Okay I made it to DC. Up at 4. Nashville. Atlanta. One hour to get a coffeee at the airport. Second leg of flight sat by the baby. I always chose the baby. After all I am a grandma. Her daddy is a lobbyist. That was convenient. Got a grumpy flight attendant who told me he did not have time for me. I was rescued by the man across the aisle. I try to stay invisible when I fly. I don’t want to be the person that the crew talks about later…”there was that one woman…”. Rescue stranger also has vitiligo so we engaged in a brief exchange while unloading the plane. Reagan in its usual packed noisy chaotically organized frame of mind. Waiting for our Alabama warrior Terri LaPoint before we head across the bridge. Let’s see what this week holds.
MONDAY APRIL 7
It has been a busy and energetic day. We had eight meetings with both Republicans and Democrats.
We have families from Family Forward Project from Alabama Illinois Tennessee Alabama Connecticut Florida Washington Texas and Pennsylvania.
And we need you too. Here are a few of today’s pictures.
We will end the day with dinner and getting by ready for another day.
Tuesday April 9. 2025
We started at Tennessee Tuesday with Sen Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty with a huge crowd.
And rallied later in the day.
Evening was fun as well
Wednesday and Thursday April 9 and 10
Time has moved so fast that I forgot to upload the adventure in Wednesday night.
Here are a few examples f the highlights over the last two days
Congressman Mark Messmer – Indiana
Friday April 11 2025
Winding down with a few weeping and casual time at the Anatole Hotel.
Last year, the Tenn. Gen. Assembly passed the “Parental Rights Bill”.
Connie Reguli, J.D. lobbied against this bill. She argued that parents already had protected parental rights under the 14th Amendment. These rights were confirmed by the United States Supreme Court. Reguli further warned, ‘if you let the state legislators put parental rights in the state code, they can revise them at any time. They can slice away at your rights.’
…AND THEY HAVE. This year Faison (HB 0826) and Haile (SB 0895) filed a new bill changing the parental rights law of 2024.
This bill was filed as a ‘caption bill’ initially. This means the bill was filed with one simple sentence. It asked the courts to report on how many parental rights bills were filed. Then the bill was secretly ‘amended’ to slice away parental rights. The bill added:
1 – A parent can remove a child for religious purposes. If it’s more than 20 days in a school year, the school can force the parent to meet “to discuss the child’s educational future”.
2 – The school no longer needs parental consent to audio record a child. It also doesn’t require consent to video record a child at school or during activities.
3 – A healthcare provider does not need parental consent to examine a child. This is applicable under ‘reasonable suspicion’ of neglect or abuse.
You might not be moved by these new limitations to parental rights. Still, it is just a matter of time. The amendments to this bill will continue to limit the rights of parents. For instance ‘reasonable suspicion’ is not the legal standard under our Fourth Amendment protections, it is exigent circumstances. That means an immediate emergency.
This bill has passed committees and is headed to the floor on April 7th.
When Connie Reguli turned herself in to the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department in August 2022 on a felony indictment for aggravated perjury, she was already litigation weary. She had already been put through a three day jury trial for accessory to a felony, a sentencing hearing, and a motion for a new trial. The convictions for accessory to a felony were the result of Judge Joseph A. Woodruff manipulating the jury instructions, removing an essential element of the crime, and causing a fake conviction. Although Reguli (and most likely Judge Woodruff) knew that the fake felonies would not stand scrutiny on review, she instantly lost her law license, her entire business model law practice, three employees, dozens of clients, and a juvenile Court judicial election. Nevertheless, she was never required to serve a sentence of incarceration or probation.
Just days after the motion for a new trial in August 2022, Reguli was called by her attorney and told that Williamson County DA Kim Helper had a new indictment on her for aggravated perjury.
The new felony echoed from the chambers of Judge Joseph A. Woodruff as well. While Reguli was in the midst of the first round of fake felonies, Woodruff was shutting Reguli down from obtaining her public records request in another courtroom. After this hearing concluded, Woodruff fined Reguli $5,000 and shut down her request for records. Woodruff would then order that Reguli was prohibited from filing anything pro se without hiring another attorney, and threatened Reguli not to file an appeal. Reguli appealed.
