Parental rights, as the US Supreme Court has ruled, are a fundamental right, one which is not supposed to be abridged without cause and the burden of proof is strict scrutiny. Unfortunately, when it comes to parental rights, especially a fathers right, this standard is not applied and fathers are routinely disenfranchised from their children. Today in the U.S. we have 40% of children living apart from their biological father and in the minority community the rate is over 60%.
It is important to understand that the only reason these fathers live separate from their children is a court order restricting their access by a court which removed their parental right without cause. They did not abandon them nor did they not provide for their children financially. There was no abuse, neglect, or abandonment to warrant government interference under the fundamental right and strict scrutiny standard. Courts, using the vague standard of “best interest of the child”, routinely remove one parents rights, most often the father. These parents were removed from the custody and control of their children simply because they had a child with another parent who saw no value in their continuing contact with their children.
Why is this important to constitutional rights advocacy organizations?
If you undermine a parents right to the custody and control of their children you remove that parents right to pass along their heritage and beliefs. And this in turn removes the right to pass along to their children any and all rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. This not only violates the fathers parental right, it violates the right of the child to learn of their fathers and ancestors beliefs and heritage.
Without the father whose religion will be taught to the child if any? Without the father, who will teach them to speak out against injustice? Who will teach them to peaceably assemble and petition government for a redress of grievances?
Without a father, who will teach them about firearms? Their right to bear them? And who will teach them to hunt, trap, or fish? Who will teach them about the outdoor environment, the natural law?
Do we need to list all the bill of rights to understand that without a father the child loses these rights? And once lost to this child, the right is most likely lost to all future generations of children.
Have we forgotten the lessons of history, the Hitler Youth and a system of totalitarian government which curtailed liberty under the guise of working for the benefit of children? Do we need to list the totalitarian governments throughout history that removed children from parents as a means and method to control individuals?
The government oversight of parental actions is not limited to fathers alone as the system now looks at the other parent as also under their oversight, their “right” to rule “in the best interest of the child” thus inserting their beliefs for those of one, or both parents. And the vague standard is now being applied to intact two parent households by these courts. Can we expect a government to respect our individual rights under the Bill of Rights if they do not respect the most sacred right, that of a parent to the custody and control of their children?
If you are truly a rights organization then you MUST join in support of the Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act, https://nymensactionnetwork.org/prra/, for there is no preservation of the right you advocate for if there is no preservation of parental rights.
Parents’ Rights and Responsibilities Act of 20??
_______ CONGRESS _____ Session
To protect the fundamental right of a parent to the care and custody of a child and to direct the upbringing of a child, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 20??
A BILL
To protect the fundamental right of a parent to the care and custody of a child and to direct the upbringing of a child, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Parents’ Rights and Responsibilities Act of 20??.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds that–
the Supreme Court has regarded the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children as a fundamental right implicit in the concept of ordered liberty within the 14th amendment to the Constitution, as specified in Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925);
the right of parents to the care and custody of their children has been recognized as “a fundamental right protected by First, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments” in Doe v. Irwin, 441 F. Supp. 1247 1251 (D. Mich. 1977), as “far more precious than property rights” and by the Supreme Court as an “essential” right that protects a substantial interest that “undeniably warrants deference, and, absent a powerful countervailing interest, protection,” in May v. Anderson, 345 U.S. 528, 533 (1953), Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399 (1923), and Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645 (1971), and the Supreme Court has held in Troxel v. Granville, 530 US 2000 (99-138), that “The liberty interest at issue . . . the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children – is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court. . . . [I]t cannot now be doubted that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children.”
(3) this right has been recognized for centuries by the common law, and by the tradition of western civilization.
(2) the role of parents in the raising and rearing of their children is of inestimable value and deserving of both praise and protection by all levels of government;
(3) the tradition of western civilization recognizes that parents have the responsibility to love, nurture, train, and protect their children;
(4) some decisions of Federal and State courts have treated the right of parents not as a fundamental right but as a non fundamental right, resulting in an improper standard of judicial review being applied to government conduct that adversely affects parental rights and prerogatives;
(5) parents face increasing intrusions into their legitimate decisions and prerogatives by government agencies in situations that do not involve traditional understandings of abuse or neglect but simply are a conflict of parenting philosophies;
(6) governments should not interfere in the decisions and actions of parents without compelling justification; and
(7) the traditional 4-step process used by courts to evaluate cases concerning the right of parents described in paragraph (1) appropriately balances the interests of parents, children, and government.
