Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that the state has established the nation’s first Office of Parental Rights.
“Governments should understand that – when it comes to raising a child – they don’t know best. The parents do, and they deserve an Attorney General’s office working on their behalf,” Uthmeier said in a statement. “This first-in-the-nation office is a mechanism for parents and families to seek justice where local governments and school systems seek to ‘treat,’ indoctrinate, or collect data from students without parental involvement. This new initiative is another way we are making Florida the best place to raise a family.”
The office seeks to “provide justice to parents and families whose rights have been violated,” a news release says. The office will further assist in matters pertaining to violations of health services, unauthorized data sharing, parental notification restrictions, explicit library materials, and more.
Uthmeier said during a news conference that Florida’s office stands in contrast to infringements on parental rights in other states.
“In California, they passed legislation where young kids can go through these healthcare treatments and they can be indoctrinated and parents have no right whatsoever. Last year, a father in New York lost custody of his nine-year-old son because he questioned the wisdom of a gender transition,” he said. “In Ohio, we saw something similar, a judge removed a teenage girl, a minor, from her parents when the parents disagreed with what was being pushed upon the child [regarding] so-called ‘gender affirming care.’
Education Secretary Linda McMahon celebrated the office’s launch.
“Parents have the right to know what’s going on in their child’s education and to make the decisions,” she said. “It’s great to see a state showing how enforcing parents’ rights is a priority without the federal government micromanaging them.”
