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November 26, 2013
Thankful That It Is Not Too Late
Last week a Tennessee father was arrested trying to pick his daughter up from school and walk her home at the end of the school day. His video and story “went viral” and now everyone is watching to make sure appropriate changes will be made. Also last week the story broke of a girl kidnapped by the state human services department and a Connecticut hospital. She has been held for nearly 10 months, against her parents’ wishes, over a diagnosis debate between the hospital and her earlier physicians. But now that her story is in the open, there is hope her case can be resolved, as well. On the other hand, we learned two weeks ago of an 18-year-old in Great Britain who was taken from his mother’s care and placed in a school 100 miles from home because a committee decided the school would be “in his best interests.” The young man has successfully completed his high school education and is older than the school age set in compulsory attendance laws. But because he has cerebral palsy, the government has taken control and ordered him into school – and out of his home – for another year. Unlike America, the United Kingdom has ratified both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Both of these treaties obligate nations to apply a standard that “provides decision and policy makers with the authority to substitute their own decisions for either the child's or the parents', providing it is based on considerations of the best interests of the child.” (Geraldine Van Bueren, International Rights of the Child, Section D, University of London, 46 (2006), emphasis added) But it is not too late for America. The CRPD has again been taken up by our Senate (for the second time in 18 months), but it still lacks the 67 votes needed for ratification. We will continue to stand with you in keeping the pressure on your senators to make sure this treaty does not become “the supreme law of the land.” What’s more, we can still preserve parents’ rights in all of these matters by adopting the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It will not be easy; we still have a lot of work to do. But with the support of concerned Americans like you, and with the blessings of freedom that we still enjoy – the freedom to call or email our legislators, and to vote them out if necessary; the freedom to tell others about our cause; and the freedom to believe and worship as we choose, including beseeching God (if we so choose) to bless our righteous cause – it is not too late. We can see our country turn back from this abyss and respect the role of parents and the family once again. Thank you for standing with us this week and always to keep hope alive for America’s families. Sincerely, Michael Ramey Director of Communications & Research P.S. – Please remember to share these stories with your friends and loved ones as you visit together this weekend. Help to preserve the parental rights for which we are all so thankful, simply by spreading the word! (Your friends can sign the petition at ParentalRights.org/petition.) You can also sign up online as a volunteer. |
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