The Fight for Parental Rights

Looking family policy matters in engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina family policy Council hi this is John Ralston, presidency, family, and were grateful to have you with us for this week's program is our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged and inspired by what you hear on family policy matters and that you will fold better equipped to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state and nation, and now here's our house to family policy matters. Tracy David Riggs thanks for joining us this week for family policy matters.

Most of us assume that parents call the shots when it comes to their children, but there are more and more attempts to limit parental rights. So parents need to educate themselves and be proactive to ensure the law upholds the foundational relationship of parents and children were joined today by Will Estrada, the president of the parental rights foundation. Estrada was most recently in the conscience and religious freedom division of the office for civil rights that the US Department of Health and Human Services before that he worked for 14 years at home, school legal Defense Association as a legal assistant and then staff attorney. We are grateful to have him here today to talk about parental rights will Estrada welcome to family policy matters great to be on with you. Thanks for having me will tell us why we should be concerned about the status of parental rights, especially since the US Supreme Court has consistently upheld the fundamental rights of parents to make decisions regarding the care of their children will freak you are absolutely right there whole line of cases.

The Supreme Court level here in the United States that of all the parents of the fundamental right to direct the education upbringing care of their children.

Here's why parents should be concerned about the status of parental rights. We just have to turn on the news and look at what's going on in the school board to see parental rights are under attack by academics by bureaucrats by busybody and by other people who support them right now were seeing kind of offense around the country putting parental rights in scare quotes lawn recently had an article about that guest columnist out in California writing to simply go Chronicle said we must eliminate parental rights in the name of equity today.

These are people who don't really have a ton of power, but they are advancing the narrative that school boards are advancing that were still seeing in state legislatures, and even at the federal level that we see with international UN treaties that would put best interest of the child there and that's why we think this is a moment to these the energy of parents around the country and enshrine the good caselaw that we mentioned in the Supreme Court, but into actual black-and-white statutes of the state level and at the federal level with our work on the parental rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Cases change course change judges change. But when we can enshrine the fundamental rights in our state code that provide an extra bulwark of protection. Remember state laws can change to laws of the federal level can change the will never be able to hang up Berkeley. Does that work will always have to be fighting. We are seeing parents from across the political spectrum advance.

The notion that they should be in charge of their children's education upbringing a care. In fact, I recently wrote an op-ed responding to this writer at the at the salon Catherine Joyce and saying parental rights are a bipartisan issue. That's why Glenn Duncan one in Northern Virginia. That's why were seeing such energies at the school board level. Because parents everywhere saying we should be the ones making these decisions for our children, not government cry and I think we ignore these criticisms from the other side at our peril.

We I think we really need to listen and encounter them patiently and gently. Of course, but we don't need it, simply ignore them.

I think you're absolutely right and that something were doing@parentalrights.org and the parental rights foundation as well were being kind of that voice in the public square saying a lot a moment. This is not just of a publican issue or even a Christian issue. This is something parents all across the board. One.

The they may have different views on how to raise their children, but we respect that and we advance that and we protected legally here in our country thoughts on that and so this US Atty. Gen. memo regarding angry parents at school board meetings. Well that is a great question, Tracy and the context is on September 29, 2021 the National school boards Association sent this letter to Pres. Biden and him to read the second sentence, National school boards Association respectfully asks for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation. Now if they had just left it at threats of violence. I think that would be one thing, but the acts of intimidation sentence at the National school boards Association put their vague and undefined and we were seeing I live my life. I live in Loudoun County, Virginia, which a few years ago was known as one of the best school districts in the nation. Now it's become infamous for the way parents have been treated in that in that county when their children are in the public school they just left it to threats of violence that was the one thing but we were seeing school board members think just parents coming in protesting the school closures. The map mandates with act mandates that critical race theory in the classroom sexual life materials being left in school libraries that school board members were thinkers of intimidation of you just speaking out against with our First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that is the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances left the context of the Atty. Gen. memo it's coming out now that actually the White House solicited this letter from the National school boards Association to kind of give them cover for coming in investigating parents and troubling history entrées because I'm grateful for federal law enforcement. Most recently, the FBI's hostage rescue team kill the terrorists only save the rabbi and synagogue goers in Texas, we can't overlook abuses of federal power.

Remember back in the 50s and 60s, when J.

Edgar Hoover's FBI spied on Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., for political reasons and that Atty. Gen. memo responding to the National school boards Association letter really reeks of that same sort of politicized interference in parents peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Local law enforcement does a great job there were more than capable to handle with the interesting thing is that letter came out 27 states have issued statements in disagreeing with the National school boards Association letter 17. It actually withdrawn their memberships of doing so is really devastated the National school boards Association organization, and many others are watching this to make sure that parents First Amendment rights are not impinged by the FBI when they speak out on these issues in school board meetings said that you consider this current moment a seachange when it comes to parental rights. Why do you think that school and private school.

