Texas Senate Bill Threatens Parental Rights
By Sun Kyu Bae |
Published June 13, 2009 |
Articles |
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SB 1440 just passed this week and the clock is ticking. See what you can do to help defeat this bill!
UPDATE: GOVERNOR RICK PERRY VETOED SB 1440 LAST FRIDAY 6/19/09 - THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED THIS EFFORT!
Calling all Texas homeschoolers!
I just finished writing my article, How Changes to U.K. Homeschooling Laws Affect You, when I got this news. Ironically, my concerns over the passing of this senate bill are similar to those of the "Regulation-Gone-Wild!!" mentioned in my U.K. article above. Please read below.
Texas Senate Bill 1440 just passed this week and is on the desk of Governor Perry for signing into law. This bill will make it significantly easier for Child Protective Services (CPS) to go to your house with nothing more than an affidavit and without advance notice, transport YOUR child to any place for and "interview, examination, and investigation".
Also, the bill states that CPS no longer needs parental permission to allow CPS to take your child away and speak to your child at a place which CPS deems proper, which means CPS can take your child away without your knowledge.
Now, how did this bill get created?
Well, remember those 400 kids that were taken away from the Yearning For Zion Ranch months ago, amid charges of underage sex at the polygamist ranch? A lower court ruled that state welfare officials were wrong to take away these children and ordered officials to return the children back to their parents. With these new powers, CPS can minimize their chances of getting embarrassed in situations where they would deem it necessary to take children away from their parents.
Now, I do agree with the spirit of this bill, I really do, because it would seem that this bill was originally created to help CPS do its job in catching bonafide child abusers from their parents/guardians (it's a very difficult job and CPS deserves respect for taking on this task).
But SB 1440 is NOT the way to resolve this issue since it has detrimental consequences for homeschooling families. For those of you who may not know, CPS and homeschooling families aren't exactly the best of friends down here in the Lone Star State. And you can just envision situations where CPS, with its new powers, can cause some issues for law-abiding homeschooling families. In short, it seems to me that introducing SB 1440 as a solution is like giving a bazooka to someone to kill a fly...I'm talking loads of unintended damage here.
According to an article in American-Statesman, Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition, called the measure "an assault, not only on parents' rights to protect their children but also on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures."
Click on the video below to hear Tim's appeal to Governor Perry to veto SB 1440.
Ok Texas homeschoolers, now that you have some background on this bill, I recommend everyone to take a few seconds and contact Governor Perry's office to say that you are against SB 1440 and urge the governor to veto the bill. The way that the governor's contact page is laid out, it literally will take only a few moments to do this and you'll be making a huge impact on parental rights for not only Texas homeschoolers, but all Texas parents.
See you next time!
- Sun
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