EPPiC Broadcast

On June 1, 1925, the Supreme Court declared, “The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” Pierce firmly established the liberty of parents to direct the lives of their minor children without interference by the government.You've listened to our Left Panel's discussion of Pierce – now, it's the Right Panel's turn! Today, we speak with Michael Farris, founding president of ParentalRights.org and former CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom; Melissa Moschella, professor of practice and philosophy at Notre Dame University's McGrath Center for Church Life; and Emilie Kao, Vice President of Alliance Defending Freedom.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

The Supreme Court released its landmark parental rights decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters on June 1, 1925—exactly 100 years ago next month. To celebrate this milestone, we've gathered two special panels on the EPPiC Broadcast, comprised of parental rights champions from either side of the political aisle to protect our children. Today, we speak with the Left Panel: Martin Guggenheim, founder and co-director of New York University School of Law's Family Defense Clinic; Angela Burton, founder and co-chair of the New York City Narrowing the Front Door workgroup; and Josh Gupta-Kagan, a clinical professor of law and director of the Family Defense Clinic at Columbia University's School of Law.The book referenced in our episode is Neglected Stories: The Constitution and Family Values by Peggy Cooper Davis. Find more information here: us.macmillan.com/books/9780809016075/neglectedstories/The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Our topic for today is hidden foster care: a process wherein children are sent to live with relatives or friends in order to prevent foster care with strangers. Considered a “voluntary” placement, in reality it often involves coercion or threats. In one such instance, Su'Leya Williams was a baby girl taken from her mother's care and placed with a woman who claimed to be a relative, but wasn't. Baby Su'Leya died in her care. Today, we welcome Sarah Katz, a Professor of Law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law and Director of Temple Law's Family Justice Clinic, and April Lee, the Founder of Philly Voice for Change. Sarah and April discuss the requirements DHS is legally bound to in this process, how they are often skirted or ignored completely, and the resulting impact on parents and children.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Today we discuss In Re: Sapphire W. with three attorneys who worked on the case: Melissa Friedman and Zoe Allen of the Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Practice and David Shalleck-Klein of the Family Justice Law Center. In Sapphire W., they took on New York City family courts' practice of placing families under the supervision of ACS any time a child was alleged to have been neglected or abused, even if there was no allegation against the custodial parent.Together, our guests won a major victory to preserve family integrity for Sapphire and her mom, and for countless other NY families.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, we're rewinding to a conversation with Diane Redleaf from February 2024. Diane is the legal consultant at Let Grow, an organization that promotes reasonable childhood independence. She's also the author of They Took the Kids Last Night. In this episode, Diane tells us what reasonable childhood independence is and why it matters for protecting parental and family rights. Plus hear about her work advocating for families caught up in the child welfare system.This episode is dedicated to the memory of Diane Redleaf's mother, Rhoda Redleaf, herself an iconic national leader in child advocacy for six decades who was instrumental as a strategic partner of our speaker in her own career as a child and family advocate. Rhoda passed away on Feb. 3, 2024.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Nora McCarthy, director of the NYC Family Policy Project and founder and former director of Rise, a NYC parent advocacy organization. Nora discusses her recently released article about the harm CPS investigations cause to families. Over a third of all US children will experience a CPS investigation by age 18, and over half of Black children. This, paired with the statistic that only 7% of families take advantage of resources offered by the child welfare system, shows that changes are needed for parents to feel safe in asking for help.You can read Nora's article here: https://imprintnews.org/opinion/child-welfare-reckons-with-the-harm-of-investigations/258536.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Will Estrada, the Senior Counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association, and former President of the Parental Rights Foundation. Will and Michael discuss a state bill that has gained international attention due to how dangerous it is for parental rights. This bill would overturn over 75 years of state homeschooling precedent, and would criminalize parents who fail to file paperwork, opening them up to arrest and jail time. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Mark Riccobono, the President of the National Federation of the Blind. Mark has been a lifelong advocate for those with blindness and low-vision, and today he discusses how important parental rights are for families affected by blindness, sharing stories of how unjustly the child welfare system treats parents who are blind.For more information about the National Federation of the Blind, check out their website here: http://nfb.org/. You can also explore nfb.org/convention, which has information on their National Convention, which is the largest gathering of blind people in the world.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Brittany Patterson, a Georgia mother who made headlines when she was arrested after her 10-year-old walked to the store solo; and David DeLugas, executive director of ParentsUSA and Brittany's attorney. Brittany tells her story and gives us a closer look at what happened on the day she was arrested. She and David both discuss the injustice of the event, and what it signifies for parental rights and childhood independence for any family. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Andrew Brown, Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and an attorney who has represented families harmed by the child welfare system. Today, he talks about recent and future changes in the Texas welfare laws, with a special focus on a bill requiring CPS workers to inform parents of their rights in an investigation. He also discusses the “civil death penalty” – termination of parental rights – and the reforms it needs. Relatedly, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas recently praised the TX Legislature for its recent CPS reforms, and urged it to consider changes to the procedures for parental rights terminations. You can find the video of his remarks here: https://x.com/TPPF/status/1895528525651984683The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Grover Norquist, the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, a political advocacy group fighting for lower taxes. Today, he talks about limiting the government's role in telling citizens how to live their lives - which naturally impacts its power over parents and families. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Kelis Houston, the founder of Village Arms, a community organization dedicated to reducing the number of African American children removed from their families by Minnesota's Child Protection System. Today, she gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the background of the African American Family Preservation Act - which became law after an astounding seven years of advocacy by Kelis and Village Arms.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We're kicking off season 10 with returning guest Kerry McDonald. Kerry is an educational scholar and author, and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education. Today she discusses the history of educational choice – including as recently impacted by COVID – and the variety of options parents can select from today.  The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

