suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs.

You know it could happen to any of us. At this point, there is no rhyme or reason to who is accused and who isn’t.

And you know the underlying reason why these things happen: because parents’ rights are not protected, and that leaves children like Justina—or like your child—vulnerable.

Yes, there are good child welfare agencies out there who respect parents and preserve families.

But there are also maverick agencies with a cavalier attitude toward family and a calloused disregard for parental wisdom or wishes. These “follow their gut,” with no need for evidence and no concern for the trauma their intrusion may cause.

Meanwhile, the confidentiality of family courts keeps everyone in the dark, so there is no accountability or oversight.

Fortunately, social media and even mainstream sources are beginning to take notice. Parent groups are beginning to form all over the nation, with some filing lawsuits to call attention to unjust family court practices.

But there is still much work to do.

With this White House petition, we will add our own spotlight to the need for parental rights and child welfare reform.

But we won’t be able to take full advantage of this opportunity without your support.

You are a vital part of making the petition a success by sharing it with your friends and urging them to sign on.

Now is the time to tell the people in your life why you care about parents’ rights, to inspire them to carry the torch, too.

But sharing the petition is only one part in the journey to protect families.

Even when our petition succeeds, when more people are talking about parental rights and more people are signing up to support our cause, we will need you to stand with us as a steady voice of support for justice.

Because there is so much work to be done. And, together, we can do it.

We can’t afford to waste this opportunity to grab the attention of 100,000 new families—or even more!—and make them part of the parental rights community.

Can I count on you to stand with us today, as we take this next step?

Once we have their attention, we will keep it. We’ll show them the defenseless parents and their innocent children—taken from good, loving homes because poverty or disability are labelled “bad parenting.”

We’ll show them our efforts to pass parental rights laws in the various states through our renewed campaigns starting in January.

Perhaps most of all, we’ll show them the permanent solution: The Parental Rights Amendment.

We will show new followers that we can win if we don’t give up. But we can’t do it alone.

So will you seize the opportunity right now? Your best gift, whether it’s  $5, $50, or $500, will empower us to make the most of this petition campaign.

Because as much as this next month will be fun, exciting, and full of online fanfare for the petition, it is the weeks and months after it is finished that will determine just how far this effort will take us.

With your partnership, we can take a huge step forward in the next 26 days.

Will you stand with families today?

Sincerely,

 

Jim Mason

President

 

P.S. — Our Parental Rights Petition is the next step in fighting for parents’ rights. We’ll have to put our best effort into it every step of the way, both during the petition and in the follow-up after it ends. Will you be part of this journey with us?