EPPiC Broadcast

Our topic for today is hidden foster care: a process wherein children are sent to live with relatives or friends in order to prevent foster care with strangers. Considered a “voluntary” placement, in reality it often involves coercion or threats. In one such instance, Su’Leya Williams was a baby girl taken from her mother’s care and placed with a woman who claimed to be a relative, but wasn’t. Bab...

Today we discuss In Re: Sapphire W. with three attorneys who worked on the case: Melissa Friedman and Zoe Allen of the Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Practice and David Shalleck-Klein of the Family Justice Law Center. In Sapphire W. , they took on New York City family courts' practice of placing families under the supervision of ACS any time a child was alleged to have been neglecte...

This week, we're rewinding to a conversation with Diane Redleaf from February 2024.  Diane is the legal consultant at Let Grow , an organization that promotes reasonable childhood independence. She’s also the author of They Took the Kids Last Night .  In this episode, Diane tells us what reasonable childhood independence is and why it matters for protecting parental and family rights. Plus he...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! Our latest episode features Nora McCarthy, director of the NYC Family Policy Project and founder and former director of Rise, a NYC parent advocacy organization. Nora discusses her recently released article about the harm CPS investigations cause to families. Over a third of all US children will experience a CPS investigation by age 18, and over half of Black...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! Our latest episode features Will Estrada, the Senior Counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association, and former President of the Parental Rights Foundation. Will and Michael discuss a state bill that has gained international attention due to how dangerous it is for parental rights. This bill would overturn over 75 years of state homeschooling precedent,...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! Our latest episode features Mark Riccobono, the President of the National Federation of the Blind. Mark has been a lifelong advocate for those with blindness and low-vision, and today he discusses how important parental rights are for families affected by blindness, sharing stories of how unjustly the child welfare system treats parents who are blind. For more...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! Our latest episode features Brittany Patterson, a Georgia mother who made headlines when she was arrested after her 10-year-old walked to the store solo; and David DeLugas, executive director of ParentsUSA and Brittany’s attorney. Brittany tells her story and gives us a closer look at what happened on the day she was arrested. She and David both discuss the in...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! Our latest episode features Andrew Brown, Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and an attorney who has represented families harmed by the child welfare system. Today, he talks about recent and future changes in the Texas welfare laws, with a special focus on a bill requiring CPS workers to inform parents of their rights in an investi...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! Our latest episode features Grover Norquist, the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, a political advocacy group fighting for lower taxes. Today, he talks about limiting the government’s role in telling citizens how to live their lives - which naturally impacts its power over parents and families.  The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey,...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! Our latest episode features Kelis Houston, the founder of Village Arms, a community organization dedicated to reducing the number of African American children removed from their families by Minnesota's Child Protection System. Today, she gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the background of the African American Family Preservation Act - which became law a...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! We’re kicking off season 10 with returning guest Kerry McDonald. Kerry is an educational scholar and author, and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education. Today she discusses the history of educational choice – including as recently impacted by COVID – and the variety of options parents can select from today.  The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by M...

For our final episode of Season 9, we welcome Shanta Trivedi, who is both an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, and the Faculty Director of the University’s Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts. We have regularly covered the harmful effects which the child welfare system has on children, but this week, we welcome Shanta to disc...

This week, we welcome Vivek Sankaran and Michael Farris to the podcast. Vivek is a professor of law at the Michigan University School of Law and Director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic.  Michael is a constitutional law scholar, founding president of ParentalRights.org, and the former CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom. Although they come from different sides of the political spect...

This week, we have the privilege of hosting not one, not two, but three guests! We speak with Jim Mason, the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, Kathleen Creamer, the managing attorney at Community Legal Services’ Family Advocacy Unit, and Martin Guggenheim, the founder and retired co-director of New York University School of Law’s Family Defense Clinic. These longtime experts...

This week, we're rewinding to a conversation with Vivek Sankaran from June 2021.  When faced with a struggling family, bystanders can be quick to call CPS, not realizing that child protective agencies often aren't equipped to help families and rush to punish them instead.  Vivek Sankaren is working to reform this broken system and provide families with helpful, high-quality legal care in...

This week, our guest is Melissa Moschella, professor of practice and philosophy at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Center for Church Life. Her areas of expertise include natural law, biomedical ethics, and the family, especially parental rights. She’s also the author of To Whom Do Children Belong: Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children’s Autonomy .  This week, Melissa tells us about a pivo...

This week, our guest is Nicki Neily, the founder and president of Parents Defending Education. Parents Defending Education is a national grassroots organization working to preserve parents’ voices in their children’s public school education. Today, Nicki tells us how she came to found this organization and about the important work it is doing.  The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, presi...

What does the recent Star Wars show The Acolyte have to do with the flaws in our real-world child welfare system? As it turns out, more than you might think!  This week, our guest is Josh Gupta-Kagan, a clinical professor of law and director of the Family Defense Clinic at Columbia University’s School of Law. Today, Josh discusses his recent article for The Imprint , in which he draws connections...

Our guest this week is Angela Burton, founder and co-chair of the New York City Narrowing the Front Door workgroup. Angela is also the founder of the Repeal CAPTA workgroup. Previously, Angela has worked within the New York State child welfare system and she currently works closely with families navigating the system.  Today, Angela tells us about the goals and work of the Narrowing the Front Door...

This week, we talk with Jackie Rosario, board member at the Indian River Public School Board in Florida, and Patti Sullivan, Parental Rights Foundation State Coordinator in Florida. The Indian River Public School Board recently passed a proclamation declaring October “Parental Rights and Appreciation Month.” Jackie and Patti tell us about how they passed the proclamation, why it’s important, and o...

Today, we welcome Jane Anderson onto the podcast. Dr. Anderson is the Vice President of the American College of Pediatricians , and author of the paper “ The Teenage Brain: Under Construction .” She gives us a crash course on how the teenage brain functions, and shows how science supports the idea that teenagers’ brains are not mature enough to make informed decisions yet on medical treatment and...

This week’s guest is Vivek Sankaran, a professor of law at the Michigan University School of Law and Director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic. Vivek recently argued two cases in front of the Michigan Supreme Court, which highlight the harms of permanently terminating parental rights without considering other ways to preserve the parent-child relationship. Vivek argues that if a child is in a se...

This week, our guest is Kevin Boden, an attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association. Kevin tells us about some potential changes to homeschooling law in West Virginia, and makes his case for why the state laws governing homeschooling there should remain unchanged.  The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alert...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast ! We’re kicking off season 9 with returning guest Christine Gottlieb. Chris has been newly appointed the Director of the New York University School of Law's Family Defense Clinic. Today she tells us about the work the Clinic does to defend individual families in child welfare cases and to advocate for broader systemic change for family preservation in the c...

This week, we’re joined by Sixto Cancel. Sixto is the founder and CEO of Think of Us , a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to reform and transform the child welfare system, led and guided by people who have been directly impacted by this system. Sixto tells us about the work that Think of Us is doing, and shares how his own experience growing in the foster care system led him to work tow...