Tag Archives: Topic: Parental Rights

CitizenLink: “TrueTolerance.org . . . is designed to assist parents who are faced with promotion of homosexuality in their local schools — and to empower them to defend their parental rights and protect their children . . . You can use the site, for instance, to counteract bad policies by offering a legally sound alternative that doesn’t politicize the issue — a model anti-bullying policy crafted and researched by the Alliance Defense Fund. Just look for the ‘new bullying resources’ section at the top of the page.”

The Court decided today that it would hear an appeal to a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that declared an Arizona school choice program unconstitutional.

Juneau Empire: “A lawyer for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest told the Alaska Supreme Court Thursday that an initiative requiring parental notification for girls under 18 seeking an abortion should be kept off the ballot.”

The Virginian-Pilot: “The mother scheduled a Wednesday morning doctor’s appointment for her daughter. Come Wednesday morning, the fourth-grader was taking a Standards of Learning exam. The mother came to pick up her daughter. The principal said no.”

WorldNetDaily: “The fundamentals of the U.S. Constitution possibly have been shoved one step closer to irrelevance by the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday cited as support for its opinion an international treaty that has not been adopted in the U.S. . . . Roger Kiska, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund who is based in Europe, said the Supreme Court’s use of an unadopted precedent ‘completely overlooks the checks and balances system that is established by the U.S. Constitution.’”

NBC Chicago: “Laura Derbigney of Chicago has found herself in the middle of a custody battle between her Catholic husband and his Jewish ex-wife over how their 7-year-old son is cared for during paternal visits. A court order restricts Laura Derbigney and her husband, Nelson, from driving the boy in a car, allowing him to use electronics or to be fed pork and other foods as outlined in Orthodox Judaism.”

“An order prohibiting the removal of a child from a country without the noncustodial parent’s consent is enforceable under an international child abduction treaty, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday.”

“There are more than 1000 IVF clinics in India, but no laws govern assisted reproductive technology (ART), which includes surrogacy, and no watchdog has been authorised to police it. ‘Most of the ART clinics in this country are not following these guidelines because they do not have any legal strength,’ said R. S. Sharma, the deputy director-general in the division of reproductive health and nutrition at the Indian Council of Medical Research.” | Via Wesley J. Smith | For more on surrogacy in India, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/country-india+topic-surrogacy/

CNSNews: “A bill introduced this month in Congress would put the federal and state governments in the business of tracking how fat, or skinny, American children are . . . The Healthy Choices Act–introduced by Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) . . . ” | H.R. 5209

AP: “Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat from San Francisco, says SB1317 is a public safety measure because children who do poorly in school or drop out are more likely to commit crimes.”

Center for Arizona Policy: “The 2010 Legislative Session has come to an end with 12 [CAP-supported bills] receiving Governor Jan Brewer’s signature. This marks CAP’s most successful session in our 15-year history, throughout which we’ve led the way to see a total of 84 pro-family bills enacted into law!” Bills signed May 7th: SB 1306 (Human Egg Provider Protection Act) | SB 1307 (Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act) | HB 2238 (Child Prostitution) | Bills signed May 10th: HB 2664 (Scholarship Tax Credit Reform) | HB 2663 (Scholarship Tax Credit Conformity – Corporate Tax Credit) | SB 1309 (Parental Rights)

IBT Health: “The Department for Child Protection – under the new radical government policy – will ‘seize’ babies from ‘unfit’ mothers before they are even born. The new policy works by forcing mothers-to-be who are 20-weeks-or-more pregnant to give urine samples, to show they are free from drugs, and also provide proof they have permanent place of residence.”

