Broad parental rights bill moves forward to full Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to give parents legal recourse when they feel their rights have been violated by government entities — including schools and the Department of Child Services. This is the third attempt at passing a bill like this in as many years.

Senate Bill 143 would codify that governmental entities “may not substantially burden a parent’s fundamental right” to direct the upbringing, religious instruction, education or health care of a child unless it has a compelling interest.

Similar laws have been passed in other states to prevent school districts from affirming transgender students. The Alliance Defending Freedom helped draft the bill’s language. Legal counsel Jordan Carpenter said schools are making “consequential decisions” for students.

“School officials hide information from, lie to, or simply ignore the parents of adolescent children in the service of their own aims,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter’s example was from Michigan. A law passed in 2023 by the Indiana General Assembly mandated schools report to parents when a student requests name or pronoun changes.

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Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne), the committee chair, authored the bill. She also authored last year’s version, which died in committee.

“This issue looks very broadly at how parents can and should be more engaged in their children’s lives,” Brown said. “Whether it's when they’re impacted by DCS, in particular, or in our school systems.”

Grant Phillips testified about his family’s experience with DCS. Symptoms of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in his young child led to an investigation of child abuse. He testified that DCS prevented health care workers from sharing information about his children’s health.

“The parents going ahead of us into these kinds of situations need these kinds of protections that we did not have,” Phillips said.

The bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
 

Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.