Judge Joseph A. Woodruff, Franklin, TN
What Reguli did not know is that Woodruff initiated his own little private investigation just days after that hearing, sending a private letter to CASA director Emily Layton and Attorney Dana McLendon stating that he was attempting to determine if Reguli made a false statement in the courtroom and asked Layton to respond if Reguli had paid an eight-year-old sanction. Reguli knew none of this, Judge Woodruff’s secret investigation would result in the indictment for aggravated perjury in August 2022.
Reguli represented herself in that case. Although the battleground for justice includes alot more detail and demonstrates a very focused Reguli, the result was that the district attorney dropped the case ten months later.
The case against Reguli had been brought on a false affidavit and withholding exculpatory evidence by CASA director Layton and Attorney McLendon.
EMILY LAYTON – CASA DIRECTOR
Reguli filed a lawsuit against all of the bad actors: Judge Joseph A. Woodruff, DA Kim Helper, DA John Stevens, Atty Dana McLendon, Emily Layton, and CASA. She alleged civil rights violations for malicious prosecution and fabricated evidence and stated claims for abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.
McLendon’s social media post.
In the typical course of events in federal litigation, all defendants filed motions to dismiss the case. On March 28, 2025, Middle District Judge Traugher entered an order. This order gave Judge Woodruff, DA Helper, and DA Stephens immunity on civil rights claims. The district court permitted the civil rights claims to continue on McLendon and Layton. Afterall, they conspired with state actor Woodruff to conjure up the fake crimes.
In 2024, Reguli’s first round of fake felonies were reversed, and Woodruff’s $5,000 fine against Reguli was also vacated.
This chart shows the claims that will move ahead in the United States District Court.
Brother and Sister Laid to Rest in Graveside Service on Sunday – Brothers, family and friends and others attend with many people to thanks for their role in the service.
On Sunday afternoon, two sweet children – a boy and a girl – were laid to rest in a graveside service attended by their two surviving brothers. These children, the two that are deceased and the two that are surviving, are part of at least five children who were adopted by an evil woman and her husband for the financial benefit they received from the State for adopting them.
The two surviving brothers are now, thankfully, in the care of a wonderful, loving, and caring adoptive mother. The mother’s family members and their friends give the two brothers love that their deceased brother and sister certainly never received.
Early in their lives five children were allowed by the State to be placed ‘in the care’ of a Mr. and Mrs. Gray where the children were forced to endure horrendous circumstances of starvation and torturous confinement.
The two children who were laid to rest Sunday, obviously did not survive these conditions.
Thankfully, during Covid, an alert Roane County Sheriff’s Office deputy was able to recognize a child in need and discovered the house where he and his brother were being confined in makeshift ‘cages’ in the basement. An older sister lived upstairs. As a result of this discovery and further investigation, two bodies were discovered, one buried in the barn behind this house in Roane County and then one in a backyard behind a house in Knox County.
The three surviving children were ‘saved’, and the road to their ‘recovery’ began.
Long story shortened, the biggest hurdle was overcome in May 2024 with the final conviction of both Grays, the ‘adoptive parents’, on life without parole sentences in Roane Couty and additional life sentences in Knox County on top of the Roane County Life Without Parole sentences. The revelations of the shortfalls in the system of adoption, state ‘assistance’ for adopting, and parental responsibility for accountability and reporting, all came into sharp focus as a result of this prosecution and received attention and scrutiny in the state legislation which brought about changes in the law and the system with the Department of Children’s Services.
What is hopefully the final chapter was the closure that was brought about at the graveside on Sunday with the peaceful service that laid to rest two souls that never had peace here on Earth.
