Lending 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),…

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CAPTA Reform: Good or Bad?

The US House Committee on Education and Labor recently announced the introduction of the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, or “Stronger CAPTA,” to amend the primary federal statutes dealing with how child welfare agencies across the country operate. Bobby Scott (D-VA) is the lead sponsor on the bill, joined by a bipartisan collection…

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Letter to Congress Opposes Tripling CAPTA Budget

Last week ParentalRights.org sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to reject any boost to Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) funding unless Congress is ready to make serious changes to how the program works.

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We’re Going Around Congress

If we can’t get through, we’ll go around. That’s our plan for protecting parental rights relating to child welfare investigations. We won’t give up. We won’t quit.             Because if Congress won’t protect families, we’ll find another way. Right now we can’t afford not to. Not when a good parent can spend ten years or…

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School to Moms: Your Money or Your Child

A Pennsylvania school district came under fire last week for a letter sent home to parents who owed debts for their child’s school lunch program. Unable to collect for the breakfasts and lunches certain students had consumed, the Wyoming Valley West School District threatened to have the families reported to “dependency court” and have their…

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Video Reveals CPS Critical Flaw

A new video from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) reveals a fundamental problem with Child Protective Services (CPS). When CPS gets a call, their first move is to send an investigator to look around. This “first-responder” role is often portrayed as social work: a stranger stepping in to help needy families. In reality, the investigator…

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Parental Rights Briefing Held for U.S. Senators

US Senate - CAPTA reathorization debate

Last Thursday we had the honor of presenting a briefing on the matter of the CAPTA reauthorization to staffers from several Senate offices. (We have chosen not to identify the specific offices for politically strategic reasons.) CAPTA is the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, a federal law that provides funding to the states if…

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The House CAPTA Bill Would Harm Families

Betrayed. That’s how I felt when I read the House’s version of a bill to reauthorize CAPTA, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. It’s how we all felt. And by “we all,” I mean our allies and coalition partners from all across the political spectrum. I mean partners I just met at the National…

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Preventing Bad Ideas in Federal Law

Dear Parental Rights Champion, You know the power of a good idea. Or a bad one. Corey Widen’s eight-year-old daughter had just returned from walking the dog around the block—most of which Corey could see from her windows—when there was a troubling knock at the door. It was the Wilmette (IL) police, responding to a…

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House Hearing on CAPTA – Good News?

The U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Resources held a hearing on Tuesday, March 26, regarding efforts to reauthorize CAPTA—the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. While we were not able to get onto the witness list, our D.C. liaison Maggie McKneely was on hand for most of the hearing in person. I…

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