U.S. Government Seeks to Become an “Equal Partner” in Raising Your Children

February 18, 2016

U.S. Government Seeks to Become an “Equal Partner” in Raising Your Children

by Orissa Mora-Kent
Health Impact News

Will the U.S. government soon mandate that they become “equal partners” with parents in raising children?

According to a DRAFT POLICY STATEMENT ON FAMILY ENGAGEMENT FROM THE EARLY YEARS TO THE EARLY GRADES issued by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, American families’ Constitutional autonomy could be under calculated attack.

The draft policy explicitly states,

The purpose of this policy statement is to provide recommendations from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education (ED) on systematically engaging families in their children’s development, learning, and wellness, across early childhood and elementary education settings.

It is the position of the Departments that all early childhood programs and schools recognize families as equal partners in improving children’s development, learning and wellness across all settings, and over the course of their children’s developmental and educational experiences. [1]

Equal partners? Do you want the government as your equal partner in raising your children?

If this policy is implemented, will you be able to choose alternative forms of healthcare for your child or will Big Pharma step in to “engage” you in “caring” for your child’s “wellness”?

Will you be able to homeschool, or will the Department of Education step in to “encourage” you to send your child to a state-approved institutional “education” center of their own choosing?

Will you be able to go to the place of worship of your own choosing and guide your child’s spiritual development as you see fit, or will the state have a say in that too?

What does history teach us about government’s overreaching involvement in the education of youth? Are we listening, or will we allow a repeat of abuses?

Consider the draft policy plans to track your families every movement,

“Track family engagement data, including family-reported data
Local schools and programs should track progress on family engagement goals, as detailed in family engagement plans. The specific data collected will be based on program’s goals, but may include assessments of the program’s family friendly environment or teacher and provider- family relationships using valid and reliable tools.” [1]

Their Plan to Ensure Parental Compliance

The draft policy goes on to explain,

“The first step in systemically embedding effective family engagement practices in educational settings is to establish a culture where families are seen as assets and partners in children’s development, learning and wellness.” [1] (emphasis added)

Gleaning from Merriam-Websters definition of the word “engage,” one wonders which form of “engagement” these Washington bureaucrats intend:

“to entangle or entrap in or as if in a snare or bog”
“to arrange to obtain the use or services of : hire <engage a lawyer>”
“to induce to participate <engaged the shy boy in conversation>”
“to enter into contest or battle with <engage the enemy>”
“to deal with especially at length“

(emphasis added) [3]

Alex Newman, of The New American also wrote an article covering the draft policy statement.

Newman writes:

Virtually no area of family life, including the health and “mental health” of parents, as well as a family’s “attitudes” and even its “housing,” would be free from government intrusion under the government’s Orwellian vision. Even vague notions of “family wellness,” as defined by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., would be put under a government microscope. “Parenting interventions” will be used to ensure compliance. [2] (emphasis added)

What will happen to noncompliant families? Will the Feds send their CPS strong-arm into your home to remove all of your children altogether from your care if you are “noncompliant” towards their “equal partnership” aka “parenting interventions”?

Newman states:

Big Psychiatry will also play a major role. “Ensure constant monitoring and communication regarding children’s social-emotional and behavioral health,” the document demands. “Ensure that children’s social-emotional and behavioral needs are met and that families and staff are connected with relevant community partners, such as early childhood mental health consultants and children’s medical homes.” In the policy statement’s “recommendations” for states — much of which will be imposed through federal bribes — state governments are told to “expand early childhood mental health consultation efforts.”

There are lots of “recommendations” — nudge nudge, wink wink — for local governments, too. If parent “partners” are not partnering in a way approved of by Big Brother, for example, local officials should “identify supports that will be offered to parents such as evidence-based parenting interventions.” By interventions, they mean exactly what you think they mean. Local arms of Big Brother should also seek out “community partners” that can “provide comprehensive services, such as health, mental health, or housing assistance to meet families’ basic needs,” the document explains. [2]

Newman also warns:

Thinking that Big Brother is going to align its “strategies” and “expectations” to those of parents — rather than the other way around — is naïve at best. [2]

Consider some of the documented, far reaching, implications of Big Brother “helping” you raise your children.