This would not have been possible without the generous, volunteer spirit of so many people, so I would like to publicly thank these folks in this manner:
When we concluded the case convicting the two co-defendants, I immediately turned to some friends for help to do something for the remains of the deceased victims. Without hesitation the three ‘angels’ that are to me, The McGill Sisters, came to help. They are Rene’ McGill Shultz, Rebecca McGill Willis and Amy McGill Millsaps, who follow in the community service tradition of their deceased father, Terry McGill. They operate McGill Click Funerals and Cremations in Loudon, and they own Loudon County Memorial Gardens. They are responsible for volunteering their time, their services, and their money to bring to fruition the wonderful service that was held on Sunday. Three of their associates are: Beth Brakebill who sang and led the attendees in singing, as well as Rev. Brian Courtney who participated in the service and Roberto Catota who assisted with the procession and graveside. Loudon Police Department and Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, TN. both provided the escort from McGill-Click Funeral Home to Loudon County Memorial Gardens.
The McGill sisters also donated the plot in a special “Angels” section of their cemetery and partnered with Matthews International, who provided the casket for both sets of cremains. Both the McGill Sisters and Matthews International covered the cost of the memorial plague. Lee-Heights Monument provided the service of opening and closing of the grave. Simerly Vault Company donated the vault. West End Florist in Loudon donated floral arrangements.
So many people contributed to making this day special by attending, including Dr. Darinka Milusenic, Chief Medical Examiner of the Knox County Regional Forensic Center, and her staff, along with anthropologist Dr. Murry Marks. Their work upon the discovery of the bodies of the two children and their expert analysis was instrumental in providing evidence to prosecute the criminal case.
The Kids First Child Advocacy Center of the 9th Judicial District of Tennessee in Lenoir City provided forensic interviews of the surviving children during the initial investigation, and the CAC Director Chris Evans-Longmire and staff were present at the service.
Charme Allen, District Attorney General – Knoxville, TN was present as well, and her office coordinated with our office with both of us prosecuting the two cases in our respective counties.
Members of our office were present at the service including the prosecution team for this case: Assistant District Attorneys Bob Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, Jason Collver and Kristin Curtis, along with Victim/Witness Coordinator Tami Bailey. ADA Jonathan Edwards spoke on behalf of both the Knox County office and our office about the courage of both boys and their victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing last year.
It was a blessed day for closure. Rest in Peace, children.
Russell Johnson, 9th District Attorney General (Loudon, Roane, Morgan & Meigs)
EPILOGUE
by Connie Reguli.
This is not the first time “adoption gone wrong story” in Tennessee. Another family in Knox County adopted children that they buried in the back yard.
The story has one thing right for sure that should be an alarm and call for the complete overhaul of child welfare. They did is for money. Yes the adoptive parents took in five kids and would receive a monthly stipend check every month even after the adoption is final. This money comes from the federal funds which is of course still tax payer money.
Gods rest their souls and help me share this tragedy.
This year started with three proposed bills for parental rights. Each carrying its own variety of rights for parents versus rights for the government. Each sent a wave of anxiety through the grassroots parental rights groups and an air of excitement in large nationally conservative-branded organizations, like Americans for Prosperity, Eagle Forum, and Alliance for Defending Freedom. And now we know the winner is – Jeremy Faison’s (R-Cosby) HB2936 and Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) SB2749 which passed in Civil Justice on Tuesday, April 2, and moves to the house floor with the final version being Senate Amendment SA0860.
The fiscal note on this bill indicates that there will be an insignificant impact on the taxpayers because any additional duties cast on the Department of Children’s Services, the courts, the Attorney General, and the Department of Health will be accommodated or absorbed using existing resources.
The passage of this legislation has been a battlefield through the Children & Family Affairs Subcommittee and the Civil Justice Committee in the house, and the Senate Judiciary committee. Citizens have spoken against the bill describing how this legislation actually carves away parental rights that are already guaranteed by the Constitution, while Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has spoken in every committee touting this Tennessee legislation as being consistent with parental rights legislation in “seventeen other states.” ADF felt so strongly about promoting this bill that they brought Michael Farris from Washington DC to convince the House subcommittee to vote for passage.
NOW HERE IS THE TRUTH.
