Feds to Parents: "We Are Your Equals"

The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education's new draft policy is very revealing.

It says: "It is the position of the Department that all early childhood programs and schools recognize families as equal partners."

Equal partners?

This one sentence unmasks the federal government's true philosophy regarding so-called "public education" and parental rights.

Heads up parents.


The Home School Legal Defense Fund (HSLDA) is alerting parents that the federal government is making clear to parents through a recently released declaration "that it is best suited to 'help' children and families."

HSLDA says, "The federal government believes its role is equal with the role of parents."

The federal government's true philosophy is revealed in the draft policy---a philosophy behind decades of federal involvement in welfare, kindergarten through 12th grade education spending and policies, programs like Head Start, and now the push to create universal early education for young children from birth through age 5: the federal government believes its role is equal to the role of parents.

You will recall that President Obama has been pushing hard for universal preschool for everyone.

The Feds are redefining "family."

In the policy, the term "family" is used to include all the people who play a role in the child's life from early childhood, putting the parent's role equal to that of government run public schools.

Whose kids are they?

An HSLDA lawyer explains, "According to the draft policy, a close family friend (an informal guardian) could be considered part of a child's family. This could include a parent's boyfriend of girlfriend, even if the relationship is temporary or uncommitted. There have already been cases in which custody of a child was granted to the parent's former lover, against the parent's wishes. And a child's siblings are also family, but siblings shouldn't have the legal authority to make parenting decisions."

Attorney William Estrada says, "This casual and open-ended definition of family sets up a slippery slope for parental rights and family freedom.

Estrada says there is evidence of usurping parental authority, by the federal government from coast to coast.

He and other family advocates believe that the government is making its move to realign the divine order of the family unit.

He says, "These statements reveal these agencies' true beliefs: that a child's God given family does not matter. Family is whoever and whatever the government says it is."

The good news is that the new policy is still in draft form, and the government has not yet created any new federal programs through the paper, but parents are advised to be on the alert about future maneuverings.

Estrada says this document is extremely telling: "For once, federal policy makers are being honest about their beliefs and goals."

The references to families---in multiple places, being "equal partners" with the government in raising and educating the child and their causal and breathtakingly broad redefinition of the family, highlights the federal government's arrogance when it comes to education and family policy.

This draft policy only underscores what many have observed over the past several decades. The federal government is intent on taking more and more power from parents in regard to their children.

Estrada says, "The biggest advancement of this philosophy in recent years came in 2010 when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, because it created a program of (voluntary for now) government home visitation programs. Unfortunately, when President Obama signed the ACA law, these federally funded home visitation and parent training programs---which had always been defeated before then---became a reality."

Estrada says, "At its heart, these programs are not about education. The research proves it is government babysitting."

And "Ultimately, it is about controlling parents and citizens," he says.

Indeed.

It was 20 years ago that Hillary Clinton, building on an old African proverb that "It takes a Village" with her book using the same title, launched an-all out effort to redefine the family, parental roles and parental authority.

The mantra of "it takes a village to raise a child" has been used to assist in the erosion of parent's rights, especially in schools.

Under the guise of giving "rights" to children and adolescents, the state has pushed its anti-moral agendas on children in schools all over the country.

In 2005, when a California school district was introducing disturbing and explicit sex information to students, parents sued, arguing that they had the sole right "to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex in accordance with their personal and religious values and beliefs."

The Ninth Circuit Court ruled, however, that "there is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children...Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students.

The erosion of parental authority has continued. Have you ever tried to get a copy of your child's grades from your neighborhood public school?

Sadly, schools have become so emboldened in their "ownership" of the child, that a couple of years ago Ballard High School took a teenager to get an abortion during school hours without parental knowledge or consent.

A father---a Marine who has served our country, became concerned recently that his daughter was being indoctrinated by being required to learn and be tested on the Islam pillars of faith, and she was required to memorize the confession of conversion to Islam as a class assignments. When the father objected, he was banned from the campus.

In June, his daughter is graduating from the high school and the school has indicated it will "not" remove the ban, thus preventing the father from attending his daughter's graduation.

The assault on parental authority is not just confined to sex ed and religious preference.

Last week we became aware that students at PS 75, a public school in New York City, were taught to pledge allegiance to an international flag rather than our US Flag.

As HHS and the Department of Education attempts to move this policy forward, we will keep you updated.

Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.