For our final episode of Season 9, we welcome Shanta Trivedi, who is both an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, and the Faculty Director of the University's Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts.We have regularly covered the harmful effects which the child welfare system has on children, but this week, we welcome Shanta to discuss the effects on parents. The broken system tends to penalize disadvantaged parents for behaviors that every parent has had. This can largely be attributed to poverty being conflated with neglect, and can often carry undertones of classism and racism. Shanta explains why many current policies don't work, and her ideal solutions to solve these issues. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, we welcome Vivek Sankaran and Michael Farris to the podcast. Vivek is a professor of law at the Michigan University School of Law and Director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic.  Michael is a constitutional law scholar, founding president of ParentalRights.org, and the former CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom.Although they come from different sides of the political spectrum, Vivek and Michael both submitted amicus briefs arguing against termination of parental rights in a recent case that went before the Michigan Supreme Court Today, these two experts explain why they both weighed in on this case in favor of family preservation.  The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, we have the privilege of hosting not one, not two, but three guests! We speak with Jim Mason, the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, Kathleen Creamer, the managing attorney at Community Legal Services' Family Advocacy Unit, and Martin Guggenheim, the founder and retired co-director of New York University School of Law's Family Defense Clinic.These longtime experts in their fields spend some time with us today discussing best practices for parents and important things to know if CPS shows up at your family's door.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, we're rewinding to a conversation with Vivek Sankaran from June 2021. When faced with a struggling family, bystanders can be quick to call CPS, not realizing that child protective agencies often aren't equipped to help families and rush to punish them instead. Vivek Sankaren is working to reform this broken system and provide families with helpful, high-quality legal care in the midst of CPS cases. Vivek is a clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, where he heads a program to educate future lawyers. In this week's episode, Jim and Vivek talk about the work Vivek is doing to help create a more supportive and humane child welfare system - a system that actually helps families instead of harming them. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, our guest is Melissa Moschella, professor of practice and philosophy at Notre Dame University's McGrath Center for Church Life. Her areas of expertise include natural law, biomedical ethics, and the family, especially parental rights. She's also the author of To Whom Do Children Belong: Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children's Autonomy. This week, Melissa tells us about a pivotal Supreme Court case about parental rights and education that's turning 100 next year: Pierce v. Society of Sisters. Melissa argues that, while the Supreme Court has generally held to a narrow interpretation of this case in the subsequent years, a broader interpretation would better safeguard parental rights in public and private educational settings. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, our guest is Nicki Neily, the founder and president of Parents Defending Education. Parents Defending Education is a national grassroots organization working to preserve parents' voices in their children's public school education. Today, Nicki tells us how she came to found this organization and about the important work it is doing. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