First, ADF was not truthful. There are not 17 other states that have passed substantially similar legislation. Nineteen states have some sort of parental rights legislation that proclaim that parenting is a fundamental right protected by the constitution. West Virginia’s first bill was passed in 1931 shortly after the United States Supreme Court recognized parental rights in 1923. Meyer v. Nebraska,262 U. S. 390, 399, 401 (1923). Several states began to follow suit to codify parental rights, but in a fairly straightforward fashion, stating that parental rights are a fundamental right protected by the United States Constitution.
Five states have passed parental rights bills since 2021; Florida, Montana, Georgia, North Dakota, Iowa, Alabama, and North Carolina. In this last tranche of parental rights legislation, the bills have taken a darker more restrictive approach in what is considered positive law. Little by little exceptions are carved out as to when parental rights do not apply. These bills are increasingly allowing state’s rights to trump parental rights, strengthening the “parens patrie” doctrine.
However, here are the significant distinctions in Tennessee.
In 13 states, a parent is a parent period. A few suggest that guardians have parental rights (which they don’t). Tennessee will codify that a ‘parent’ can be any individual who has been granted decision-making power. It does NOT say a person that the parent has voluntarily assigned decision-making power over their child.
“Granted decision-making power” means one thing. It means that a court, a judge, an administrative agency, can take parental rights away and give them to someone else. There is no required burden of proof in this legislation. So this phrase alone has gutted the constitutional protections of parental rights already ruled on in the United States Supreme Court that requires a finding that a parent is unfit with a high standard of proof before the government can interfere with a parent’s fundamental right to raise their children.
Second, the Tennessee law provides for ‘BLANKET CONSENT’. Which means that everything that your child is involved in, education, healthcare, mental health treatment, extracurricular activities, sports, and maybe even birthday parties will include fine print of a blanket consent and waiver of liability. Guaranteed. Parents will be unaware because it will be hidden within the context of the agreement to participate in any activity with your child. Only one other state has codified BLANKET CONSENT; i.e. Colorado.
Third, Tennessee is leaping further than ANY OTHER STATE LAW in giving corporations and commercial entities (include those created in other states or countries) an exemption from liability to providing ‘emergency care’ for children, whatever and whoever decides what arises to ‘emergency’.
Proponents of this legislation are excited to see a “cause of action” for parents to sue anyone, including government employees and medical personnel, if they violate the enumerated parental rights outlined in this bill. Parents have been faced with so many challenges in recent years that they feel helpless in getting relief. In a handful of cases, parents have attempted to file lawsuits regarding inappropriate materials in libraries or diversity and inclusion curriculum, and they found out that they “lacked standing” meaning there was no right to sue under the law.
Now, proponents of this bill, i.e. ADF, are excited to boast that Tennessee has the best parental bill in the country because of a parent’s right to sue and the right to attorney fees in litigation.
THIS IS THE CATCH. ADF lobbied for this bill. ADF is an organization that appears as two different entities: Alliance Defending Freedom and ADF Foundation. Both have the legal address of 15100 N. 90th Street in Scottsdale, Arizona. Alliance Defending Freedom’s 990 tax return for 2021 shows revenues of 104 million with nearly 3 million collected in attorney’s fees. ADF pays Michael Farris over 625 thousand dollars a year. ADF Foundation shows 2021 revenue of 1.6 million, and it also pays Michael Farris 625 thousand dollars a year. That’s right Michael Farris is getting paid more than a million dollars a year to defend freedom.
So, Tennessee’s “Family Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2024” is not about codifying what the United States Supreme Court has already granted us, it is a ‘product’ for sniffing out achievable attorney fees for ADF. Period.
Imagine, if you will, you have a son named Johnny and you find out that a school official has been calling him Julie because your son said he felt like a girl. Now, you call ADF. They bring to Tennessee a host of lawyers, let’s say five or six. They bring a lawsuit against the teacher and the LEA (local education agency) in your county. ADF files the lawsuit in state court in your county, let’s say Grundy County, the poorest in Tennessee. Let’s say that the judge finds that, yes, the school official did that. What are the damages? State court judges in Tennessee are not going to award a parent millions of dollars for this kind of case. In fact, there is NO WAY to measure damages in this litigation, except for attorney fees. This bill does not even give you the right to a jury trial so you can plead how emotionally distraught you were to tug at the heartstrings of fellow parents. Nope. The state court judge who knows that any damage award could affect the taxpayer dollars available to his constituent’s students is going to minimize the monetary award to a parent. HOWEVER, the judge MUST award attorney fees to ADF. And there is no cap on these fees. The judge MUST award the entire amount of fees which is likely to be thousands and even hundred of thousands of dollars.
