Parental Rights in South Dakota

Resolution Supporting the PRA

We did it! Thanks in part to your support, in 2010, the South Dakota legislature adopted a resolution 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. (Learn more about state resolutions.)

South Dakota Parental Rights News

Wins for Parents Across the Country

February 16, 2022

On Tuesday night, parents in San Francisco stunned the nation when they recalled three of their school board members in a landslide. This election result in San Francisco vindicated our argument just a few weeks ago that parental rights are bipartisan.  While ParentalRights.org was not involved in the San Francisco recall, we are proud of…

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South Dakota State Law and Parental Rights

At Risk

South Dakota does not have a state statute that explicitly defines and protects parental rights as fundamental rights.

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South Dakota Courts and Parental Rights

At High Risk

South Dakota's Supreme Court has held based on the Troxel case that parental rights cases do not require the strict scrutiny standard of review.

In Feist v. Lemieux-Feist, 793 N.W.2d 57, 60–61 (S.D. 2010), the Court wrote, "[W]e do not read Troxel as specifically requiring a finding of parental unfitness in third party visitation or custody cases. As we have noted before, Troxel only requires that 'special weight' be given to a fit parent's determinations regarding her children."