This week we talk with Will Estrada, senior counsel at the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and former president of the Parental Rights Foundation, as well as the former host of the EPPiC Broadcast. Will has also served as attorney with the Federal Department of Health and Human Services.
Today, Will explains some of the parental rights-focused work that HSLDA is currently doing. Plus, hear about what he accomplished during his tenure as president of the Parental Rights Foundation and his perspective on where the parental rights movement is headed in the future.
This episode marks the end of Season 7. Thank you for listening, and we will see you again in February 2024 for Season 8!
International Homeschooling, with Kevin Boden
This week we talk with Kevin Boden, director of HSLDA International. Kevin tells us about the victories and challenges homeschooling is facing internationally. Kevin is the lead attorney for the Romeike family, who came to the US in 2006 after facing legal hardships in Germany for homeschooling their children.
Homeschooling and Parental Rights, with Jim Mason
This week we talk with Jim Mason, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association and former president of ParentalRights.org and the Parental Rights Foundation.
In this episode, Jim explains how homeschooling has grown from its fringe roots in the 70’s into an enduring education option today, with abundant resources to help parents best educate their children. He also explains what he believes is next for the homeschooling movement.
The Case for Abolishing Family Court, with Jane Spinak
This week we talk with Jane Spinak, author of The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and Families. Jane is a Clinical Professor of Law Emerita at Columbia Law School, where she directed clinical programs in family regulation for forty years. In this episode, Jane traces her journey from working to reform the family court system to advocating for its abolishment. She tells us about the history of the family court system, which was created to be benevolent toward families, but harshly punishes parents and children. Jane’s book lays out the case for abolishing family court completely, and replacing it with programs designed to truly support families rather than surveilling and policing them.
Catching Up with Michael Farris
This week we talk with Michael Farris, constitutional law scholar, founding president of ParentalRights.org, and the former CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom. In this episode, Michael responds to a recent Washington Post article about his role in the parental rights movement and gives us an update on the projects he’s been working on recently.
New York’s ACS and Disproportionality with Joyce McMillan
This week, we talk with Joyce McMillian. Joyce is a thought leader, advocate, community organizer, educator, and the Founder and Executive Director of Just Making A Change for Families (JMACforFamilies).
Joyce walks us through her work advocating for families that find themselves caught up in New York’s child welfare system, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Black, low income families are targeted by the ACS at a disproportionate rate. Joyce explains what factors play into this disproportionality and how New York could do better.
Giving the Choice to Parents, with Melissa Moschella
This week, we talk with Melissa Moschella, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, where her teaching focuses on bioethics and the moral and political status of the family. Melissa is also the author of To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children’s Autonomy.
Family Court and the Fourth Amendment, with Anna Arons
This week, we talk with Anna Arons. Anna is the Impact Project Director at the New York University Defense Clinic and formerly the acting assistant professor of lawyering at the New York University School of Law. She’s also an assistant professor of law at the Saint John’s University School of Law.
In this episode, Anna discusses her law review article, The Empty Promise of the Fourth Amendment in the Family Regulation System. In her article, she explains how the child welfare system unfairly targets and polices poor and minority families and denies them the constitutional protections they are promised under the Fourth Amendment.
Meet the Vice President, with William Wagner
This week, Michael talks with William Wagner, vice president of the Parental Rights Foundation. William is a distinguished Professor Emeritus of Law at the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, and founder of Salt and Light Global. William has served as a federal magistrate judge in the U.S. Courts, as Legal Counsel in the U.S Senate, and as Senior Assistant United States Attorney in the Department of Justice.
William tells us about his background in constitutional law and how he came to care passionately about parental rights, plus the work he’s been doing recently on parental rights cases.
Advocating for Parents’ Rights with Erin Phillips
This week, we talk with Erin Phillips, president of Power2Parent, an organization uniting parents who want to advocate for their children’s education. Power2Parent is based in Nevada, but maintains chapters in many states. Erin tells us about recent challenges to parents rights in Nevada that her organization has faced, plus victories in Nevada and across the country.
Reforming the Texas Foster Care System, with Andrew Brown
Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We’re kicking off season 7 with Andrew Brown, Associate Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. As an attorney, Andrew has represented children in the child welfare system, advocated for the rights of parents, and helped build families through domestic and international adoption.
Andrew breaks down some recent major wins for Texas families in the child welfare system. Texas recently passed into law five bills that help families, which will take effect very soon. These new laws guarantee that parents under investigation in child welfare cases have access to legal representation, replace anonymous child abuse reporting with confidential reporting, and more. Andrew explains these recent reforms in more detail, plus how they will affect families who find themselves involved in child welfare investigations.
Advocating for Parents with Erin Phillips
This week, we talk with Erin Phillips, president of Power2Parent, an organization uniting parents who want to advocate for their children’s education. Erin discusses her journey in advocating for her parental rights in her own children’s education and how Power2Parent was formed to give parents in her home state of Nevada and across the country the power to speak up for themselves and their children in our public schools.
The EPPiC Broadcast
Welcome to the EPPiC Broadcast: Empowering Parents and Protecting Children. Featuring personal stories, breaking news, and insightful commentary, we’ll encourage and inform you on the issue of family and parental rights as you guide and protect that child who is your world. From the Parental Rights Foundation. The EPPiC Broadcast welcomes discussion on a variety of viewpoints regarding parental rights issues; however, the views and opinions expressed by guests are solely their own.
Challenging CPS Overreach with Peter Kamakawiwoole
This week, Homeschool Legal Defense Association staff attorney Peter Kamakawiwoole returns to the Eppic Broadcast. Peter tells us about a case that he litigated on behalf of a mom who found herself dealing with an invasive CPS investigation including strip searches of her young children – all because she left her children in the car for a few minutes to buy coffee and muffins.
Parental Rights and Strict Scrutiny with Hugh Phillips
This week, we talk with Hugh Phillips, a constitutional litigator at Liberty Counsel. Hugh has also served as a judicial law clerk for the Supreme Court of Alabama and he’s the author of a law review article entitled “Liberating Liberty: How the Glucksberg Test Can Solve the Supreme Court’s Confusing Jurisprudence on Parental Rights”. Hugh discusses his law review article and explains a path forward to consistently applying the strict scrutiny test to parental rights issues in our nation’s courts.
Election Day, with Will Estrada and Michael Ramey
This week, we feature a special discussion between Parental Rights Foundation president Will Estrada and executive director Michael Ramey about how important it is to go out and vote today for candidates that support parental rights.
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