Jonanathan Saenz of the Liberty Legal Institute writes at the Star-Telegram: “The debate over Texas social studies is out of control again . . . Why? It’s all about politics. The board is made up of 10 Republicans and five Democrats who are elected by Texas voters. That is a problem for liberals who see the public school system as the best way to radically change the course of our nation by changing the worldview of the next generation and distorting our history. Finally, after four public hearings and more than 14 months of review and discussion, they have confessed their true motivation: to control what our kids are taught in school by keeping some teachers, parents and the democratic process out . . . ”

“What role, if any, should parents and schools play in a child’s emerging sexual orientation? Sparks have been flying around that question this spring . . . ”

Informed Choices and Uniform Decisions: Adopting the ABA’s Self-Enforcing Administrative Model to Ensure Successful Surrogacy Arrangements
Christine Metteer Lorillard, 16 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 237 (2010)

“Non-traditional families are on the rise in America today, with more and more same-sex couples raising families together. Yet, all same-sex partners seeking to become parents must make use of some assisted reproductive technique (‘ART’), as must some heterosexual married couples. Despite the growing number of people who want to create families, including those that resort to ARTs to have genetically-related children, there are significant moral, economic, and legal obstacles in their way. What has long been needed is a codified roadmap for a successful surrogacy agreement that delineates the rights and obligations of the parties involved, as well as the responsibilities to the resulting child. In addition, such a codified roadmap must vest parentage automatically in the intended parents, with no judicial intervention or approval required, so that the children born are guaranteed their legal parents from conception. This article argues that state courts and legislatures need to emerge from the ‘uncharted waters’ of surrogacy and adopt the ABA’s self-executing, administrative model for surrogacy agreements. Adoption of this model not only allows prospective intended parents to know that their intent will be legally preserved, but also ensures that children born to them are treated equally. Such an attempt to equalize children’s status demonstrates a policy for eliminating the penalty for illegitimacy and ensuring that children born through surrogacy enjoy the same rights as children born to a married couple.”

Heritage Foundation, The Foundry: “In reality, parents probably understand the limitations of social policy better than most academics and policymakers. Rather than obsessing over elusive test score gains, parents seem to have a more nuanced and child-specific set of criteria—they want schools that are safe, that cultivate a positive attitude about learning, and that best fit their children’s abilities and interests. Only school choice programs like MCPS can satisfy these diverse preferences and expectations. Policymakers should not think of school choice as just another tool for satisfying central planners.”

Philly.com: “Burlington County school board voted Tuesday night to pull a book depicting teenage homosexuality from its high school library shelves after protests from a local conservative group.”

Copenhagen Post: “Danish parliament passed a vote giving equal adoption rights to couples in registered partnerships yesterday, but without the support of the government . . . Danish homosexuals could previously adopt as individuals or adopt the children of their partner under the step-child adoption laws. Figures from Statistics Denmark show that of the 712 step-child adoptions in 2007, 103 were from couples in a registered partnership.”

LifeNews: “News of a teenager who was taken to New Jersey from her foster mother and allegedly pressured by city health department officials to have an abortion is drawing outrage from pro-life advocates.”

BBC: “Parents should be banned from smacking their children, the deputy head of the Council of Europe has said.”

Reuters: “Malaysia’s highest court began proceedings on Monday on a landmark inter-religious child custody dispute whose outcome could further raise political tension in this mainly Muslim country.”

“New York’s top court says a woman whose lesbian partner gave birth following their civil union in Vermont has parental rights, including visitation.”

Radio Free Europe: “William Ward, the chairman of the Iraqi human rights organization Hammurabi, told RFE/RL that the Christian groups in Iraq are considering a campaign for separate legislation that would establish standards more in line with Christianity in such matters as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child custody.”

“A DEPARTMENT OF Human Services caseworker pressured a pregnant Mayfair teenager to undergo a late-term abortion by threatening to take away either her toddler or her unborn baby if she had the child, according to the teen’s foster mother.”

The Christian Institute: “The condoms were distributed by workers from Cornerhouse, a Hull-based sexual health charity, which is largely funded by public money. But local mum Samantha Fuller was left fuming after she discovered that her 13-year-old daughter was given the condoms, and that her 8-year-old nephew was also offered them.”

