When the Whole Court Can’t Be Trusted

A recent case out of Washington state was so egregious the appellate court not only rejected it, but sent it back to be heard again—in a different county. Generally, when a case is appealed, the appellate court will either uphold the original decision or “remand” it, meaning they send it back for a do-over, with…

Read More

Life or Death: Yet Another Charlie Gard?

The hospitals of Britain are at it again. The “medical experts” have deduced that somehow “death” is actually in the best interests of Tafida Raqeeb, just as they decided for Alfie Evans in 2016 and Charlie Gard in 2017. That’s like a car salesman telling you to just walk. Everywhere. It’s like a kindergarten teacher…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

New Hope for Due Process

This week a blog called “Rethinking Foster Care” features a post by Hope Lyzette Newton, a mom falsely accused of child abuse who spent the last ten-plus years on New York’s State Central Register (SCR). Under the title “Branded,” Newton explains that for the entire time she was on the register, she felt like she…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

State Victories, but Challenges Remain

So far 36 state legislatures have wrapped up their 2019 legislative sessions, with six more to adjourn by the end of the month. So, what has 2019 brought at the state level? And where do we stand in the remaining eight states? To sum it up, we have seen a number of victories—mostly defeats of…

Read More

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…

Read More

Parental Rights Case Law on Vaccines Is Not Settled

Note: We were disappointed to see a recent opinion piece in which an admired legal professor claims the case law is settled, that parents have no right to make vaccine decisions for their children. We offered an opposing opinion to the Sacramento Bee, who published the original piece. They declined to print our opinion, so…

Read More