What does the recent Star Wars show The Acolyte have to do with the flaws in our real-world child welfare system? As it turns out, more than you might think! This week, our guest is Josh Gupta-Kagan, a clinical professor of law and director of the Family Defense Clinic at Columbia University's School of Law. Today, Josh discusses his recent article for The Imprint, in which he draws connections between the actions of Jedi knights in a galaxy far, far away and the actions of child welfare officials much closer to home. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Our guest this week is Angela Burton, founder and co-chair of the New York City Narrowing the Front Door workgroup. Angela is also the founder of the Repeal CAPTA workgroup. Previously, Angela has worked within the New York State child welfare system and she currently works closely with families navigating the system. Today, Angela tells us about the goals and work of the Narrowing the Front Door and the Repeal CAPTA workgroups, plus her insights for her years of experience in working to help parents and families in the child welfare system. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, we talk with Jackie Rosario, board member at the Indian River Public School Board in Florida, and Patti Sullivan, Parental Rights Foundation State Coordinator in Florida. The Indian River Public School Board recently passed a proclamation declaring October “Parental Rights and Appreciation Month.” Jackie and Patti tell us about how they passed the proclamation, why it's important, and other work they're doing for parental rights in Florida.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

Today, we welcome Jane Anderson onto the podcast. Dr. Anderson is the Vice President of the American College of Pediatricians, and author of the paper “The Teenage Brain: Under Construction.” She gives us a crash course on how the teenage brain functions, and shows how science supports the idea that teenagers' brains are not mature enough to make informed decisions yet on medical treatment and other important life decisions. She highlights the crucial role that parents play during these years as their children's brains are learning how to fully function, and provides practical ways that parents can support their teenage children. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week's guest is Vivek Sankaran, a professor of law at the Michigan University School of Law and Director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic. Vivek recently argued two cases in front of the Michigan Supreme Court, which highlight the harms of permanently terminating parental rights without considering other ways to preserve the parent-child relationship. Vivek argues that if a child is in a secure situation, and is benefitting from their parental and familial relationships, courts should not immediately assume that taking away the parent's right to be in the child's life is in the child's best interest. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, our guest is Kevin Boden, an attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association. Kevin tells us about some potential changes to homeschooling law in West Virginia, and makes his case for why the state laws governing homeschooling there should remain unchanged. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We're kicking off season 9 with returning guest Christine Gottlieb. Chris has been newly appointed the Director of the New York University School of Law's Family Defense Clinic. Today she tells us about the work the Clinic does to defend individual families in child welfare cases and to advocate for broader systemic change for family preservation in the child welfare system. Plus, Chris shares what you can do to advocate for child welfare reform today.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.Support the show

This week, we're joined by Sixto Cancel. Sixto is the founder and CEO of Think of Us, a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to reform and transform the child welfare system, led and guided by people who have been directly impacted by this system. Sixto tells us about the work that Think of Us is doing, and shares how his own experience growing in the foster care system led him to work toward its transformation and reform. Support the Show.

This week, Kathleen Creamer is returning to the EPPiC Broadcast. Kathleen is the managing attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. This week, Kathleen gives us an overview of many topics under discussions at the ABA Center on Children and the Law's recent National Conference on Parent Representation, which featured panels from many of the top scholars, lawyers, and authors in the world of child welfare reform. Support the Show.

This week, we're rewinding to a a conversation with Ernestine Gray from April 2023.This week, we talk with former judge Ernestine Gray, who served for 35 years in the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court in Louisiana. During her tenure, the Orleans Juvenile Court went from what the New York Times described as “the worst juvenile court in the nation” to a model that other juvenile courts looked to for best practices. Ernestine tells us about her many years of striving to improve the child welfare system in her parish, and how she's worked to improve the lives of the parents and children who came into her courtroom. Support the show