(b) PURPOSES- The purposes of this Act are–
(1) to protect the right of parents to the care and custody of their children and to direct the upbringing of their children as a fundamental right;
(2) to protect children from abuse and neglect as the terms have been traditionally defined and applied in State law, such protection being a compelling government interest;
(3) while protecting the rights of parents, to acknowledge that the rights involve responsibilities and specifically that parents have the responsibility to see that their children are educated, for the purposes of literacy and self-sufficiency, as specified by the Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972);
(4) to preserve the common law tradition that allows parental choices to prevail in a health care decision for a child unless, by neglect or refusal, the parental decision will result in danger to the life of the child or result in serious physical injury to the child;
(5) to fix a standard of judicial review for parental rights, leaving to the courts the application of the rights in particular cases based on the facts of the cases and law as applied to the facts; and
(6) to reestablish a 4-step process to evaluate cases concerning the right of parents described in paragraph (1) that–
(A) requires a parent to initially demonstrate that–
(i) the action in question arises from the right of the parent to direct the upbringing of a child; and
(ii) a government has interfered with or usurped the right; and
(B) shifts the burdens of production and persuasion to the government to demonstrate that–
(i) the interference or usurpation is essential to accomplish a compelling governmental interest; and
(ii) the method of intervention or usurpation used by the government is the least restrictive means of accomplishing the compelling interest.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) APPROPRIATE EVIDENCE- The term `appropriate evidence’ means–
(A) for a case in which a government seeks a temporary or preliminary action or order, except a case in which the government seeks to terminate parental custody or visitation, evidence that demonstrates probable cause; and
(B) for a case in which a government seeks a final action or order, or in which the government seeks to terminate parental custody or visitation, clear and convincing evidence.
(2) CHILD- The term `child’ has the meaning provided by State law.
(3) PARENT- The term `parent’ has the meaning provided by State law.
(4) RIGHT OF A PARENT TO DIRECT THE UPBRINGING OF A CHILD-
(A) IN GENERAL- The term `right of a parent to direct the upbringing of a child’ includes, but is not limited to a right of a parent regarding–
(i) directing or providing for the education of the child;
(ii) making a health care decision for the child, except as provided in subparagraph (B);
(iii) disciplining the child, including reasonable corporal discipline, except as provided in subparagraph (C); and
(iv) directing or providing for the religious teaching of the child.
(B) NO APPLICATION TO PARENTAL DECISIONS ON HEALTH CARE- The term `right of a parent to direct the upbringing of a child’ shall not include a right of a parent to make a decision on health care for the child that, by neglect or refusal, will result in danger to the life of the child or in serious physical injury to the child.
(C) NO APPLICATION TO ABUSE AND NEGLECT- The term `right of a parent to direct the upbringing of a child’ shall not include a right of a parent to act or refrain from acting in a manner that constitutes abuse or neglect of a child, as the terms have traditionally been defined and applied in State criminal law.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON INTERFERING WITH OR USURPING RIGHTS OF PARENTS.
No Federal, State, or local government, or any official of such a government acting under color of law, or any other party, shall interfere with or usurp the right of a parent to the care and custody of the child of the parent or to direct the upbringing of the child of the parent, unless
that parent has been duly convicted of the abuse or neglect of that child as defined and applied in State criminal law; or
that parent has been duly found to have abrogated or violated the marital contract with the other parent of that child as defined and applied in State law.
SEC. 5. STRICT SCRUTINY.
No exception to section 4 shall be permitted, unless the government or official is able to demonstrate, by appropriate evidence, that the interference or usurpation is essential to accomplish a compelling governmental interest and is narrowly drawn or applied in a manner that is the least restrictive means of accomplishing the compelling interest.
SEC. 6. CLAIM OR DEFENSE.
Any parent may raise a violation of this Act in an action in a Federal or State court, or before an administrative tribunal, of appropriate jurisdiction as a claim or a defense.
SEC. 7. ATTORNEY’S FEES.
Subsections (b) and (c) of section 722 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988 (b) and (c)) (concerning the award of attorney’s and expert fees) shall apply to cases brought or defended under this Act. A person who uses this Act to defend against a suit by a government described in section 4 shall be construed to be the plaintiff for the purposes of the application of such subsections.
