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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/17/2004 5:35:16 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Wyoming--Calls Needed To Amend HB 88! |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== February 17, 2004 Wyoming--Calls Needed To Amend HB 88! Dear HSLDA members and friends: Though some needed amendments have been made, HB 88 still remains in need of a few critical changes. HSLDA has found a sponsor to introduce the needed amendments during the House floor debate. Your phone calls are needed to support this crucial amendment! Action Requested: Please call your own representative (to find your representative, use HSLDA's legislative toolbox [http://www.hslda.org/toolbox]) and ask him or her to amend House Bill 88 to require training for social workers. Say, "Please vote for parental rights. Support the Brechtel Amendment to HB 88 on the floor!" Background: Homeschoolers across the country worked hard to pass the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 last year. It requires social workers to have training on the rights of parents. HSLDA's model language spells that out and makes sure that social workers are trained in the legal and constitutional rights of parents including their right to the privacy of their home pursuant to the Fourth Amendment. Sheryl Schmidt, a representative of Homeschoolers of Wyoming, went to the Wyoming Department of Family Services to find out just what training social workers currently receive on the legal rights of parents. According to a document entitled "Family Center Child Protection: An Integrated Model of Practice," children have "absolute rights," while parents have "contingent rights." Social workers are trained to believe that parent's rights are "contingent upon parents meeting their responsibility to provide their children with minimum levels of nurturance and care, and a safe environment free from abuse or exploitation." The problem with this definition is that it is left completely up to the social worker to decide whether these "minimum levels" are being met or not. A parent who disagrees with a social worker has no "contingent rights," as far as that social worker is concerned. The only way to solve this problem is to provide additional training for social workers. They need to understand the rights that parents have, whether or not the social workers approve of what they are doing. These rights include the Fourth Amendment right to the privacy of their home, unless the parent agrees to let the social worker in, the social worker has a warrant, or there is a genuine emergency that threatens the child. Social workers in other states who have ignored these rights have learned the hard way that courts will enforce the Fourth Amendment against badly trained social workers. Wyoming can save parents and social workers (and taxpayers) a great deal of trouble by properly training social workers in the first instance. If Wyoming does not amend its law to provide the training required by the "Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003," Wyoming will lose thousands of dollars in federal funding. We expect social workers to insist that they are already fully trained on "parent's rights." Given the materials that Mrs. Schmidt has reviewed, this is wishful thinking at best. Please call your legislator to demand better training for social workers! Sincerely, Scott Somerville HSLDA Staff Attorney {{JoinAd}} ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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