For conservatives who believed that this bill was going to solidify parental rights in the State of Tennessee and protect children from predators who infringe upon the parent’s right to consent to education, medical care, mental health treatments, and more (the bill enumerated one through twelve), you are wrong. This bill is a PRODUCT for an onslaught of useless litigation that will burden Tennessee taxpayers with legal fees payable to ADF. School LEA’s will be pinched with the unexpected expense of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees likely to be paid to ADF or one of its affiliates.
We have marketed away our precious children in Tennessee one more time. This bill moves to the House floor and then to Governor Bill Lee. Contact your state legislator and ask them to vote no.
Another civil rights lawsuit has emerged over privatized probation. The reporter is clear and succinct. Probationers are kept on perpetual probation to keep the fees flowing. Now they are clever enough to use names that sound like official government offices but they are all a human cash scheme.
In West Tennessee Judge Bell wa sanctioned for setting up his in-law (let’s see brother in law maybe) in the probate probation business and then putting more misdemeanants on probation.
Of course Judge Bell was also the one overseeing compliance with probation.
In Rutherford County Tenn a more egregious scheme was uncovered with Providence probation. Overcharging thousands of citizens without oversight.
The 2018 Tenn Comptrollers report is found here. Finding inadequate oversight, policies, and supervision:
I will supplement this report with some additional information later.
By Connie Reguli – Cancelled by the Establishment – Invested in Your Well-being. May 27, 2022.
Connie Reguli (right) woth amazing advocate Lauren from Maine. In Washington DC
I would say I operated different than most attorneys in family law … I cared what happened, I was concerned about children in Courtrooms, I advised my clients on the risk of being too emotional and on being unemotional, and at the end of the day I wanted what was ‘best for the children’. However, it is an oxymoron to speak about the best interests of the child in the adversarial family court realm.
I hear so many people say…my lawyer would not defend me…my lawyer would not put on my evidence…my lawyer did not care…my lawyer did nothing. I am not here to defend lackluster representation, but I am here to say blaming lawyer is not the solution. A recent United States Supreme Court decision, Shinn v Ramirez, the Supreme Court said yes it is the luck of the draw that you had not just one but two crappy attorneys, you cannot do a habeus corpus petition on ineffective assistance of counsel. Done ✅.
However, that is not the end of the story. Attorneys also have to work with the lump of clay called your life that you give them. In the context of family and parent-child relationships depending on the “right” attorney to make it right is an ad hominem argument.
From a lawyers view…people come to us with a mess that evolved out of the imperfections in our clients lives. They end up in the imperfect court system. Which is adversarial by design. It’s a war zone. The biggest weapons, and sometimes the best told lie wins. Lawyers only have so many tools and none of them are meant to resolve anything. Only possible result is win or lose. We can’t undo the clients history so it’s the best spin. And then of course it’s about money. Lawyers have so many expenses and so much risk that the costs are driven up. Part of the court game it wearing out the other side, emotionally or financially. They are paid to “do a job” they are paid to engage in a battlefield.
And clients are ill prepared. They don’t understand the system and judge have no patience for stumbling memories. Cross examination is intended to trip you up so a judge can call you a liar – they will use the judicial vernacular “lacks credibility” but all the same – they call you a liar. And in the world of court – the judge has the final say as to whether or not you are a liar.
I have to get you to turn your heads directly into this perverted and demonic snare.
The best I can I will help you resolve, negotiate, and move past the chaos or unfold the mysteries of litigation. If you rely on a fair and impartial judge who will render a decision on the best interest of your child you are waking blindly in a minefield.
I also intend to train an army of advocates to help.
You can contact me to consult on these issues. God bless.
