Parental Rights

I spent several hours yesterday doing volunteer work. On my computer. In the family room at my house. Watching a movie.

Sound like fun? Well, let me explain a bit more.

For about the past year I’ve been following the ParentalRights.org movement. For those unfamiliar with PRO, it is a non-profit organization that was created to raise awareness about the UN Treaty of the Child. You can read more about the Treaty here, but in short, it grants tremendous license to the government to regulate how a child is raised. There have been cases already where a child has complained about a rule their parents have, they take that complaint to a school counselor and the counselor informs the state. The state, under the authority of  laws already in place can (and in many cases has) take the child out of their parents’ home and placed them in foster care … all because the child disagreed with whatever the rule was. (You can read more stories like this here.)

Under the UN Treaty of the Child, this policy would be commonplace. When the United States signs a treaty, it becomes binding and only the Constitution (including Constitutional Amendments) can override it. One of the main projects of ParentalRights.org has been to gather signatures of Americans all over the country to support an Amendment to the Constitution that would prevent enforcement of the Treaty if it is signed. (You can read the text of the Amendment here.)

Thus, my volunteer work. I received a packet of signatures and contact information in the mail, and was asked to enter it into an excel spreadsheet so all the information would be organized. People like me are doing this all over the country.

The United States is one of only two nations in the world that has not signed the Treaty (the other country is Somalia). I personally would like to keep it that way.

If you are interested in finding out more, I would encourage you to visit PRO’s website to find out how you can be involved in this cause. At the very least, I would ask you to “sign” the petition by entering your name and email address on their site. Your “signature” indicates your opposition to the signing of the Treaty, which is being debated in Congress even now.  You can check the map on PRO’s website to find out where your Congressmen stand and then urge or thank them as needed.

Signing the petition is easy. It requires approximately 2 minutes of your time. And those two minutes could be key in this battle to protect the institution of parenthood and the rights that parents have to raise their children without inappropriate interference from the state.