Parental Rights in Virginia

Virginia Parental Rights News

Urgent: Last Chance to Halt Discriminatory Ban on Counseling

January 29, 2020

We need all parental rights champions in Virginia to call your delegate today and urge them to oppose House Bill 386, which would illegalize counseling that helps a teen reduce or eliminate unwanted same-sex attraction. Yesterday, H.B. 386 passed the House Committee on Health, Welfare, and Institutions by a vote of 18 to 4. Its…

Be sure to sign up for alerts!

Virginia State Law and Parental Rights

Protected

We did it! Thanks in part to your support, Virginia passed a statute in 2013 to protect the role of parents. Virginia law Section 1-240.1 provides:

A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent's child.

Don't Miss a Critical Issue!

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to keep posted on parental rights in both your state and nationwide. Through our volunteer network, we monitor the law in all the states. We then pass on important updates and action items.

Virginia Courts and Parental Rights

Affirmed, and Protected Under Statute

L.F. v. Breit, 736 SE 2d 711 - Va: Supreme Court (2013):

"The relationship between a parent and child is a constitutionally protected liberty interest under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.7 Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65 (2000); Wyatt v. McDermott, 283 Va. 685, 692, 725 S.E.2d 555, 558 (2012) (“We recognize the essential value of protecting a parent's right to form a relationship with his or her child.”); Copeland, 282 Va. at 198, 715 S.E.2d at 19. Indeed, the Supreme Court of the United States has characterized a parent's right to raise his or her child as “perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court.” Troxel, 530 U.S. at 65. Any statute that seeks to interfere with a parent's fundamental rights survives constitutional scrutiny only if it is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest. McCabe v. Commonwealth, 274 Va. 558, 563, 650 S.E.2d 508, 510 (2007); see also Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 721 (1997)."