Whose Kids Are They? The State’s Quiet Power Grab Over Parental Rights

Starting last week, we have been highlighting how it is that the state is not only removing the authority and responsibility from parents to raise their children, but is also willing to punish parents who do not fall in line.  Let’s just say there is no shortage of material on this topic.  All that follows has happened since last week.  The battle over whose children they are is not going away anytime soon.

From the sixth grade through high school, I attended Fairfax County (Virginia) public schools.  Granted, this was many years ago, but a recent story left me stunned.  What happened?  It appears that a social worker at one of the high schools (Centerville) took it upon herself to arrange for abortions without the knowledge or consent of their parents or guardians.  Some may have even involved spending taxpayer dollars to have them performed.

According to a brave whistleblower with knowledge of all of this, who has come forward to declare the school knew about this for years and did nothing about it.  Zenaida Perez (a Cuban immigrant) teaches English as a second language at the high school.  She discovered the social worker, Carolina Diaz, had made an appointment for a minor at an abortion clinic, paying for it herself.  The principal of the high school, Chad Lehrman, approved school funds being used to cover the cost.

The abortion for the 17-year-old Guatemalan took place without the knowledge or consent of her legal guardian.  When Perez went public last week, the school and county reacted with shock.  Small problem.  Perez produced emails going back to 2022 expressing her concerns, not to mention at least seven meetings with officials on the subject.

Anyone unable to say this is flat ass wrong is also saying the state should regulate what happens with these children, not their parents.  Once more, I vote for the parents.

In Illinois, students in grades three through twelve will receive mental health screening starting the 2027-2028 school year.  There is an option for parents to opt out, but the process for that remains unclear at this point.  Parents are rightfully worried the program might well serve as the foundation for the state to overreach.  Combine that with the increasing tendency of the mental health profession to declare everything under the sun as a problem requiring therapy.  A quick Google search will show that an increasing number of professionals are worried that the profession is increasingly dependent and a lack of personal ownership of one’s own life.  Small wonder parents are concerned this new program could be little more than declaring the lack of agreement to a progressive view on each and every issue is a mental health issue.

Schools increasingly appear to be ground zero for a lot of this.  In North Carolina, the governor has decided not to opt into a new federal choice program that would provide economic assistance to parents sending their children to private and charter schools.  This is nothing short of saying educating children comes second to the state controlling what they are taught at every level, while we all are required to bend a knee for the rabidly partisan teachers’ unions.

Not to be outdone in the hypocrisy category on things, progressives have no problem holding parents “accountable” for unruly, even criminal, behavior of their children.  In one New Jersey town, there is an ordinance where parents could face jail time for their child’s behavior.

Think about all of this for a second.  The same parents who cannot be trusted to be included in the decision for their minor child to have an abortion should be held legally accountable for the actions of that child.  That cannot make sense even to a progressive.

There’s much more from the week, but insufficient space to cover it.  More to come next week.

Common Sense: The argument over whose children they are—their parents or the state—is real, important, and not going away.