WFMJ (AP): “A bill that would require Pennsylvania’s public schools to provide sex education to students is on its way to the state House of Representatives.” | HB 1163. Today’s Education Committee Roll Calls can be viewed here. | For more information on Pennsylvania and “sex ed” see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-pennsylvania+topic-sex-indoctrination/

CBC News: “Quebec parents opposed to a controversial ethics course are taking their fight to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Drummondville-area parents group is asking the top court to review their request for legal exemption that would allow schoolchildren to skip a mandatory ethics and religion class currently required to graduate. The course replaced Quebec’s previous religion class with a broader-ranging curriculum that touches on all major faiths practised in the province, including Protestanism, Catholicism, Judaism, First Nations spiritualism and Hinduism.”

The Christian Institute: “Parents who smack their children should be prosecuted for assault, according to bureaucrats from the Council of Europe. But family value campaigners are alarmed that ‘a vocal minority’ of activists are in danger of undermining the authority of parents to discipline their children.”

The Christian Institute: “Liberal Democrat plans to allow 16-year-olds to watch and star in pornographic movies have been condemned by furious mothers. Liberal Democrat plans to allow 16-year-olds to watch and star in pornographic movies have been condemned by furious mothers.”

ABC 2: “Earlier this year the county school board ‘un-blocked’ several web sites that provide information about the gay and lesbian lifestyle. That’s sparked complaints and protests from some parents, who say they should have been consulted before the change was made . . . The school board did not act on the issue last night. Its decision to comply with the state laws appears to be final — it’s not clear how or whether the board will address the petition and the complaints from parents.”

The Bulletin: “More than 300 parents have filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights challenging a compulsory anti-Christian curriculum in Spain’s public and private schools that promotes liberal sexuality with graphic imagery while openly bashing the Catholic Church . . . ‘The state shouldn’t usurp the right of parents to raise children according to their beliefs. Forcing students to participate in values training contrary to their convictions is a violation of basic human rights,’ said ADF Legal Counsel [Roger Kiska], who is based in Europe.” | ADF News Release

The Center for Arizona Policy: “Critical legislation to protect and guarantee parental rights is ready for a final vote in the Arizona House. [SB 1309] will ensure in our state law that parents have the right ‘to direct the upbringing and education of their child.’ It also requires that children not be taught sex-related curriculum in public schools without parental consent.”

The Globe and Mail: “The revision, outlined in 208 pages that were quietly posted on the Ministry of Education’s website in January, will for the first time teach Grade 3 pupils about such topics as sexual identity and orientation, and introduce terms like ‘anal intercourse’ and ‘vaginal lubrication’ to children in Grades 6 and 7. The new curriculum begins in Grade 1 with lessons about the proper names of body parts.” | National Post

Christian Web News: “The Home School Legal Defense Association and members of the Alliance Defense Fund have been advising Christer and Annie Johansson on the ‘state-napping’ of their son as they were preparing to move to India, Annie’s home country . . . Roger Kiska Aliance Defense Fund attorney based in Europe said ‘What you have here is a socialist country trying to create a cookie cutter kid. This kind of thing happens too often where social workers take a child and then just keep him.’”

Family First NZ: “Family First NZ says that three out of four parents of young children want the abstinence message taught in sex education – with 69% of kiwis overall supporting the ‘wait’ message.”

Chicago Sun-Times: “Their divorce was settled three years ago, but there they were Friday, back in Cook County Domestic Relations Court, this time fighting over a contentious religious issue: Could a devout Jewish mother force her ex-husband, who isn’t Jewish, to feed their 7-year-old son kosher food when he has the boy?”

Telegraph: “Natalie Woods and Betty Knowles countersigned the document after the birth of Lily-May Betty Woods. They were able to take advantage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 which came into effect at the beginning of this month. It entitles people in same sex relationships to both be treated as equal parents of a child.”

“Eighty embryos were created but destroyed after eight days. Lead researcher Professor Doug Turnbull said: ‘What we’ve done is like changing the battery on a laptop.’”