I am moved this Sunday morning to share with you segments of Pastor Johnson’s sermon on the tactics of the devil and the awesome power of Nehemiah.
Read Nehemiah 4 and you will learn of a powerful leader blessed and chosen to strengthen his people in desperate times.
First, you must understand fear. Fear interferes with the building of God’s kingdom. The Bible repeatedly says “fear not” and “fear the Lord” and “fear God”. For if you fail to follow your calling you will NOT receive the blessing. You will live in a state of confusion. Then the warriors in Christ must be gathered wherever they are to take up their shields and do whatever they can do to work on the wall which will shield and protect not just one person but a nation.
Second, you must keep your mind on Christ and know your identity and profess it. To feel the weight of the world of deception and do nothing is a waste of space. You have been promised by the blood of Christ that if two or three of you agree and bring it before God it shall be granted.
Third you must always standard prepared to face the enemy and pray that our leaders are guided by the Holy Spirit to bring redemptive solutions. Much evil is soon to be exposed and it will either drain your spirit or empower you to pick up your shield 🛡 and sword ⚔️ to restore this land. This Nation was created out of an idea 💡 of liberty and freedom. We can only keep our liberty if we are diligent.
Our money says In God We Trust. Our pledge says “one nation under God”. Our first president implored us to seek the will of God and then do it mightily.
In Nehemiah the enemy was disheartened when they realized that building the wall could only have been done with the strength of God Almighty. Now is the time for Nehemiah-leadership in this nation.
On July 21, 2020 the Second Circuit court ruled on a case out of New York which attempted to shut down a faith based adoption agency (New Hope Family Services) because they refused to consider same-sex couples. This is a win for faith based adoption agencies.
Last year in Pennsylvania, the state agency refused to send referrals for adoption to Catholic Charities because CC refused to consider same-sex couples. The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear this appeal out of Third Circuit and will likely do so this fall.
NEW YORK & SECOND CIRCUIT
In Second Circuit several civil rights organizations opposed the New Hope adoption agency by filing amici briefs such as the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
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Amicus Brief Cover
On reviews of the arguments, this organization claims that the regulation is First Amendment neutral and does not affect the autonomy of the church. However it claims that to allow the church relief is detrimental to the health and welfare of the LBGTQ population.
Issues summary Amicus Brief. T t
This issue is headed to the United States Supreme Court because of a Third Circuit decision out of a court in Pennsylvania.
PENNSYLVANIA AND THIRD CIRCUIT
BPNEWS reported – The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on the intersection of religious liberty and same-sex marriage in foster care and adoption during its next term, which begins in October. The justices agreed in February to review a Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the city of Philadelphia did not violate religious freedom by halting referrals to Catholic Social Services because the agency does not place children in the homes of same-sex couples.
In layman’s terms, Catholic Charities lost. The state was allowed to refuse placements and referrals to CC due to their exclusion policy.
Over 200 (I stopped counting) persons and organizations of interest filed briefs and participated in the appeal. Several states including Texas, Illinois, Delaware, California, Oregon, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts Washington, and Rhode Island, also participated.
FEDERAL SOLUTION?
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) proposed a federal solution to the problem for faith-based agencies which is a priority in its legislative agenda. It has worked for adoption of the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, which would bar government discrimination against adoption agencies and other child welfare entities that refuse to take part in serving in a way that contradicts their beliefs.
TENNESSEE LEGISLATES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
In NASHVILLE (BP) — Tennessee state senators approved legislation Jan. 14 that would prohibit the state from forcing Christian or other faith-based adoption agencies to place children in homes that would “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”Senate Bill 1304 passed the Senate by a margin of 20-6. Sen. Steve Dickerson of Nashville was the only Republican voting against the bill, joining the chamber’s five Democrats, according to an article in The Tennessean.
The bill will now go to Gov. Bill Lee for his signature, having passed the house last year by a 67-32 margin.
The bill was opposed by gay rights activist groups and those who felt the bill would have a negative impact on the state’s economy.
