EPPiC Broadcast

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 i...

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...

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.  Support the show

Vivek Sankaren is a clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, and director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic and the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic. He’s authored over three dozen journal and law review articles, including “ The Ties That Bind Us: an Empirical, Clinical, and Constitutional Argument Against Terminating Parental Rights ”. In this episode, Vivek discusses t...

This week, we talk with Jerry Milner, former Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Far too often, the US child welfare system creates incentives to unnecessarily separate families, harming the children it tries to protect. During his tenure with the Children’s Bureau, Jerry worked to create reforms that prioritize family preservation and...

This week, we talk with Dr. Josh Gupta-Kagan, Professor at Columbia University School of Law and author of “The Hidden Foster Care System.” Josh explains how many parents in child welfare investigations find their children placed with relatives, completely off the official record. While placing children with relatives, sometimes called kinship care, is not an inherently bad thing and can result in...

This week, we talk with Maxine Eichner. Maxine is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina, and she writes on legal issues surrounding families and social welfare law and policy. In this episode, Eichner explains the history of a concept called “medical child abuse” and how innocent parents of medically complex children can easily find themselves caught up in allegation...

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 famili...

In the final episode of Season 6, we talk with Laura Adams, founder of FACTS4safefamilies.com , which provides education, support, and advocacy to improve understanding of adoptive and foster children and complex trauma. Laura explains how through her work with international adoption and parenting her own adopted children with special needs, she saw firsthand the challenges that exist in getting t...

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 child...

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.  Support the show

This week, we welcome Diane Redleaf back to the Eppic Broadcast. Diane is the author of They Took the Kids Last Night and founder of the Family Defense Center . Diane is working with Let Grow to pass legislation in Virginia and Utah that protects reasonable childhood independence, the idea that children should be able to pursue age-appropriate activities on their own without the threat of their pa...

This week, we talk with Patrick Garrison, founder and president of True Corrective , an education curriculum to help parents teach their children about America’s shared principles. Patrick explains what led him to found this curriculum program, including his background as a public school teacher. Plus, he explains how True Corrective can help parents reconnect with their children’s education.  Sup...

This week, we talk with Dr. Roger Smith, a physician and pediatrician, and author of Parenting with Influence: Shifting Your Parenting Style as You and Your Child Grow . Roger gives a doctor’s perspective on how you as a parent can work best with your child’s pediatrician. Plus, he lays out some principles for how to stay connected with your children as they grow older and mature into adulthood. ...

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 for...

This week, we talk with former judge Ernestine Gray, who served for 35 years in the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court in Louisiana. During her tenure, the Orleans Juvenile Court went from what the New York Times described as “the worst juvenile court in the nation” to a model that other juvenile courts looked to for best practices. Ernestine tells us about her many years of striving to improve the chi...

This week, we talk with Chelsea Sobolik, the Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy for Lifeline Children’s Services . Lifeline Children’s Services assists families with international adoption in all 50 states, each of the U.S. territories and U.S. citizens living abroad. Lifeline also serves women in unexpected pregnancies and families through domestic adoptions.  Chelsea tells us about the missi...

This week, we talk with Jeremy Tate, founder of the Classic Learning Test . The Classic Learning Test, an alternative to the ACT and the SAT standardized tests, emphasizes classical texts and key threads of Western culture that have been neglected in mainstream American education.  Jeremy breaks down the history of public education for us and explains why the CLT is needed. He also gives us his pe...

This week, we talk with Robert Bortins, the CEO of Classical Conversations since 2012, and a member of the board of directors of Homeschool Now USA. Robert tells us how Classical Conversations went from a single homeschooling classroom in a basement to the world’s largest classical homeschooling organization. Robert explains the process and philosophy of classical education, which aims to prepare...

This week, we talk with Timothy Sandefur, Vice President of Legal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute . Timothy is representing a mother in Arizona who found herself falsely accused of child neglect and placed on the state’s central child abuse registry in a court case that challenges the constitutionality of Arizona's child abuse registry. Today, Timothy breaks down the details of the case an...

This week, we’re talking with Suzanne Nossel. Suzanne is the CEO of PEN America , a leading human rights and free expression organization, and she is author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All . Previously, Suzanne has served as Chief Operating Operator of Human Rights Watch and as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.  How do principles of free speech interact with parental...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast, season 6! We’re kicking off our season by talking with Ethan Demme, President and CEO of Demme Learning , and member of the Parental Rights Foundation Board. Ethan is also an elected member of the board of supervisors in East Lampeter Township (Pennsylvania). As a foster and adoptive parent, Ethan explains how children are often brought into the foster care sys...

This week, Parental Rights Foundation president Will Estrada and executive director Michael Ramey host a special discussion about Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is a day to give back to nonprofits and charitable organizations, and it’s today, November 29th! Michael and Will discuss the mission of the Parental Rights Foundation and give us a snapshot into how the organization runs on a day-to-day b...

This week, we talk with Rolf Hazlehurst, Rolf is a senior attorney with Children's Health Defense and has been actively engaged in the practice of law since 1995. Rolf breaks down the history of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which should help families of children with vaccine-related medical injuries receive justice, but often just causes more problems for them instead. ...

This week, we talk with Joanna Woolman, associate professor of law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and the executive director of the Institute to Transform Child Protection . Joanna tells us about the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), a key piece of legislation in America’s child welfare system. ASFA creates arbitrary deadlines and financial incentives for states to separate parents and...