The Body: “Metro Nashville Public Schools may consider disciplinary action against a teacher following a parent’s complaint about a sex education presentation . . . Rodrick Glover said his daughter, a senior at Hillsboro High School, recapped a presentation given to the class. He was shocked as she described sexual techniques that the speakers allegedly demonstrated using models of male and female genitalia. Glover said students were also offered HIV testing without parental consent.”

Courier-Journal: “Parents have an ‘absolute right’ to inspect all educational records relating to their children, including e-mails exchanged between teachers and administrators, the Kentucky attorney general’s office concluded in an opinion released Monday.”

The opinion was not found online, but should be available here soon.

The California Family Council reports on a dangerous bill pending in the California legislature. “AB 2380 (Lowenthal, D-Long Beach) would allow “hearsay” statements to be included in the definition of “reasonable suspicion” in child abuse cases.”

GMA News: “Only parents should teach children about sex and reproductive health because the 1987 Constitution says so. This was claimed on Monday by Jo Aurea Imbong, a senatorial candidate of the Ang Kapatiran Party, who has been vocal about her opposition to the controversial reproductive health bill which allows sex education in schools starting Grade 5.”

Business Week: “Previous studies have also turned up a link between corporal punishment and aggression in children, but none has controlled for as many factors as the new one, published in the May issue of the journal Pediatrics.”

Catherine A. Taylor, Jennifer A. Manganello, Shawna J. Lee, Janet C. Rice
Mothers’ Spanking of 3-Year-Old Children and Subsequent Risk of Children’s Aggressive Behavior

EducationNews.org: “Homeschoolers have won a round in the long fight against the crackdown on family rights contained to the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, but experts say they need to keep up their guard.”

Guardian: “Teachers’ leaders had mixed feelings on hearing that huge sections of an education bill were dropped today in the rush to pass legislation ahead of the dissolution of parliament . . . Schools would have had to teach about contraception and the importance of stable relationships, including marriage and civil partnerships. Faith schools would have been free, as now, to express the views of their faith, but would not have been allowed to suggest that their views are the only ones.”

HSLDA: “In a federal lawsuit filed March 3, 2006, and reported earlier in the Home School Court Report, HSLDA sued two child protective service workers who showed up at the Loudermilk family’s door, accompanied by numerous sheriff’s deputies, two months after an anonymous tipster had reported the family . . . The state argued that the family had voluntarily allowed the investigators into the home—an assertion that ignores the fact the social worker had said the Loudermilk children would be removed for 72 hours if the parents did not permit entry! . . . ”

LifeNews: “Two pro-abortion groups in Alaska have appealed a judge’s decision saying the language of the parental notification proposition on abortion should be rewritten . . . ”

Michael Young, In Defense of the Constitutionality of Critically Discussing Religion and Ethics in Schools in Light of Free Exercise and Parental Rights (2009). Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 70, p. 1565, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1584202

“This paper assesses whether a state could constitutionally mandate the critical discussion of religion and ethics in schools in a way that did not exempt religious objectors from participating. Such broadly critical courses have been proposed by numerous others; and such proposals and courses frequently meet protest from (especially fundamentalist) religious parents fearing an attempt to undermine their children’s particular religious faith. Imagining that a state mandated participation in a course of ‘Critical Discussions,’ and attempting to take up the strongest imagined form of such a religious challenge, this paper concludes that the legitimate interests of the state in promoting skills of open discourse (and especially on ethical and religious topics) argues conclusively against any First Amendment or parental rights (14th amendment) need for religious exemptions from mandatory participation.”

The Guardian: “Childless couples who acquire a baby using a surrogate mother abroad risk not being recognised as its parents in Britain if they flout British law by paying fees, fertility lawyers have warned. Such payments, which can be as high as £30,000, could lead to those who have made them being refused permission by the high court to become the child’s legal parents, specialist solicitors say.”

