6-Year-Old Hauled to Psych Ward Despite Parent’s Wishes

~February 22, 2011

6-Year-Old Hauled to Psych Ward Despite Parent’s Wishes

According to this article at Today.com last week, a little boy’s Los Angeles school sent him to the psychiatric ward against his mom’s wishes. Anxiety over his dad’s deployment to Iraq led the boy to “[draw] a violent picture and [write] that he wanted to die,” which prompted the school’s reaction.

When the mother told officials she would have the boy see a therapist that day, she was told it was already out of her hands – the ambulance was on its way.

The tyke spent 48 hours in the ward before finally being released to his mother’s care, the trauma of this experience only compounding the trauma of his father’s departure.

ParentalRights.org president Michael Farris asks rhetorically, “Who should decide what level of treatment is necessary? Obviously, I think parents are the right choice. Clearly, giving school and other government officials complete control in these kinds of situations goes too far."

The proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would help draw a more reasonable line by affirming that “[t]he liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.”

Please pass this email to others you know who might find this as outrageous as you and I do, and urge them to visit parentalrights.org/petition to sign the petition supporting the Amendment.

Also, if you haven’t done so lately, consider making a donation to support our efforts to halt this kind of erosion of parental rights and the sovereignty of the American family.

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Director of Communications and Research