Just to name a few, consider some of these previously published stories on MedicalKidnap.com:

Educational interventions

Education Secretary Wants Government Boarding Schools: “Certain Kids We Should Have 24/7”

The Ultimate Irony: The Decimation of Families to Protect the Children

CPS & Police Taser, Handcuff Parents: Enter Home of Homeschool Family without Warrant

CPS interventions

Texas CPS Kidnaps 19-month Old Child for “Failure to Thrive”

South Carolina Family Destroyed: Forced Vaccines, Sexual Abuse, Bruises Show Harm in State Care

Does the State Ever Have a “Right” to Remove Children from a Home?

Big Pharma interventions

10 Year Old Amish Girl Taken Away from Parents for Refusing Chemotherapy by Ohio Hospital

As a Parent, You Don’t have the Right to Choose Cancer Treatment for Your Child

Medical Kidnapping in the U.S. – Kidnapping Children for Drug Trials

Religious/Medical interventions

Children Taken Away from Christian Parents to Receive Forced Vaccinations

Special Needs Sisters Kidnapped From Homeschooling Christian Family

Breastfed, Homebirthed Babies Taken Away From Parents For Not Using Hospital

Federal Government Wants to Come into Your Home

Newman says the Feds want to visit your house:

The Obama administration also wants to make sure that Big Brother’s “partners” are being regularly checked up on — even at their homes. The document calls for various government programs to visit your house. Seriously. “To support ongoing relationship building with families, programs and schools should conduct periodic home visits so that teachers and families can get to know each other and communicate about children’s goals, strengths, challenges, and progress,” the policy statement says, adding that if home visits are not possible for “all families,” other requirements should be imposed. [2]

How much erosion of their rights will American families tolerate?

Newman points out:

Admittedly, a major part of the problem is that many parents have bought into the notion that they can, or even should, hand over their children to government “professionals” and “experts” to be raised, monitored, tracked, manipulated, and “developed.” But Big Brother has certainly played a giant role in encouraging that dangerous idea, most recently illustrated in the policy statement referring to families as “equal partners” in child rearing. Even setting aside the fact that the federal government has zero constitutional authority to meddle in child rearing or education, history suggests the results could be tragic. [2] (emphasis added)

American Children Hang in the Balance: Parents vs Nanny-Government

Newman goes on to explain:

The Obama-backed community schools, dubbed parental-replacement centers by critics, are already in full swing, and set for a massive expansion, thanks to support by most Republicans in Congress. Indeed, as The New American reported recently, these “full-service community schools” are set to play a key role in the broader agenda, overseeing every aspect of children’s lives ranging from dentistry and nutrition to “wellbeing” and mental health. The recently passed “Every Student Succeeds Act” also contains provisions for deploying “mental health” programs against parents and even community members. Obama’s recently retired Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who boasts of turning your children into “green” and “global” citizens with UNESCO using the “weapon” of education, even called for government to have “some kids” 24 hours a day, seven days per week. [2]

Parents, the message laid out in the draft policy is clear,

Big Brother is in charge of raising children, and that parents may be called upon to help out as ‘partners.’ [2]

Critics of Draft Policy Express Outrage

Newman states:

So far, the joint policy statement by Obama’s HHS and Education Department has flown largely under the radar. But as word spreads, critics are expressing outrage about Big Brother’s accelerating intrusions into family life and child rearing. [2]

Constitutionally minded watchdog groups such as The People, LLC have “blasted” the policy draft. [2] The People, LLC “has dealt extensively with education and parental rights at the state and local level and has been successful in drafting laws recognizing and protecting parental rights in education,” according to Alex Newman of The New American.

A letter that has widely circulated among activists and education researchers via the Internet, in response to the draft policy, is the dissent of one “furious mother,” Sara Wood. Sara said,

“I am a Catholic and my rights and duties as a Catholic parent are to educate my children and that I am only a cooperator of that education with the love of God the Creator, NOT with the government, federal or state,” [2]

Will others speak up?

