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ACROSS THE STATES

Bill solidifies parental rights

In April, Texas homeschoolers scored a major victory by successfully amending Senate Bill 6, a comprehensive child welfare bill.

The most significant amendment removed a provision that would have made it a criminal offense for someone to "retain" a child from a social worker. If this provision had remained, it could have been used against Home School Legal Defense Association attorneys and parents who desire to keep a child from being interviewed alone by social workers during an investigation motivated by an anonymous tip. Such interrogations unnecessarily traumatize the child and sometimes provide information that the social worker could twist out of context. As a result, we advise our members to have a third party (such as a pastor or doctor) interview the child.

The amendment to SB 6 states, "A parent or other person who, in response to the department's investigation, seeks an evaluation of the child by a credible third party professional, including a licensed physician or a licensed counselor is considered to be cooperating with the investigation."

Another amendment requires that child welfare workers receive "instruction on rights provided by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution." (The same amendment was passed as part of a Texas omnibus budget bill two years ago, but was never implemented.)

Lastly, homeschoolers lobbied Texas senators to remove language from SB 6 that would have given social workers the right to make unannounced visits to the homes of families with adopted children. We explained to the legislators that the law should treat an adopted child the same way as a biological child. The 4th Amendment protects a child who is with his biological family in their home. Adopted children deserve no less protection. The legislature heard our arguments and removed this onerous requirement.

Hundreds of calls by homeschoolers to the legislature, as well as faithful lobbying by HSLDA Legislative Counsel Tom Sanders, helped win these victories. We are very thankful to God that the above provisions were successfully added to protect family freedoms.