By Legislative Liaison Carolyn Martin

Who Leads the Family?

Is it parents, children, or the state? How you answer that question depends greatly on your worldview. As our culture moves further and further away from its Biblical underpinnings, and as the influence of the church wanes, we see the state stepping in to take on the role of parents. They will say it is to protect the children. The state may even confer rights to children. But, don’t be fooled. Rarely does a child make a decision that impacts the rest of their life without input from an adult. The state wants to make sure that adult is someone they deem suitable and they have trained.

Last week, seven bills were sent to the House State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee, or what is known as the “kill” committee. Two of these bills (HB20-1144, HB20-1063) would have strengthened parental rights in Colorado. One of the bill sponsors brought before the committee a family whose baby was wrongfully taken from them for nearly six months. The parents were charged civilly and criminally. You can read their story here. Those who opposed the bill claimed this bill would not have helped this family. They said this was a racism “training” issue for Child Protective Services and claimed the law already provides enough protection for parents. 

One representative actually said about HB20-1144 Parent’s Bill of Rights: “I believe this is a message bill. The message is only some parental rights should be protected. Not the families at the borders and not LGBTQ youth who are in foster care.” Listen here (at 6:20:40). One of the witnesses testified that “children do not belong to anyone but themselves” (at 43:37). If you have the stomach for it, listen to the entire 12 hours of the committee hearing. You’ll gain a better understanding of what we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are up against at the Capitol.

Our state has taken a hard turn away from God. Please, pray for His glory to be shown through all of us, for children who are in abusive situations to get the help they need, and for the protection of godly families.

Take Action!

SB20-163 School Entry Immunization is in committee today (Wednesday, February 19th). Pray for God’s love to reign in all the families who will be attending and testifying at this hearing. Check out this alert pagefor more information on the bill.

Join Me!

Weekly Prayer Meetings at the Capitol: Tuesdays at 11am, room 351. Just show up!

Trusting in the mighty power and grace of Jesus,
Carolyn Martin, CHEC Legislative Liaison
carolyn@chec.org

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About the Author: Carolyn Martin

Carolyn Martin serves as CHEC’s Homeschool Legislative Liaison, working for you and other liberty-loving families to protect homeschool freedom, parental rights, and religious liberty at the state capitol. Subscribe to the CHEC blog for Carolyn’s regular updates here, learn more about legal issues in Colorado here, and donate to support Homeschool Freedom here. Contact Carolyn directly at carolyn@chec.org.