APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY - PARENTAL RIGHTS PROTECTION ACT

"We must always ask: Is government working to liberate and empower the individual? ... Or does it seek to compel, command and coerce people into submission and dependence?" said President Ronald Reagan. 

In the case of parental rights in America, the question is: Is government working to protect and empower parental rights? Or does it seek to command and coerce parents into submission and dependence? Is government working to protect the strength and diversity of the American family or are families to be stamped, like coins, with the same image? And, by what standard are they being ruled? Who will decide what the mold will be? When law imposes, by force, its systems, regulations, its educational standards, and its religion, on the people, the result is not empowerment and liberty, but forced submission and dependence.

FYI- Every state authorizes certain personnel- doctors, police, and social workers - to remove children from their parents’ care, without a warrant, a court order, or any proof of abuse or neglect often based on mere "suspicion".  In such an atmosphere, parents have no recourse, no legal protection. The law is not on the parents’ side. When parents face the power of a government intent on enforcing its big-government agenda, legal protection is needed. 

Government infringement into parental rights is evidenced in the case of Justina Pelletier. Doctors at two different hospital presented her parents with two different diagnoses. When her parents disagreed with the diagnosis of one hospital, that hospital accused the parents of medical neglect and demanded the state take custody of Justina. Fit parents, backed by the other fully-licensed teaching hospital, lost custody of their daughter over a diagnosis dispute, and did not get her home for nearly a year and a half. 

God has written on the hearts of all men that parents are to provide for the needs of their children. Infants are born helpless, without knowledge, and God has given children to their parents to raise and care for them until they are old enough to live independently. All parents, by the law of nature, are under obligation to direct the upbringing of their children. Parental responsibility is a trust from God for the good of the children. This trust from God is what puts authority into the hands of the parents. God has placed in parents the desire to love and care for their children. It is the God-given responsibility of parents to raise and educate their children.

However, there is confusion in the courts over the boundaries between family privacy and government interests. Justice Stevens has stated that a child's constitutional rights, represented by the term "the best interests of the child", may be overridden by the government, and allows that matters involving families be determined by the court according to the "best interests of the child." Justice Scalia, known for his conservative standards, has stated that parental rights are not enumerated in the Constitution. This places parental rights in danger because they are not explicitly protected by the Constitution. Any treaty can override them, including the international United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

The legal standards used in parental rights cases are in confusion. The need for a clear legal standard for parental rights is obvious. The Pennsylvania ParentalRights Protection Act, now known as Pennsylvania House Bill 1512, sponsored by Representative Will Tallman, will provide that legal standard, as it will establish in law the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children. It will empower parents and protect the God-ordained obligation of parents to direct the upbringing of their children as they see fit.

Call the state legislators in your district today, and ask them to co-sponsor HB 1512, sponsored by Representative Tallman. If you're not sure who your lawmaker is, enter your address here and find out. Let's work together to get this bill passed. Make a loud noise for liberty.

Join us for CHAP HELP Day (Home Education Lobby Program) at the Main Rotunda of the Capitol on September 8, 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon. Learn more about it here and here.