Parental Rights

Parents bring us into the world and care for us before we can care for ourselves. They have both the fundamental constitutional right and the moral duty to guide the upbringing, education, and health care of their children. Children belong to their families, not the government. While teachers, school counselors, and other school officials play important roles in children’s lives, they are not equivalent to parents.

The law must acknowledge that parents generally know and love their children best. But all too often, courts have not treated parental rights as fundamental.

We defend the rights of parents to make informed decisions on behalf of their children and oppose efforts by government officials to hide information from parents.

We work to ensure that people of faith are allowed into the foster and adoption system so they can give children loving homes without being forced to compromise their beliefs.

We stand with teachers and parents, challenging public school policies that violate their rights and push false ideologies on students about human sexuality, race, and other controversial topics.

At ADF, we know that strong families are the backbone of a strong society. This understanding guides our work around parental rights.

• We partnered with organizations, including The Heritage Foundation, to launch the Promise to America’s Parents to address divisive government policies that promote racial division and gender ideology.
• We strategically engage in litigation to guarantee parents’ fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their children.
• We advance legislation and provide expert legal testimony to state and federal legislatures working to protect parental rights.