Dickerson, in speaking against the legislation, said passage of the bill could cause the state to suffer an adverse financial impact because of “bad public policy,” The Tennessean reported.
According to The Tennessean, eight states across the country have passed similar legislation. The paper also reported it had contacted the governor’s office and received confirmation the governor “would be signing the bill as soon as it reaches his desk.”
WHERE WILL THIS GO?
This ruling by the United States Supreme Court will be precedental. In 2015 the Supreme Court ruled on Oberfell v Hodges which found that the states could not prohibit same-sex marriage. It found that the right to marry was a fundamental liberty and the states could not prohibit marriage based on the gender of the couple.
The adoption issue raises another fundamental liberty issue and it is likely that that the LBGTQ community will claim that the right to parent is a fundamental liberty. However there is no fundamental liberty to adopt.
What is disturbing to me is that the rights of children are not represented here. We already have children removed from heterosexual families and placed in LBGTQ homes for foster to adopt. Do the children have a fundamental liberty to not be placed in this unit? What is the next extension? Will the state welfare agencies accept transgenders as fosters?
We are on a slippery slope. Our national laws regarding relations, family, and marriage are complicated and distorted. A century ago sexual deviation was criminal. It was even illegal to live with or marry your paramour if you cheated during your marriage with that person. Now it is common. As a divorce attorney I saw it all the time.
We have much to do as a nation in this area. Pray for wisdom and pray for our country.
2019 – Connie Reguli – Washington D.C. Parent Advocacy
FFP ADVOCACY GUIDELINES:
BOUNDARIES
Not a source of financial or legal support. No exchange of money, no invitation into personal home unless boundaries agreed upon
Advocate is not an attorney or mental health professional. In the event a mental health emergency arises, professionals should be contacted. In the event a legal question arises, it can be discussed and documented but should be referred to counsel.
Advocate is not a substance abuse specialist. In the event, addictive behaviors, drug use, or other drug involvement becomes an issues beyond common support and encouragement, professionals should be engaged.
The relationship is confidential and should not be discussed outside of the relationship except with permission of counsel and the parent. Advocate can disclose information to parent’s counsel if approved by FFP administrator.
SUPPORT / ENCOURAGE / ACCOUNTABILITY
Biggest factor is support and encouragement in the process and in the absence of children.
Accountability is to help the parents track their progress. Classes, evaluations, court preparation, etc.
Parenting writing letters to children. Keep them simple and encouraging.
Help parents prepare for visitation emotionally.
Help parents stay focused on the resolution of the case.
Helping parents understand their relationship with other providers. Courteous but not trusting.
DOCUMENTATION
Help parents create and keep timelines.
Help parents identify and list all resources needed to court, records, witnesses, keeping provider evals and reports, keeping up with classes, evals and other requirements.
Recording, obtaining court recordings, organizing and storing data, etc to assist attorney for trial.
File folders for DCS, perm plans, foster care review, court docs, subpoenas, notes, calendars, classes, income and housing, etc.
CEASE AT ANY TIME
At any time the advocate or parent feels that the relationship is not assisting them, they may terminate the relationship without question.
At any time the advocate feels that they are unproductive, abused, or taken advantage of by the parent they can stop with no questions asked.
Any notes taken by the advocate are strictly confidential and upon the termination of the relationship the notes should be turned over to the parents, Family Forward administrator, or destroyed.
COMPENSATION
Advocates are not paid and are providing their time and support without compensation. If the parent or someone in behalf of the parent wishes to provide some compensation to the advocate it should only be with the approval of FFP administrator.
Likewise, the parent is not to request or receive compensation from the advocate without approval of FFP. This does not include token appreciation or support, but any such exchange must be documented and logged in case this exchange is later questioned.
Gifts for the children are discouraged but not forbidden if they are small token gifts or activities provided to the parents to encourage the relationship such as games, activities, crafts, cuddlies.
RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES
FFP is not a religious organization. Any activities such as Bible studies, prayer, or scripture reading shall be with the consent of both parties. At any time, if the parent or advocate deems this inappropriate it should be ceased.
Radical Tennessee - Radically Accountable and Radically Free 