State Legislation
From time to time WATCH will bring to the attention of our members and friends certain legislative issues that are of consequence to the health of families and homeschooling in Washington.
Threat to Parental Rights
Act Now!
Dear members and friends of WATCH,
Our state legislature is considering a bill that undermines the rights of parents, in our estimation. Since our home schoolers are parents, this potentially carries some profound importance to you. Included in this email is the email message sent by Christian Homeschool Network. Within the text of their message is the link to the House website with the opportunity for you to read the bill. You who enjoy web research might also pursue the US Supreme court case mentioned in the CHN newsletter as it is summarized here http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/20011210.asp.
In recent years, Washington legislators have faced such bills, and their constituents -- you and I -- have spoken up successfully to ask for the defeat of those bills. What is being attempted is to force parents -- and most especially single parents -- to make their children available to persons who demand visitation opportunities. This bill proposes that a person to whom you have denied access to your child may now ask the courts to force you to allow visitation. As you can read in the CHN message and in the language of the bill, whether you are deemed to be "fit" to be a responsible parent or not, your wishes can be overturned by a person who can convince the court to allow visitation apart from your best wishes for your child.
What to do: PRAY right now and until you receive news that it has been resolved. Stand, wrestle and pray as in Ephesians 6.
After and while praying, FOLLOW THE SUGGESTIONS as directed in the enclosed CHN message to CONTACT your state legislators.
Thank you for considering this concern and acting appropriately. Thank you to CHN for alerting us.
Bill Waring, President of WATCH Board of Directors
See you in August!
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E-Alert from the Christian Homeschool Network: Threat to parental rights.
For the past several months we have been expecting that a "visitation bill" would again be introduced this Legislative session and now that it has, we need to take quick action.
HB 2421 An Act Relating to Third Party Visitation
There is a hearing scheduled Wednesday January 13, 2010 at 8:00am in the House Judiciary Committee O'Brien Building Hearing Room A. If you plan to come, please contact us, Scott & DiAnna, volunteer lobbyist; home (253) 639-3325 or cell (206) 854-9122. We can give you up-to-date information on the bill and help you prepare to testify. Please contact us if you want to help, this is a very complicated issue and changes may happen quickly.
Please call your two state representatives 1-800-562-6000 and urge them to support parental rights by opposing HB2421. In this case it is not necessary to identify yourself as a homeschooler but that you are a concerned parent or taxpayer, etc.
History:
This bill is the latest of the on-going barrage of bills we have seen over the past six years most have involved "grandparent visitation". However, this bill is much broader and allows for anyone to petition the court for visitation of a parent's child. ...a person who is not the parent of the child may petition for visitation with the child if the person has established an ongoing and substantial relationship with the child (HB2421)
Third party visitation laws in Washington State were deemed to be unconstitutional in the 2000 US Supreme Court case of Troxel v. Granville. In that case the court reaffirmed the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children.
According to Justice O'Connor, the Washington State trial judge merely substituted his own notion of good parenting for the mother's wishes. Justice O' Connor stated that, "The Due Process Clause does not permit a State to infringe on the fundamental right of parents to make childrearing decisions simply because a state judge believes a 'better' decision could be made." http://www.hslda.org/docs/hshb/24/hshb2421.asp
Currently, HB2421 is very narrowly scoped, however that does not mean it will stay that way. In December, we attended a work session on a draft bill and almost all of the supporters wanted the bill less restrictive. Also, some states have passed narrowly-scoped laws only to amend them a few years later making them less restrictive. We do not know how many times we have heard "just get the bill passed, we can fix it later". "The old camel's nose under the tent" trick.
If this bill passes:
· The parent would be forced to explain their reason to deny visitation in open court which is a public record. The burden would be shifted to the parent to explain why they have denied visitation, allowing the court to decide if they are being reasonable or not.
· Under current law the government does not interfere unless the parent has been found to be "unfit". This would be radically altered and now allow the court to overrule a "fit" parent's decision. The court would be in a position to rule if the "fit" parent's actions are reasonable.
· HB2421 does not allow a petition for visitation to be granted if the two parents are living together and deny visitation. However, a single parent does not have this same right.
Preserving homeschool freedoms for today and tomorrow!Christian Homeschool Network
www.CHNow.org
CHN is legislative liaison to Christian Heritage Home Educators www.ChristianHeritageOnline.org