Newman urges:

The American people must resist Big Brother’s unwanted and unconstitutional advances at every level of government. [2]

Sources and References

[1] U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, DRAFT POLICY STATEMENT ON FAMILY ENGAGEMENT FROM THE EARLY YEARS TO THE EARLY GRADES. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ecd/draft_hhs_ed_family_engagement.pdf

[2] Feds Seek Home Visits, Calling Parents “Equal Partners,” Alex Newman, The New American. http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/family/item/22530-feds-seek-home-visits-calling-parents-equal-partners

[3] “Engage,” Merriam-Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engage

Published on February 18, 2016

Tags: childhood development, constitutional rights, families, parenting|

7 Comments

Peter August 18, 2016 at 3:31 pm - Reply

Admin—Orissa said:

Will the U.S. government soon mandate that they become "equal partners" with parents in raising children? According to a DRAFT POLICY STATEMENT ON FAMILY ENGAGEMENT FROM THE EARLY YEARS TO THE EARLY GRADES issued by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, American families’ Constitutional autonomy could be under calculated attack. The U.S. Government wants to track your every move and come into your home to make sure you are being a good parent according to their standards.

I remember when our daughter was in public school we had some issues, many issues when she was in 3rd grade. She had been in and out of the doctors and hospital. They ran several tests trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Then we took her to the Childrens Hospital up here and they figured it out in a matter of hours using all the tests the other hospital had performed as well as that of all the other doctors. You may be wondering what this has to do with school. Just be patient I am getting there. When she came out of this last visit to the hospital it meant more time in physical therapy and missing more school. Then the school principal started in on my daughter in front of other staff, students, and parents in the halls about how much school she had missed and her grades and they were bringing down the schools overall attendance record and grade point level. If she did not straighten out then she had no problem holding her back. Then I got a phone call from one of the parents who saw this and I jumped in my truck and drove down there. and this principal started in on me in front of everybody…big mistake. I told her that I am not like everybody else. She was not going to do to me what she did to my daughter, we were going to discuss matters in a conference room with the door open. This is where I let her have it where all the staff and parents could hear me and how she was not going to do this to my daughter ever again. She informed me that my daughter was not going to be allowed to miss anymore school and that if she was too sick to attend school then she would make that call, I would bring her in and she would let me know I could bring her home afterwards and if doctors appointments are interfering with school then the school will reschedule them for us. I reminded her that she has had a doctors note every time she has missed. That said, I would like to know what right she has in determining when my daughter is too sick to miss school or changing her doctors appointments as all her doctors have been very cooperative with the schools. I would also like to know when she got her degree in medicine because as a former member of the school board I know that you have a masters degree in elementary education and a masters degree in education management. So going forward you will need a court order from her doctors asking for any more doctors notes or doctors records about her condition. When I filled her doctors in on what was going on, they all sent letters to the school and superintendents office stating that anymore information about this patient, my daughter, would require a court order going forward as they have all been very cooperative in the past, but the action of this principal has gone above what is required by law of any educator.

After this we applied for change of school and were denied, we appealed and were denied again. We applied for change of school district and were denied. So we decided it was time to look into homeschooling and being a certified teacher myself at the elementary level, it was no big deal to me. So we started the process of finding a RAPPS school nearby or a CO-OP and found one with both and have been with them ever since. My daughter is less stressed. We have a new superintendent, he is aware of many of the challenges of the parents had to endure under the old administration, he has seen my letters and that of my daughters doctors and has offered to allow change of school, my daughter is enjoying her homeschooling experience, the new superintendent and I do meet a few times a year as I work in a youth program with many kids from all the towns in the school district and what parents won’t tell the administration they will tell me and I will share with him. Our school district also provides transportation to our youth programs. So it is important to keep these doors open.

MK February 27, 2016 at 11:16 am - Reply

When my daughter’s public school tried to “engage” with me regarding her chronic illness, they started the conversation with “Here’s what’s going to happen…”.    I removed her from that school.   Aggressive “engagement” with unwilling participants will simply force families out of our school systems.    Constitutionally, families continue to have the right to say, “NO”.  We must remember that the school is supposed to be providing a service to the family, not the other way around. 