AP: “A teenage girl who converted to Christianity and ran away from home is being blocked by her Muslim parents from fighting the possibility of deportation, her attorney told a judge Monday in an ongoing custody dispute . . . ”

Tony Mauro writes at National Law Journal (Law.com): “In spite of recent courtroom losses, parents who blame their children’s autism at least in part on childhood vaccines say their legal battle is far from over . . . the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear next fall the case of Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, a non-autism case that asks the justices to decide whether the federal vaccine law pre-empts state law tort claims of vaccine design defects . . . ”

State Journal-Register Editorial: “On June 1, 1995, Gov. Jim Edgar signed into law a bill requiring that girls under age 18 notify a parent or guardian before having an abortion in Illinois . . . Later that same day, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court in Chicago alleging that the new law violated the affected girls’ right to privacy and was therefore unconstitutional. And so began what has become a nearly 15-year odyssey for Illinois’ parental notification law . . . We are hopeful that a ruling Monday by Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Riley signals a new and more productive turn in this extended courtroom serial. After 15 years of litigation and technical arguments, it’s time this law had a chance to work.” | For more coverage of the bill and its history see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/wordpress/tag/state-illinois+topic-parental-rights/

William C. Duncan writes at the Ruth Institute Blog: “A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently issued an opinion ordering the State of Louisiana to issue an amended birth certificate for a child born in Louisiana but listing as the child’s parents two men . . . The implications of these errors are significant. The decision clearly dilutes the crucial constitutional concept of ‘interstate pluralism, in Professor Jeffrey Rensberger’s phrase. It allows judges to substitute their judgments of law for the valid actions of legislators and administrative officials charged with making and enforcing a State’s law. It threatens to create a new national standard of parenting whereby a couple can force an unwilling State to participate in their project of acquiring a legally motherless or fatherless child.”

Citizen Link (3/29): “Parents are one step closer to being notified if their underage daughter is considering terminating her pregnancy, after a judge dismissed a challenge to the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act today.”

OneNewsNow: “The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Professionals for Ethics have filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of more than 300 parents and children opposing the mandatory ‘Education in Citizenship’ program. ‘The curriculum promotes radical sexuality, homosexual behavior, [and] abortion and it openly bashes Christianity,’ explains [Roger Kiska], a Europe-based ADF attorney.”

Chicago Sun-Times: “A Cook County judge today tossed out a lawsuit that aimed to, once and for all, kill the state’s long-mothballed law requiring parents to be notified before a teenage girl can get an abortion. But in his complicated ruling, Cook County Judge Daniel A. Riley kept in place a ban on enforcing the new law, arguing that while the lawsuit is flawed — so, too, is the law itself.”

EurActiv: “300 objectors have filed a lawsuit against the Spanish government’s “leftist stance” on education, challenging compulsory ‘anti-Christian’ classes for school students before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) . . . The suit, filed this month by lawyers from the Alliance Defence Fund (ADF) and Professionals for Ethics, calls for the adoption of ‘provisional measures’ preventing the Spanish government from obliging children to sit the course.”

WorldNetDailya: “A lawsuit has been filed against the Spanish government over mandatory classes that expose children to sexually explicit images and bash Christian beliefs . . . ‘Americans should take note of this case because this sort of situation is not restricted to Spain,’ said [Roger Kiska], legal counsel for ADF based in Europe. ‘Many parents would be dismayed to know that there are organizations in the U.S. that have attempted to persuade school districts to use similar types of curriculum.’”

Mandatory classes with highly sexual, church-bashing content has nation in uproar;
ADF, Professionals for Ethics file suit with ECHR

KOMONews.com: “The mother of a Ballard High School student is fuming after the health center on campus helped facilitate her daughter’s abortion during school hours . . . ”

Browne C. Lewis, Incubator or Cultivator: Defining the Role of the Surrogate (March 16, 2010). Cleveland-Marshall Legal Studies Paper No. 10-187. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1572887

“The availability of reproductive technology makes it possible for one woman to supply the genetic material to create the child and another woman to gestate and give birth to the child. This division of labor has required courts to have to adjudicate maternity. A few state legislatures have enacted statutes designating the legal mother of a child conceived as the result of a surrogacy arrangement. In other jurisdictions, the courts must decide whether the surrogate or the contracting woman should be recognized as the child’s legal mother. In order to accomplish that purpose, courts have relied upon several different tests. As a result, the woman who gives birth may be deemed the legal mother in one state. In another jurisdiction, the woman who contributes the genetic material used to create the child may be adjudicated as the legal mother. These conflicting results are not in the best interests of the child, the contracting couple or the surrogate.”

