An Update from Michael Farris
19 January 2010
Dear Champion of Parental Rights,
In Minnesota, “Jaime” was shocked to learn she needed her 11-year-old daughter’s permission to access the daughter’s medical records or contact a physician about the girl’s health. The doctor hides behind a federal law as the justification for his action. “Lisa” in Colorado learned that “to protect the privacy” of a 9-year-old’s library records, government librarians refused to tell her what books her child had checked out (even though Lisa was being asked to pay the over-due book fine) – an experience shared by “Nicole” in Maryland.
These examples demonstrate the urgent need for the Parental Rights Amendment (PRA). Governments have an ever-increasing view of their power to deal directly with children in exclusion of the parent.
In the past year, we’ve seen the PRA introduced in both houses of Congress, securing 129 co-sponsors in the House and 6 in the U.S. Senate. We have built a grassroots network throughout the country that must continue to grow, fueling our support in Washington until the Amendment passes. We have communicated loudly to Ambassador Susan Rice and to the U.S. Senate that we do not want to see the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified. And we have built the behind-the-scenes infrastructure of our organization that has directed this growth and will see us through to ultimate victory.
All of this has been made possible by the generous support of donors willing to invest in this vital effort to preserve our children and their freedoms by enshrining our freedoms in the text of the Constitution.
Parents of 5-year-olds shouldn’t have to fight a doctor or dentist, because of federal privacy law, for the right to remain present while their child undergoes an examination or receives care. Yet we have received letters from “Megan” in California and from several others in different states who have faced just such a challenge.
Many others find educational freedom to be an even greater challenge. “Jenni and Dave” were frustrated when their Alabama school refused to move their son out of a classroom that contained a bully and an abusive teacher, even as their son’s school performance dropped. Sixteen-year-old “Kelly” in California was able to get a secret abortion because her public school released her without parental consent to have the procedure done. Mother “Monica” was shocked to learn about all of this when she accidentally received the bill.
Even home education is not without problems, as the “Nelson” family in New York learned. They were threatened with charges of educational neglect simply because they opted not to use the public school at all, though they followed the letter of the law to home educate their child from the very beginning.
If we are to protect these rights and see our success continue in 2010, we know we need to increase our reach. But reaching a wider audience will require more resources than we have had available so far. To meet this need, we are looking for members to support this vital effort.
Donors who give just $25 or more in 2010 will become official Parental Rights Members and receive two ParentalRights.Org decals and a pocket Constitution.
A Parental Rights Advocate is one who gives $100 or more in 2010. Advocates will receive an official PRO mug in recognition of your contribution.
Parental Rights Delegates give $500 or more over the course of the year, and will receive a bound portfolio embossed with the ParentalRights.org logo to show our appreciation.
Finally, Parental Rights Ambassadors are those who give $1000 or more in 2010. Ambassadors will receive, as a token of our appreciation, a bound portfolio embossed with the ParentalRights.Org logo and engraved with their name. Ambassadors will also be guaranteed a seat at our Victory Banquet when the Parental Rights Amendment is finally ratified in its thirty-eighth State, becoming a legal part of our Constitution.
These donations provide the funding to maintain and update our informative website; to send out email newsletters and alerts to more than 100,000 readers each week; to provide resources for local chapters and individual volunteers; to lobby Congress; to coordinate national lobby days and call-in days; to build relationships with and promote our cause among other national organizations; to spearhead Parental Rights resolutions at the State level; to provide up-to-date information and parental rights news from around the nation and around the world; and to provide the facilities and infrastructure necessary to support the only national parental rights organization in the country. No one else is doing what we do to halt ratification of the CRC and to preserve families by securing the Parental Rights Amendment.
Won’t you please click here and consider which one-time gift or monthly pledge is right for you? Our freedoms and those of future generations depend on your generosity and our mutual commitment to persevere until parental rights – and our children’s futures - are secure.
Thank you for all you have done and are doing to secure the Parental Rights Amendment. We thank you, too, for your generous consideration of this need. Together, we are protecting children by empowering parents to make the best, most loving decisions for their sakes.
Gratefully yours,
Michael P. Farris, J.D.
President, ParentalRights.org
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please click here to do so now.
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