I have recently visited a couple of children.  One was kicked out of her parent’s house when sixteen, became pregnant, and now lives with family of the Baby Daddy, a miracle for her, as they are a close and loving family.    One lives in a hotel, as they were recenlty evicted from their home.    Home visits are simply an additional stressor to families such as this.  They don’t need bureaucrats.   What they NEED is money — jobs or a basic living stipend.   Also, what these kids need, is opportunities to take that next step into adulthood.  At age sixteen, as their families fall apart, they need driving education (schools no longer provide this and it costs upwards of $500), driver’s licenses, cars, seed money, jobs, and freedom from high school, because, since we delay graduation from high school until age 18, kids in situations such as this must make the choice to drop out and go to work.    As kids transition to adulthood, becoming pregnant, losing their homes, needing to support themselves, we need to have a natural break in our education, where kids who are ready to move on can do that, so when a sixteen year old gets pregnant, she is not stuck trying to race through one more year of school.  I’ve seen what they teach in that year, and it’s not as important as earning a living.   I believe we need to shave at least a year off of high school.  Those kids who aren’t going to college need to get their freedom to go get a job, and those who are going to college should go on to college.

g February 22, 2016 at 11:54 am - Reply

What do you think Hitler did with all those youth camps for children, they came home no longer listening to their parents, they proclaimed they belonged to the state, another caveat was the feminist movement supposedly to uplift women , but was really another scheme to take children away from their mothers because their working all day, children are so vulnerable, they should be raised by their mothers instead of impersonal relationships and day care centers where they are forced to be vaccinated with poison, those people  will never care for them like their own

Juney February 21, 2016 at 8:53 am - Reply

News Flash!
The government has already been following you since the mid 1950’s.  A lot of your parents unwittingly signed papers allowing the schools both parochial and private and catholic to do what they termed ‘monitor the progress’ of the grade school children’.  Forty-five years later, a friend working in county government found the well kept records in some files and told me we were still being tracked.  
It is no coincidence that your name comes up for census contact or anything else.  You were chosen to respond for a reason.  Not only are they already raising your children, they have raised you as well.  I can only assume this is a part of their ‘transparency’ routine.  
I can also assume that the government has been using this information all the long and filling key positions with people whom they have the knowledge of and means to control, so they know what to expect from the hire, or not.
Fly little birds, fly.

LeAnn Addleman February 19, 2016 at 12:08 pm - Reply

Dean-Tong said:
> David said:
> > This is VERY DANGEROUS!! The government has NO PLACE IN RAISING OUR CHILDREN!!!! They (the gove) have been using the CPS to do this but do not have complete control yet. That is why everybody that goes to Congress, and the Senate turn a deaf ear to all that complain about the abuses of Family court, the CPS owned judges, lawyers, the docs on there payroll, this is just another attempt to turn America into a police state!!!
> 
> Google The Mondale Act (CAPTA) and the legal Latin term In Loco Parentis and this is why CPS gets away with what it does.

CPS is already in the schools.  As of the last couple of years, CPS has been working on setting up offices in most of the public schools so it’s very feasible that parents may send their kids to school one day and they won’t come home that night.
Check on CPS’s involvement in child sex trafficking, they are heavily involved and make so much money off the kids they kidnap from good parents.

Dean Tong February 19, 2016 at 9:46 am - Reply

David said:
> This is VERY DANGEROUS!! The government has NO PLACE IN RAISING OUR CHILDREN!!!! They (the gove) have been using the CPS to do this but do not have complete control yet. That is why everybody that goes to Congress, and the Senate turn a deaf ear to all that complain about the abuses of Family court, the CPS owned judges, lawyers, the docs on there payroll, this is just another attempt to turn America into a police state!!!

Google The Mondale Act (CAPTA) and the legal Latin term In Loco Parentis and this is why CPS gets away with what it does.

David February 18, 2016 at 6:27 pm - Reply

This is VERY DANGEROUS!! The government has NO PLACE IN RAISING OUR CHILDREN!!!! They (the gove) have been using the CPS to do this but do not have complete control yet. That is why everybody that goes to Congress, and the Senate turn a deaf ear to all that complain about the abuses of Family court, the CPS owned judges, lawyers, the docs on there payroll, this is just another attempt to turn America into a police state!!!