Posted on 02/12/2016 1:59:13 PM PST by Sopater
Big Brother wants to be an âequal partnerâ with American parents in the raising of their own children, starting before they are even born. He wants to send his agents to your house for âhome visits,â too. Believe it or not, two powerful arms of Obama administration, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), explicitly say so themselves.
In a draft policy statement on âfamily engagement,â the two unconstitutional bureaucracies openly state their joint position: families are âequal partnersâ in everything from children's âdevelopmentâ and âeducationâ to their âwellness across all settings.â Virtually no area of family life, including the health and âmental healthâ of parents, as well as a family's âattitudesâ and even its âhousing,â would be free from government intrusion under the government's Orwellian vision. Even vague notions of âfamily wellness,â as defined by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., would be put under a government microscope. "Parenting interventions" will be used to ensure compliance.
âIt is the position of the Departments [of HHS and Education] that all early childhood programs and schools recognize families as equal partners in improving childrenâs development, learning and wellness across all settings, and over the course of their childrenâs developmental and educational experiences,â reads the draft policy. And it gets even more bizarre: As defined in the document, family means âall the people who play a role in a childâs life and interact with a childâs early childhood program or school.â
To advance the âgoalâ of turning families into âequal partners,â the joint policy statement by the two federal bureaucracies provides ârecommendationsâ to, and highlights resources for, state and local governments. The document argues that Big Brother needs to know about essentially everything, for the supposed benefit of the child it wants to âpartnerâ in caring for. Citing âresearch,â the policy statement claims that âthe institutions where children learn cannot ignore family wellness if they want to ... fulfill their mission to prepare children for school and academic success.â In other words, every aspect of family life is now fair game under the pretext of checking âfamily wellness.â
While government usurpation of parental rights and responsibilities is hardly a new phenomenon, the Obama administration has pushed the agenda hard. Citing Obama's so-called âMy Brother's Keeperâ scheme, the document also touts ensuring that âchildren are learning across settings and that all adults who teach and care for them are strong partners with shared expectations and aligned strategies.â Thinking that Big Brother is going to align its âstrategiesâ and âexpectationsâ to those of parents â rather than the other way around â is naïve at best.
The âprinciplesâ underlying the agenda are spelled out explicitly, including âequal partnerships between families and professionals.â In fact, the paper calls for promoting âshared responsibilityâ between government âprofessionalsâ and families âfor children's healthy development, learning and wellness.â The paper also calls for âjointlyâ developing and monitoring goals for the children at home and the classroom, with government employees told to âengage parents as capable, competent partners.â
Big Psychiatry will also play a major role. âEnsure constant monitoring and communication regarding childrenâs social-emotional and behavioral health,â the document demands. âEnsure that childrenâs social-emotional and behavioral needs are met and that families and staff are connected with relevant community partners, such as early childhood mental health consultants and childrenâs medical homes.â In the policy statement's ârecommendationsâ for states â much of which will be imposed through federal bribes â state governments are told to âexpand early childhood mental health consultation efforts.â
There are lots of ârecommendationsâ â nudge nudge, wink wink â for local governments, too. If parent âpartnersâ are not partnering in a way approved of by Big Brother, for example, local officials should âidentify supports that will be offered to parents such as evidence-based parenting interventions.â By interventions, they mean exactly what you think they mean. Local arms of Big Brother should also seek out âcommunity partnersâ that can âprovide comprehensive services, such as health, mental health, or housing assistance to meet familiesâ basic needs,â the document explains.
The Obama administration also wants to make sure that Big Brother's âpartnersâ are being regularly checked up on â even at their homes. The document calls for various government programs to visit your house. Seriously. âTo support ongoing relationship building with families, programs and schools should conduct periodic home visits so that teachers and families can get to know each other and communicate about childrenâs goals, strengths, challenges, and progress,â the policy statement says, adding that if home visits are not possible for âall families,â other requirements should be imposed.
The document also calls on schools to âassess families' needs and wants,â and even to provide training for parents on how to raise their children. Indeed, every aspect of parents' lives is in the crosshairs. âIt is important that LEAs [local education agencies], schools and programs have a strategy for supporting family wellbeing,â the Obama administration argues. âLEAs, schools and programs can support family wellbeing through school social workers, by implementing community schools models or approaches, or using family support staff and mental health consultants.â
The Obama-backed community schools, dubbed parental-replacement centers by critics, are already in full swing, and set for a massive expansion, thanks to support by most Republicans in Congress. Indeed, as The New American reported recently, these âfull-service community schoolsâ are set to play a key role in the broader agenda, overseeing every aspect of children's lives ranging from dentistry and nutrition to âwellbeingâ and mental health. The recently passed âEvery Student Succeeds Actâ also contains provisions for deploying âmental healthâ programs against parents and even community members. Obama's recently retired Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who boasts of turning your children into âgreenâ and âglobalâ citizens with UNESCO using the âweaponâ of education, even called for government to have âsome kidsâ 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
At first glance, the Obama administration policy document appears to be merely about âengaging familiesâ in the raising of their own children. Indeed, there is much in the document that, if it were not coming from a federal government that is increasingly out of control and cannot even balance a budget, much less raise children, might sound innocent enough. For instance, the policy statement refers to parents as the children's âfirst and most important teachers, advocates, and nurturers.â What it implies, though, is that Big Brother is also going to play the role of âadvocateâ and ânurturerâ to your children. Perhaps Big Brother can provide hugs and bed-time stories soon, too.