Of Permission Slips and Homophobia: Parental Consent Policies for School Club Participation Aimed at Gay-Positive Student Groups
Ian Vandewalker, 19 B.U. Pub. Int. L.J. 23 (2009)

“Gay-positive student groups, often called ‘Gay-Straight Alliances’ (‘GSAs’), have become more and more common in the nation’s high schools in recent years. They are a way for all students to show their commitment to equality and their acceptance of others, regardless of their sexual orientation. They may also function as a support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning youth trying to come to terms with the intolerance they face from peers, family members, and their broader communities. The need for such support is vividly shown by the strident opposition from parents and social conservatives that often accompanies students’ efforts to form GSAs. One way schools react to attempts by students to form such clubs is by requiring that parents consent before students can participate in school clubs. These parental consent policies are facially evenhanded in that they apply to all clubs and do not single out GSAs. The context of their adoption, however, usually reveals that they are uniquely directed at the gay-positive groups, whose founding motivated the policies. Despite their evenhandedness, parental consent policies can be challenged under the federal Equal Access Act of 1984, which requires that student groups get ‘equal access’ to school resources.”

LifeSiteNews: “A German homeschooling family is seeking asylum in Canada after fleeing their native country due to persecution, reports the Globe and Mail.”

“The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide if mothers and fathers may be treated differently in determining whether their children may claim American citizenship . . . ”

Fox2Now.com: “A judge in Chicago expects to rule March 29 on whether to lift a temporary restraining order on a long-debated Illinois law that requires a teenage girl’s parents to be told before she has an abortion.”

Daily News-Miner: “Enough signatures have been gathered to put to voters an initiative that would require parental notice or consent before a minor can have an abortion.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In D.R.S. v. L.E.K., (LA App., March 10, 2010), a Louisiana state appellate court held that a parent holding court-awarded custody of a child generally may not shield the child from exposure to the non-custodial parent’s religious beliefs . . . ”

At the Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh reports on this ruling: Todd v. Copeland, No. 0823-09-3 (Va. Cir. Ct. Mar. 9, 2010)

Citizen Link: “A new Web site, parentalrights.org, was created to advocate for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would support parental rights.”

OneNewsNow: “A Swedish home-schooling couple is still trying to get their seven-year-old son back from state custody . . . The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and members of the Alliance Defense Fund have been advising the Johansson family and exploring options to reunite them with their son Dominic who was taken because he was being home schooled.”

Jacob M. Appel writing at the Huffington Post: “Unfortunately, much less attention has been paid to efforts to hasten the deaths of pediatric patients who lack any hope of recovery. That is why advocates for children should welcome an impressive study, published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, which revealed a considerable interest in euthanasia among the surviving parents of children who had died from cancer. In interviews with 141 such parents, Dr. Veronica Dussel and her colleagues found that greater than 10% considered hastening their children’s deaths, and that at least three families believed that physicians had expedited the deaths of their children in direct response to their requests.”

LifeSiteNews: “In a public statement, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) said they are now working together to advise the family and examine all available avenues to help reunite them with their son, who has been living with a foster family.”

AP: “The attorney for an Ohio couple says they just want a reasonable chance to reconcile with their daughter, a teenager who converted from Islam to Christianity and ran away to Florida.”

Citizen Link: “A parental rights amendment is coming to the floor of the New Hampshire House on Wednesday. CACR 29 states that parents have the natural right to control the health, education and welfare of their children . . . ”

NH Legislative Bill Lookup

Education News: “The Home School Legal Defense Association and members of the Alliance Defense Fund have been advising Christer and Annie Johansson on the ‘state-napping’ of their son, Dominic, 7, from an airliner as the family was preparing to move to India last year.”