Parents have always been engaged or very small minority.

They realize that that freedom is not free. They need to speak out, but it was not really common to see this level of interest in parental rights and parental involvement, particularly in education until the pandemic hit and I think this is one of those. It was meant for evil but God used it for good moments. I remember those words that Joseph spoke to his brothers recorded in Scripture when they sold slavery in Egypt and how he saved basically the entire world from starving to death and the thinking hat is sort of like the pandemic obviously horrible. Many have died, and I think is very few families not been impacted by the pandemics but March 2020 school shut down parents are working from home and all of a sudden there seeing what's going on in the schools nursing home. Wait a minute, and again like we said beginning this is parents across the political spectrum, not just conservatives, not just Christians. Parents left right center seeing what's going on there. Think this is troubling to us. Really, everyone became homeschoolers and I think that really brought together parents in a way we've never seen up. We want to be involved in our children's education. While thank you for saying something positive about the school close downs might be the first… 3B, but the one good thing had been pulled back the curtain for the speak of what's going on in the public schools and many parents have been deeply concerned about the Thursday we heard the possibility of a parental rights amendment at maybe the federal level. Some states been talking about that is this why this idea is gaining some traction now really is and I think what just happened in Virginia so the new governor Glenn Young Kim came in and he spoke about parental rights and everyone's been talking about this statute in Virginia code. It was one 2013 thing parents of the fundamental right to direct education character children. That's actually a statute organization worked on with our volunteers and many others to get passed into law in 2013 sitting there for eight or nine years and all of a sudden everyone thinks we are going to use this to restore parental rights in our school boards so parental rights foundation parental rights.org.

We've been around for 15 years we been known for work on a federal amendment to the U.S. Constitution to protect the lights were still working on that, but let's face it, DC is pretty dysfunctional right now.

So were also looking at the state level.

We will fundamental parental rights statute which says the liberty interest of the parent in the nurture education, care, custody and control of the parent-child fundamental right and were seeing that introduced all over, all over the country and state legislatures everywhere.

I will say North Carolina does not have a fundamental parental rights statute. Virginia does so North Carolina is I think a state that were looking at right now.

The legislators were listening. We would love to work with you on this to try and ensure that North Carolina joins the 12 other states that strongly protect parental rights under state code. We are a statewide advocacy organization, and so of course we see the value of state policies. Policies that might start at the state level and bubble up but what happens in the states are is very important as Annette. It really is, in fact, in some ways at least level is more important than the federal level. Most of the interaction of the parent will have with a government official are the state-level power founders set up our system of federalism. So think about at the school almost always controllable state-level of accounting local school district via social service agencies again where parent may interact with the government official are at the county or state level, and so we put these parental rights statutes and the state-level. In some ways they may even provide greater protection than day-to-day activities.

Parents on the government than a federal parental rights amendment would even though that is so critical as well so you talked a lot about the threats that we face to parental rights here in the United States. Have you given us all of what you consider the greatest threats to these rights. We talked about them. II think I didn't talking as much detail about the international threat right now we have the wrong court cases were trying to enshrine the court cases and to state code, but we remember that the US comes patient has what's called the supremacy clause where there's a sentence in the Constitution that treaties which are which are ratified by the U.S. Senate takes a two thirds vote become the supreme law of the land and it says in the judges in every state are bound thereby power founders were thinking. They didn't want New York to keep fighting England if there was a peace treaty, but the context is leasing a rise of dangerous treaties with the UN convention on the rights of the child UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities good sounding treaties which would replace our nation's history of parental rights as a fundamental right with the nebulous best interests of the child standard which allows government officials to step in and make these decisions.

Thankfully I don't think these treaties are anywhere close to being ratified. The closest we ever came was in 2012 162 US senators voted in favor of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, taking 67 votes to ratify better for it to become the supreme law of the land foot failed by five votes. Even though it got a majority of those right now I think were better position but again this is one of those things of why we can't ever let up our guard is why long-term will working on a federal parental rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution, just in case.

Decades from now. One of these dangerous UN tributes were to ever be accidentally ratified while how wonderful that we have you there watching for things like this because who thought that some reference to treaties back in our Constitution would now be possibly threatening our parental rights to thank you for the good work that you do so would just about at a time where car listeners go, we want to learn more and follow the work that you all do over there at parental rights foundation. Very simply, parental rights foundation.org you can also find us on Facebook at parental rights and also on Twitter at parental rights as well and encourage people to keep up with it. It's only because of moms and dads around the country that were able to fight for parental rights. So it is because of them and people like you that were able to be in the fight. Thank you. I will describe the president of the parental rights foundation. Thanks so much for being with us today on family policy matters. You been listening to family policy matters. We hope you enjoyed the program and plaintiff to do it again next week to listen to the show online insulin more about NC families work to encourage and inspire families across been through a lot of our website it NC family.org that's NC family.org. Thanks again for listening and may God bless you and your family