In fact, throughout the document, it becomes brazenly clear that federal bureaucrats are starting from the false assumption that Big Brother is in charge of raising children, and that parents may be called upon to help out as âpartners.â It also purports to provide justification for governments to pry into every aspect of family life â an extraordinarily dangerous proposition that is a hallmark of totalitarian governments. The mindset evidenced throughout the document is beyond paternalistic and condescending to parents.
So far, the joint policy statement by Obama's HHS and Education Department has flown largely under the radar. But as word spreads, critics are expressing outrage about Big Brother's accelerating intrusions into family life and child rearing. E-mails blasting the scheme have been spreading rapidly among education researchers. In a post about the policy headlined âMarxist Nanny State Coming for the Family,â education researcher Betsy Kraus noted that with âEarly Childhood Educationâ now written into the recently approved Obama-GOP âeducationâ bill known as the Every Student Succeeds Act, the American family is in the government's crosshairs. She also cited various extremist quotes by prominent psychiatrists illustrating just how dangerous the agenda truly is.
One furious mother, meanwhile, citing her Catholic faith and the U.S. Constitution's limits on federal power, compared the proposed governmental usurpation of parental authority in children's âdevelopmentâ to what occurs under communist dictatorships. âI am a Catholic and my rights and duties as a Catholic parent are to educate my children and that I am only a cooperator of that education with the love of God the Creator, NOT with the government, federal or state,â wrote the mother, Sara Wood, in a letter that has been widely circulated among education researchers and activists via the Internet.
Also blasting the joint policy statement was The People, LLC, a constitutionally focused activist and watchdog group that has dealt extensively with education and parental rights at the state and local level and has been successful in drafting laws recognizing and protecting parental rights in education. âGrants such as those related to this policy have been incentivizing states since the inception of the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant,â said co-founder Angela Alef. âUp to now, the effect of these grants has been realized within the population receiving childcare vouchers/assistance. With the continued expansion of the 'money-following-the-child' policies of Education Reform, such interference in parental authority will be realized across all populations unless a state-level fight is waged by citizens.â
In a statement provided to The New American, Alef cited a 2011 meeting of the Louisiana Department of Education's Early Education Supervisors to illustrate the point. She said that âconcern was expressed thereâ that there would be âinsufficient monitoring of childrenâ whose parents decided against enrolling their pre-K-aged children in school. âThe solution posed by the session leader was that, 'at some point, obviously, parents will have to be assessed,'â Alef recalled. The latest policy statement by the Department of Health and Human Services, she added, âcan only be viewed as continuing the effort to standardize our families â one child at a time.â
It was not immediately clear when the policy draft was released, nor what the current status of it is. The document remains online at the federal government's website. It appears to have been put out during or after the fall of 2015. Nobody answered the phone at the agency when contacted by The New American on Wednesday to ask about the policy. In its press section, though, the department was boasting of federal agencies âjoining forcesâ to create a new âcenterâ that will âsupport the Obama administrationâs goal of expanding access to high-quality early care, education, and home visiting for all young children.â (Emphasis added.) It said the goals would be accomplished through, among other means, providing âhelpâ to states as well as âchild care centers, preschools, and home visiting programs.â
Admittedly, a major part of the problem is that many parents have bought into the notion that they can, or even should, hand over their children to government âprofessionalsâ and âexpertsâ to be raised, monitored, tracked, manipulated, and âdeveloped.â But Big Brother has certainly played a giant role in encouraging that dangerous idea, most recently illustrated in the policy statement referring to families as âequal partnersâ in child rearing. Even setting aside the fact that the federal government has zero constitutional authority to meddle in child rearing or education, history suggests the results could be tragic. The American people must resist Big Brother's unwanted and unconstitutional advances at every level of government.
like i said, if we dont win next year, serious decisions are going to have to be made.
Not no...but HELL NO!
Hey, look on the bright side. If Cruz wins, this will help him make sure everyone’s kids are voting like they should!
Big Brother can cram it where the sun don’t shine. What part of “leave me alone to pursue my happiness” does this ever encroaching government not understand? Punish evil and reward good. Its not that hard, but it must be much more fun to oppress people.
I hear that...My kids are all grown, but I would not have allowed that back when they were young...No way....
*** NFW ***
No kidding. In addition to the 60% tax rate we will be paying.
You screw up everything you touch. Leave them kids alone!
Adolph Hitler would be so proud! What’s next “government-run youth camps” where your children are indoctrinated into the state’s views and where you as parents are told to step aside?
Very disturbing but not surprising. It’s what communists do.
the children now belong to the state.
there is no equal partnership... just like being a little bit pregnant... once owned by the state, parents are just as expendable as the child.
Equal partners with WHO - WHOM - WHATEVER!!!!!
Too difficult to read....
If Cruz is elected he said he would do away with the Dept of Ed.
What agiecies is trump going to get rid of?
If Cruz is elected he said he would do away with the Dept of Ed.
What agiecies is trump going to get rid of?
If you got a link showing where Cruz supports this crap, post it. Otherwise, GFYS
I say they visit the White House. There’s reportedly a mom there who begrudges her own kids of the very foods she eats. I’ve no proof, just photos.
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