Elementary school students getting on school bus

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 GRADEShttps://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