On June 1, 1925, the Supreme Court declared, “The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” Pierce firmly established the liberty of parents to direct the lives of their minor children without interference by the government.

You’ve listened to our Left Panel’s discussion of Pierce – now, it’s the Right Panel’s turn! Today, we speak with Michael Farris, founding president of ParentalRights.org and former CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom; Melissa Moschella, professor of practice and philosophy at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Center for Church Life; and Emilie Kao, Vice President of Alliance Defending Freedom.

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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The Supreme Court released its landmark parental rights decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters on June 1, 1925—exactly 100 years ago next month. To celebrate this milestone, we’ve gathered two special panels on the EPPiC Broadcast, comprised of parental rights champions from either side of the political aisle to protect our children. 

Today, we speak with the Left Panel: Martin Guggenheim, founder and co-director of New York University School of Law’s Family Defense Clinic; Angela Burton, founder and co-chair of the New York City Narrowing the Front Door workgroup; and Josh Gupta-Kagan, a clinical professor of law and director of the Family Defense Clinic at Columbia University’s School of Law.

The book referenced in our episode is Neglected Stories: The Constitution and Family Values by Peggy Cooper Davis. Find more information here: us.macmillan.com/books/9780809016075/neglectedstories/

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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Our topic for today is hidden foster care: a process wherein children are sent to live with relatives or friends in order to prevent foster care with strangers. Considered a “voluntary” placement, in reality it often involves coercion or threats. In one such instance, Su’Leya Williams was a baby girl taken from her mother’s care and placed with a woman who claimed to be a relative, but wasn’t. Baby Su’Leya died in her care. 

Today, we welcome Sarah Katz, a Professor of Law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law and Director of Temple Law’s Family Justice Clinic, and April Lee, the Founder of Philly Voice for Change. Sarah and April discuss the requirements DHS is legally bound to in this process, how they are often skirted or ignored completely, and the resulting impact on parents and children.

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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Today we discuss In Re: Sapphire W. with three attorneys who worked on the case: Melissa Friedman and Zoe Allen of the Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Practice and David Shalleck-Klein of the Family Justice Law Center. In Sapphire W., they took on New York City family courts' practice of placing families under the supervision of ACS any time a child was alleged to have been neglected or abused, even if there was no allegation against the custodial parent.

Together, our guests won a major victory to preserve family integrity for Sapphire and her mom, and for countless other NY families.

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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This week, we're rewinding to a conversation with Diane Redleaf from February 2024. 

Diane is the legal consultant at Let Grow, an organization that promotes reasonable childhood independence. She’s also the author of They Took the Kids Last Night. 

In this episode, Diane tells us what reasonable childhood independence is and why it matters for protecting parental and family rights. Plus hear about her work advocating for families caught up in the child welfare system.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Diane Redleaf's mother, Rhoda Redleaf, herself an iconic national leader in child advocacy for six decades who was instrumental as a strategic partner of our speaker in her own career as a child and family advocate. Rhoda passed away on Feb. 3, 2024.

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. 

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Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Nora McCarthy, director of the NYC Family Policy Project and founder and former director of Rise, a NYC parent advocacy organization. Nora discusses her recently released article about the harm CPS investigations cause to families. Over a third of all US children will experience a CPS investigation by age 18, and over half of Black children. This, paired with the statistic that only 7% of families take advantage of resources offered by the child welfare system, shows that changes are needed for parents to feel safe in asking for help.

You can read Nora’s article here: https://imprintnews.org/opinion/child-welfare-reckons-with-the-harm-of-investigations/258536.

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Will Estrada, the Senior Counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association, and former President of the Parental Rights Foundation. Will and Michael discuss a state bill that has gained international attention due to how dangerous it is for parental rights. This bill would overturn over 75 years of state homeschooling precedent, and would criminalize parents who fail to file paperwork, opening them up to arrest and jail time. 

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Mark Riccobono, the President of the National Federation of the Blind. Mark has been a lifelong advocate for those with blindness and low-vision, and today he discusses how important parental rights are for families affected by blindness, sharing stories of how unjustly the child welfare system treats parents who are blind.

For more information about the National Federation of the Blind, check out their website here: http://nfb.org/. You can also explore nfb.org/convention, which has information on their National Convention, which is the largest gathering of blind people in the world.

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Brittany Patterson, a Georgia mother who made headlines when she was arrested after her 10-year-old walked to the store solo; and David DeLugas, executive director of ParentsUSA and Brittany’s attorney. Brittany tells her story and gives us a closer look at what happened on the day she was arrested. She and David both discuss the injustice of the event, and what it signifies for parental rights and childhood independence for any family. 

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Andrew Brown, Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and an attorney who has represented families harmed by the child welfare system. Today, he talks about recent and future changes in the Texas welfare laws, with a special focus on a bill requiring CPS workers to inform parents of their rights in an investigation. He also discusses the “civil death penalty” – termination of parental rights – and the reforms it needs. 

Relatedly, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas recently praised the TX Legislature for its recent CPS reforms, and urged it to consider changes to the procedures for parental rights terminations. You can find the video of his remarks here: https://x.com/TPPF/status/1895528525651984683

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

Support the show