What role do parents play in deciding the medical and psychological care of their children? Do school officials have the right to supersede the authority and stated intent of parents when it comes to some of the most important decisions regarding their children?
Most Americans, and especially most parents, would agree that outside of extreme circumstances, parents should be the primary decision-makers about their children’s health and well-being.
But officials at Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin disagreed. The district planned to defy the express instructions of parents regarding their children who struggle with gender confusion.
When school districts override the prerogative of parents, children are the ones who suffer.
Thankfully, after two sets of parents filed suit against the district, a Wisconsin court struck down Kettle Moraine’s policy and ruled that socially transitioning a child over a parent’s objection violates parental rights. The court’s ruling protects both parental rights and children’s well-being in Wisconsin.
Who are Tammy and Autumn Fournier?
Having a teen or pre-teen child struggle through anxiety and depression is a tough challenge for any parent. For some kids, it can take years of expert care and effort to find success in dealing with complex issues that affect mind, body, and spirit.
It’s an extraordinarily difficult time—with or without a school district’s meddling—as Tammy Fournier can personally vouch for.
“As can be common with adolescent girls, my 12-year-old daughter struggled with a poor self-image,” Tammy said. “She also experienced feelings of anxiety and depression. In Autumn’s words, ‘I loathed myself. I hated my personality, how I looked, everything about me.’”
How does a parent even respond to that? Making matters worse was what a mental health facility would tell Tammy while Autumn was struggling.
“Suddenly, a new feeling emerged for Autumn: She felt like she might have been born in the wrong body,” Tammy recounted. “The euphoric idea that she could change into someone else appealed to her as she deeply struggled with her sense of worth. She requested to be admitted into a mental health facility to get some help, and I obliged.
“Though I felt this new issue likely stemmed from Autumn’s underlying mental health struggles, the treatment facility said no. Your daughter is a boy. And if you want to save her life, you’ll now refer to her by her preferred name and male pronouns.
“Or you can go against her wishes and, if she kills herself, that’s on you.” Tammy was shocked.
“How dare they,” she said. “They didn’t know my daughter. When I asked if they had discussed Autumn’s anxiety, depression or feelings of low self-worth, they said they hadn’t. They had no idea who this girl was or what she was going through, yet they were quick to affirm her new identity and blindly push my vulnerable, adolescent daughter down a recklessly dangerous path.
“And our school district readily jumped on board.”
Kettle Moraine School District said it would defy Tammy’s instructions about her daughter
As Tammy and her family grappled with Autumn’s struggles, it turned out that Autumn’s school district was also ready to work on the issue—just not in the way that Tammy wanted or asked for.
Counselors had encouraged Autumn to say she wanted to be a boy. Her parents, understanding her needs and long-term health best, wanted to give her more opportunities to work through her very real struggles before making any permanent changes, including her name or pronoun usage. So, they spoke to her school about their wishes for their daughter.
Unfortunately, the school said it would disregard the parents’ directions. School officials told Tammy and her husband that when Autumn returned to school, they would refer to Autumn by whatever name or pronoun she chose, a process sometimes referred to as a “social transition,” without first informing them or getting their consent.
Treated as an afterthought or a problem, the parents were ultimately forced to withdraw their daughter from the school to protect her and preserve their role as her parents.
In November 2021, after sending a letter outlining their concerns, which went unanswered, Tammy and her husband had no choice but to file a lawsuit against the district. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys stood up for the parents’ rights as co-counsel with the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL). Additionally, another couple joined the lawsuit against the district to make sure the same thing wouldn’t happen to their children.
What was in Tammy’s letter to Kettle Moraine School District?
Attorneys for Tammy and her husband first sent a letter to the school district in May 2021. In the letter, attorneys explained that the district’s policy disregards scientific evidence and the advice of professionals who label efforts to transition children “controversial.”
Additionally, the letter noted that according to Wisconsin law, minor children cannot legally change their name, or change their name in school records, without parental consent. Yet that is exactly what the policy said school officials would do.
The school district’s policy took life-altering decisions out of parents’ hands and placed them with educators, who have no expertise whatsoever in these matters, and with the minors themselves, who, according to one court precedent—and common sense—lack the “maturity, experience, and capacity for judgment required for making life’s difficult decisions.”
After receiving no response to the letter, ADF and WILL filed a lawsuit against Kettle Moraine School District.
The district sought to dismiss the case, but the court denied this request, recognizing that the argument of Tammy and others demonstrated “a potential violation of their rights as parents to direct the upbringing of their child.”
Wisconsin court sides with Tammy and other parents
The Waukesha County Circuit Court ruled in October 2023 that the decision about whether to “socially transition” a child is a medical decision. Since parents have the right to make medical decisions for their children, the court ruled that Kettle Moraine’s policy to ignore express instructions for their children infringed on parental rights.
“The School District could not administer medicine to a student without parental consent,” the court wrote in its opinion. “The School District could not require or allow a student to participate in a sport without parental consent. Likewise, the School District [cannot] change the pronoun of a student without parental consent without impinging on a fundamental liberty interest of the parents.”
“This victory represents a major win for parental rights. The court confirmed that parents, not educators or school faculty, have the right to decide whether a social transition is in their own child’s best interests. The decision should be a warning to the many districts across the country with similar policies to exclude parents from gender transitions at school,” WILL Deputy Counsel Luke Berg said.
Parents know their children best, and when parents are allowed to play their God-given role as parents, children flourish.
“Today, my daughter is doing much better. She is healthy, stable mentally, [and] is looking forward to her future. We’re closer now than what we were prior to everything that happened,” Tammy said.
What happened to Tammy shouldn’t happen to other parents
While the Waukesha County District Court ruled in favor of Tammy and the other parents involved, not all states are as supportive of parental rights as they should be.
Dan and Jennifer Mead in Michigan are currently going through a similar ordeal. Their parental rights have been usurped by a school that acted as if it knew how to raise their daughter better than they do. They filed suit in federal court.
In New York, Jennifer Vitsaxaki has similarly sued a school district for “socially transitioning” her daughter without her consent or knowledge.
As one can see, parental rights are under assault across the country.
Tammy and Autumn are very much aware that the relationship between parent and child is the most basic—and profound—of relationships. No influence is as important to a child’s growth as that of their parents.
“Yes, parents know their children best and know what’s best for them,” Tammy said. “No other parent should have to go through what my husband and I did. Schools must respect our concerns and wishes and enact policies that support parents’ rights and benefit every child.”
With your generous contribution, ADF can continue to defend the rights of parents like Tammy. Will you stand with parents and give today to safeguard families?
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