Protecting Your Parental Rights in Education
Why does Alliance Defending Freedom stand up to protect parental rights in education?
Parents have the constitutional right and moral duty to care for and direct the upbringing and education of their children. Kids belong to their families, not the government. While teachers, school counselors, and other school officials play a role in a child’s life, they are not the same as parents. Parents know best, yet many states do not expressly define and protect parental rights.
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What are some of the most critical issues facing parental rights today?
Gender-Related Decision-Making in Schools
School officials should be responsible for keeping parents informed. They should never pass or enforce policies that hide information about children’s mental or physical well-being from their parents.
School officials should not secretly treat students as the opposite sex by using cross-sex names and pronouns at school (a practice sometimes called “social transition”). Instead, questions about gender should be approached with transparency and communicated to parents for discussion.
Public School Policies & Curricula
- Accountability: School personnel should not betray parents’ trust by hiding information or indoctrinating students with ideas contrary to their family’s sincere beliefs.
- Choice: Parents should know what their children are taught and be free to opt out of controversial curricula or choose the schooling solution that best fits their families.
- Transparency: Public schools must be transparent about their curriculum, respecting parental concerns on divisive issues like gender ideology or critical race theory and acknowledging parents’ ultimate responsibility for their children.
Adoption and Foster Parents
Children deserve to be in loving homes. Excluding parents because of their beliefs about sexuality and gender is wrong.
Meet our Clients
How is Alliance Defending Freedom working to protect parental rights in education?
Parental rights in education are threatened by policies, school districts, and cultural movements that seek to separate children from parents’ love and responsibility. ADF advocates in court, promotes good policy, and engages with allies to protect parental rights. Our focus is empowering parents to address instances where parental rights are being undermined.
We also stand alongside courageous educators who challenge policies that infringe on parental rights, considering them heroes for safeguarding the well-being of parents and children so that they don’t have to choose between their careers or lying to parents.
What can you do to partner with Alliance Defending Freedom to protect parental rights in education and healthcare?
Pray for our clients
Parents, children, teachers, and counselors who courageously stand up to protect parental duties and rights. You can learn more about them and their cases:
Catholic school, families sue Michigan officials for forcing them to violate their faith
Indiana school counselor fired for speaking about gender identity policy
ADF attorneys represent mother prevented by the state from adopting because of her faith