'Parents' rights' law proposed for Kentucky. Critics worry it could impact child safety

A proposed law to protect parents' rights in Kentucky is raising alarm among critics who say it could upend efforts to protect children from abuse and neglect, interfere with education and lead to more lawsuits with the state liable for costs.

Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, a non-partisan group, said the bill, known as the "Parents' Rights Protection Act," could have significant, unintended consequences in areas including child protection.

"Parental rights are clearly important and must be upheld," Brooks said. "However, those rights should not come with a cost of failing to protect children from abuse or neglect."

Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, said his Senate Bill 40 is meant to ensure parents rights are "highly protected" from governmental intrusion, though he acknowledged he was not aware of any significant problems in Kentucky.

"This is really a preemptive attempt to stop things that may be coming along," he said at Thursday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill comes amid a proliferation of parents' rights legislation in other states, including Florida and Texas, and federal legislation introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., whose “Parents’ Bill of Rights" is meant to give parents more control over public school curriculum.

The Kentucky measure, which passed the committee Thursday and now goes to the full Senate, is drawing fire from parties ranging from Sen. Danny Carroll, a Republican from Paducah, to the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and the Fairness Campaign, an LGBTQ rights group.

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Its provisions — including expanding parents' right to sue — have Carroll and others concerned.

"I think we're going to push people way from helping kids, and I don't think that's a good thing," said Carroll, who spoke against the measure at the hearing. "I think this bill will make it less likely for people to get involved."

Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, who voted against the bill, said she, too, worries it would inhibit child abuse investigations.

As someone with a family member affected by addiction, Berg said she knows firsthand how hard it can be under existing law to get children removed from a harmful setting.

Also, "I honestly believe these parents' rights are already encoded in law," she said. "I believe they exist already and to restate them is not necessary."

Brooks said the expanded right to sue under SB 40 could have a "chilling effect" on child abuse investigations and "unnecessarily force more cases into the courts."

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Carroll, a former police officer who said he has investigated child abuse or neglect cases, said people need to feel free to report suspected cases and police and social service workers to investigate without increased likelihood of being sued.

In a joint letter to the Senate committee, the ACLU and Fairness Campaign warned the bill could "tie officials' hands" in enforcing child protection laws and give parents broad authority to block school curriculum "they find objectionable" such as the topic of the Holocaust.

"On the surface, it may seem harmless but it could lead to substantial harm for some of our commonwealth's most vulnerable children," the Feb. 2 letter said.

The two-page bill states that parents shall have the right to make decisions for their children, including their education, and that no state government entity may interfere with those rights unless proven by "clear and convincing evidence" that such action is warranted.

Further, it expands the rights of parents who believe their rights have been violated to sue and, if successful, entitles them to attorney's fees and costs.

Kentucky's SB 40 is cosponsored by Republican Sens. John Schickel, C.B. Embry, Robert Mills, Adrienne Southworth and Mike Wilson.

West, the primary sponsor, said the bill should have no effect on child protection laws.

"It is my opinion that this bill does not impact at all current statutes as they pertain to child abuse and neglect," West said.

Patricia Walker FitzGerald, a former Jefferson family court judge and national consultant on child protection laws, disagrees with West's assessment.

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"It's flat wrong," FitzGerald said.

The bill would raise the standard for actions, such as removing a child from an abusive home from "preponderance of the evidence" to the higher legal standard of "clear and convincing evidence," FitzGerald said.

That would substantially limit actions of child welfare workers and judges who sometimes must deal with emergency situations, she said.

"We have to be able to step in when children are endangered and this would hamper our efforts to do that," she said.

Further, she said, she's not aware of any compelling need for the legislation.

"This really isn't a problem in Kentucky," she said. "It's a just-in-case bill."

Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, called SB 40 "the proverbial solution in search of a problem."

The teachers' group is concerned the about the scope of the bill that he said is vaguely worded and very broad when it comes to education.

"The association doesn't see any need for the law because that's why we have school boards elected by the community," McKim said. "It's so broadly worded that it's hard to say who would and would not be subject to a lawsuit."

The bill states that if parents' "fundamental rights" are violated, a parent may assert that violation as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding. If the parent wins a civil lawsuit, he or she is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs, it says.

West said his bill merely seeks to balance the rights of parents against those of government agencies.

But Brooks and others fear the bill would tilt the balance away from children.

"Whenever a legislative measure tips the scales too extremely to one end or the other, someone loses," he said. "In this case, the potential loser is a child being abused and that should not — and cannot — happen."

Reach Deborah Yetter at dyetter@courier-journal.com. Find her on Twitter at @d_yetter. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/subscribe.