What effects would legislation proposed in various states have on families and the states' child welfare systems? To answer that, we looked to Texas, where the same measures have already become law. This week, we talked with Andrew Brown, vice president of Policy with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, about some of the laws Texas passed in recent years, including a new law guarenteeing a right to a second opinion for parents who have been accused of abuse by a child abuse pediatrician, a law that requires parents to be told their legal rights during a child welfare investigation, and a law that differentiates between poverty and neglect. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week, we're talking with Patti Sullivan, the Parental Rights Foundation's Florida State Coordinator. Patti and Michael were in DC to bring attention to two national bills aimed at protecting parental rights: the Families' Rights and Responsibilities Act and the Parental Rights Amendment. They discuss those bills and their efforts in this episode.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week, we're talking with James Mason, president and senior counsel at the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. Previously, James has served as the president of the Parental Rights Foundation and the host of the EPPiC Broadcast. This week, James tells us about a case in Texas that HSLDA has recently litigated on behalf of a homeschooling family caught up in a CPS investigation. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week, Joanna Woolman returns to the podcast! Joanna is an associate professor of law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and the executive director of the Institute to Transform Child Protection. Today, Joanna tells us about a civil rights complaint brought forward to address the disproportionality of African American children in Minnesota's child welfare system, as well as the African American Family Preservation Act, a bill introduced to address the racial disproportionality and provide better oversight and stricter removal standards for Minnesota's child welfare system overall. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week we talk with Will Estrada, senior counsel at the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and former president of the Parental Rights Foundation, as well as the former host of the EPPiC Broadcast. Will has also served as attorney with the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. In this episode, Will tells us about his upcoming law review article, in which he argues that parental rights are a pre-political right, and that the family is a basic building block of society. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week, we're talking with Michelle Weidner, executive director of the Family Justice Resource Center in Illinois, which represents families in CPS cases across the country. Michelle is also a parent with lived experience dealing with the child protective system. In this episode, she tells about her experience being falsely accused by a child abuse pediatrician over a blur on her infant son's medical scan. Michelle also tells about how the Family Justice Resource Center works to reunite parents and children who have been separated by the system, and legislation that the Center is championing in Illinois to protect families from false allegations of abuse. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week, we're rewinding to a a conversation with Martin Guggenheim from February 2021.In this episode,  we talk with Martin Guggenheim, who has taught at the NYU School of Law for over 25 years, and is one of the foremost experts on family law and family rights today. Marty tells us about his lengthy career in the family law field, including how the current child welfare system came to be, and why it's vitally important that parents receive legal representation in court.Marty also explains how the Adoption and Safe Families Act, a cornerstone of the modern child welfare system, provides states with an incentive to permanently remove children from their birth families over the smallest parenting shortcomings, and what a better alternative would look like. Support the show

This week, we're talking with Kelly Fong, author of Investigating Families: Motherhood in the Shadow of Child Protective Services, published in 2023. Kelly is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California Irvine. In this episode, Kelly explains how child protective services exert an inescapable surveillance over many parents, especially low income and minority mothers. During her research, Kelly embedded herself in the child protective system to gain an inside perspective on how the system affects families. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week, we're talking with Matt Sharp, senior legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. Matt tells us about the Families Rights and Responsibilities Act, recently introduced into the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that aims to safeguard parental rights and provide parents with strong legal protections at the national level. Matt explains what's in the bill, why it was created, and what you can do to help support it. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We're kicking off season 8 with a returning appearance of Diane Redleaf. Diane is the legal consultant at Let Grow, an organization that promotes reasonable childhood independence. She's also the author of They Took the Kids Last Night. In this episode, Diane tells us what reasonable childhood independence is and why it matters for protecting parental and family rights. Plus hear about her work advocating for families caught up in the child welfare system.This episode is dedicated to the memory of Diane Redleaf's mother, Rhoda Redleaf, herself an iconic national leader in child advocacy for six decades who was instrumental as a strategic partner of our speaker in her own career as a child and family advocate. Rhoda passed away on Feb. 3, 2024.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/. Support the show

This week we talk with Will Estrada, senior counsel at the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and former president of the Parental Rights Foundation, as well as the former host of the EPPiC Broadcast. Will has also served as attorney with the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. Today, Will explains some of the parental rights-focused work that HSLDA is currently doing. Plus, hear about what he accomplished during his tenure as president of the Parental Rights Foundation and his perspective on where the parental rights movement is headed in the future.This episode marks the end of Season 7. Thank you for listening, and we will see you again in February 2024 for Season 8! Support the show

