…is a topic I’ve been addressing frequently and fervently of late, whereever I might be speaking. Most parents I meet are just trying to live life, love and serve God and their local churches, love and lead their kids, pay the bills and work out their complicated life issues. They have no clue about what’s happening in Washington regarding their freedom to parent.
Over the past year I’ve had the privilege of working closely with my friends at the Home School Legal Defense Association, whose leader, lawyer Michael Farris, has been persistently focusing on the issue of parental rights. (Let me remind you, “The HSLDA folks are on your side, even if your kids are in public, private or charter schools! Yes, they wholeheartedly support and believe in home education, but the freedoms they are fighting for are freedoms that will impact YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN!”)
Okay, back to Michael Farris, godly husband, father of 10 and lawyer. He is convinced, and has persuaded me as well, that we desperately need to see our parental rights protected through the passing of a constitutional amendment. This sounds dramatic (and perhaps could even seem impossible), but I want to encourage you to educate yourself about this issue so that the enemies of your freedom can’t quietly slip their chains of slavery about you and your family.
Life is a battle, and it’s unfortunate but true, that our liberties are continually being threatened by forces that seem to loom large about us. If only every elected official in Washington understood that parents are more often than not, the experts children need and that children especially thrive in a free society, governed by the parents God gave them.
I’ve been wanting to broach this topic of parental rights on the blog for awhile, so here we go…
The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children has been recognized and upheld for centuries. But there are dark clouds on the horizon.
Today parental rights are coming under assault from federal judges who deny or refuse to recognize these rights. Adding further danger to the child-parent relationship, international law seeking to undermine the parental role is advancing on the horizon. Together, these threats are converging to create a “perfect storm” that looms over the child-parent relationship.
Across the country, many judges are beginning to deny the vital role of parents in the lives of their children, instead inserting the government into a “parental” role in a child’s life. This dangerous assertion is leading to the severance of the child-parent relationship in numerous instances across the nation—removals that cause unnecessary pain to both children and their parents.
A thirteen-year-old boy in Washington State was removed from his parents after he complained to school counselors that his parents took him to church too often. His school counselors had encouraged him to call Child Protective Services with his complaint, which led to his subsequent removal and placement in foster care. It was only after the parents agreed to a judge’s requirement of less-frequent church attendance that they were able to recover their son. (Michael Farris dealt directly with this incident.)
A storm that is rapidly forming on the horizon, yet seemingly hidden from most Americans is this:
International law that seeks to empower the government to intrude upon the child-parent relationship is becoming an increasing threat. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a seemingly harmless treaty with dangerous implications for American families, is approaching possible ratification by the United States.
If this treaty is made binding upon our country, the government would have the power to intervene in any child’s life to advance its definition of “the best interests of the child.” The scenarios that could occur—and are occurring—as a result of this dangerous notion are both manifold and frightening.
Under the UNCRC, instead of following due process, government agencies would have the power to override your parental choices at their whim because they determine what is in “the best interest of the child.”??In essence, the UNCRC applies the legal status of abusive parents to all parents. This means that the burden of proof falls on the parent to prove to the State that they are good parents—when it should fall upon the State to prove that their investigation is not without cause.
A SHELTER IN THE STORM
There is only one solution to this approaching storm: a constitutional amendment that places current Supreme Court doctrine protecting parental rights into the explicit language of the U.S. Constitution. This amendment will shelter the child-parent relationship from the coming storm, ensuring that parents have the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children.??No government, regardless of how well-intentioned it might be, can replace the love and nurture of a parent in the life of a child. Parents care, not because their children are “wards” for whom they are responsible. Parents are willing to brave danger and sacrifice, hardship and heartache to ensure the best for their kids.
Learn more about protecting parental rights through a constitutional amendment, and join the campaign now. We must not wait until it’s too late. Take this opportunity to sign the petition to protect parental rights today.
Visit parentalrights.org for a whole bunch more information, videos to watch, and to see how you can help!