Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Mike, yesterday you mentioned a case from the early 1980s that, for you, signaled a change in the wind for parental rights. What was that case?

Michael Farris:
In the early ’80s, a family came to me after the Supreme Court of Washington had made a bad decision. The case involved their 13-year-old daughter, who had been discovered sleeping with her boyfriend, taking illegal drugs—and the parents grounded her. And the courts of Washington State found that the parents’ rules were reasonable and that their method of enforcing the rules were reasonable, but because there was conflict between parent and child over rules, the state of Washington could take jurisdiction of the child and place the child in foster care. That was held to not violate the right of the parents to direct the upbringing of their child.

They came to me to ask me to appeal to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, it was on the last day—and their deadline expired that afternoon. There was simply no way to get papers prepared and filed in Washington, D.C. in that amount of time.

About 20 years after this case was initially decided, the girl, who’s now in her mid-30s and a parent herself, came to testify on behalf of HSLDA in a United States Senate hearing. And she said the very best thing that the state of Washington could have done for her when she was 13, would be to tell her to go home, obey her parents, and live peaceably with them. That would have been done if they would have upheld the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.

Mike Smith:
Thanks, Mike, for sharing that very sobering case. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.