This week we talk with Kevin Boden, director of HSLDA International. Kevin tells us about the victories and challenges homeschooling is facing internationally. Kevin is the lead attorney for the Romeike family, who came to the US in 2006 after facing legal hardships in Germany for homeschooling their children. Support the show

This week we talk with Jim Mason, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association and former president of ParentalRights.org and the Parental Rights Foundation. In this episode, Jim explains how homeschooling has grown from its fringe roots in the 70's into an enduring education option today, with abundant resources to help parents best educate their children. He also explains what he believes is next for the homeschooling movement.Support the show

This week we talk with Jane Spinak, author of The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and Families. Jane is a Clinical Professor of Law Emerita at Columbia Law School, where she directed clinical programs in family regulation for forty years. In this episode, Jane traces her journey from working to reform the family court system to advocating for its abolishment. She tells us about the history of the family court system, which was created to be benevolent toward families, but harshly punishes parents and children. Jane's book lays out the case for abolishing family court completely, and replacing it with programs designed to truly support families rather than surveilling and policing them. Support the show

This week we talk with Michael Farris, constitutional law scholar, founding president of ParentalRights.org, and the former CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom. In this episode, Michael responds to a recent Washington Post article about his role in the parental rights movement and gives us an update on the projects he's been working on recently. Support the show

This week, we talk with Joyce McMillian. Joyce is a thought leader, advocate, community organizer, educator, and the Founder and Executive Director of Just Making A Change for Families (JMACforFamilies). Joyce walks us through her work advocating for families that find themselves caught up in New York's child welfare system, the Administration for Children's Services (ACS). Black, low income families are targeted by the ACS at a disproportionate rate. Joyce explains what factors play into this disproportionality and how New York could do better. Support the show

This week, we talk with Melissa Moschella, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, where her teaching focuses on bioethics and the moral and political status of the family. Melissa is also the author of To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children's Autonomy.Melissa explains her argument that parental rights are pre-governmental and rely on the natural rights of parents, rather than being conferred by the government, and why the family is the most important, basic building block of society. She explains why schools keeping secrets from parents, even with the best interest of children in mind, ultimately harms both children and parents. This episode contains discussion of controversial subject matter. The EPPiC Broadcast welcomes discussion on a variety of viewpoints regarding parental rights issues; however, the views and opinions expressed by guests are solely their own.Support the show

This week, we talk with Anna Arons. Anna is the Impact Project Director at the New York University Defense Clinic and formerly the acting assistant professor of lawyering at the New York University School of Law. She's also an assistant professor of law at the Saint John's University School of Law. In this episode, Anna discusses her law review article, The Empty Promise of the Fourth Amendment in the Family Regulation System. In her article, she explains how the child welfare system unfairly targets and polices poor and minority families and denies them the constitutional protections they are promised under the Fourth Amendment. Support the show

This week, Michael talks with William Wagner, vice president of the Parental Rights Foundation. William is a distinguished Professor Emeritus of Law at the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, and founder of Salt and Light Global. William has served as a federal magistrate judge in the U.S. Courts, as Legal Counsel in the U.S Senate, and as Senior Assistant United States Attorney in the Department of Justice.William tells us about his background in constitutional law and how he came to care passionately about parental rights, plus the work he's been doing recently on parental rights cases. Support the show

This week, we talk with Erin Phillips, president of Power2Parent, an organization uniting parents who want to advocate for their children's education. Power2Parent is based in Nevada, but maintains chapters in many states. Erin tells us about recent challenges to parents rights in Nevada that her organization has faced, plus victories in Nevada and across the country. Support the show

Vivek Sankaren is a clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, and director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic and the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic. He's authored over three dozen journal and law review articles, including “The Ties That Bind Us: an Empirical, Clinical, and Constitutional Argument Against Terminating Parental Rights”. In this episode, Vivek discusses the arguments he makes in his law review article that children are best cared for and protected when they maintain an attachment and connection to their families of origin. Support the show

This week, we talk with Jerry Milner, former Associate Commissioner of the Children's Bureau in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Far too often, the US child welfare system creates incentives to unnecessarily separate families, harming the children it tries to protect. During his tenure with the Children's Bureau, Jerry worked to create reforms that prioritize family preservation and reunification instead. Now, Jerry serves as the Director of the Family Justice Group. Support the show