Date: Sat, 31 Dec
2005 22:49:30 -0000
From: "topshelfstuff"
<topshelfstuff@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Recent Law
Had to do some googling and will
do more. Here's what I've got and,
yes, I want the Bill number too.
If nobody finds it by tonight, I'll
search the entire 109th session.
This link prints it out differently
and I'll include the "heads
up" as it snuck through:
http://journals.aol.com/mamaws3angels/THETERRIBLETRUTHABOUTCPSANDDCS/entries/220
DAMN THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD!
THIS IS THE BEST NEWS I HAVE HAD
IN 8 MONTHS!
Parental Due Process Act of 2005
(PASSED)
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
2005
A BILL
To protect the fundamental due process
rights of a parent in proceedings
to terminate parental rights. Be
it enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This shall be cited as the "Parental
Due Process Act of 2005."
SECTION 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds that--
(1) Parental rights are so fundamental
to the human condition so as to
be deemed inalienable. Termination
of parental rights equals or exceeds
the detriment of criminal sanctions.
(2) The "liberty interest of
parents in the care, custody, and
control of their children is perhaps
the oldest of the fundamental liberty
interests" recognized by the
U.S. Supreme Court. Troxel v. Granville,
527 U.S. 1069 (1999). Moreover,
the companionship, care, custody,
and management of a parent over
his or her child is an interest
far more
precious than any property right.
May v. Anderson, 345 U.S. 528, 533,
(1952). As such, the parent-child
relationship is an important interest
that undeniably warrants deference
and, absent a powerful countervailing
interest, protection. Lassiter v.
Department of Social Services, 452
U.S. 18, 27 (1981).
(3) State and local family services,
child protective agencies, and courts
have not recognized the rights of
parents as inalienable, and, as
a result, have failed to provide
fundamental due process rights in
the investigation and legal proceedings
to determine abuse, neglect, and
the termination of parental rights.
(b) PURPOSE- The purpose of this
Act is to provide core fundamental
due process rights to parents whose
parental rights are subject to termination.
(c) SCOPE- The scope of this Act
applies to any case in which parental
rights are subject to termination
in a program or activity that receives
federal financial assistance.
SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) "Hearing" means any
judicial or administrative hearing;
(2) "law enforcement officer"
means an employee, the duties of
who's position are primarily the
prevention, investigation, apprehension,
or detention of individuals suspected
or convicted of offenses against
the criminal laws, including an
employee engaged in this activity
who is transferred to a supervisory
or administrative position, or serving
as a probation or pretrial services
officer;
(3) "agency" means any
state or local government;
(4) "Duress" consists
of:
a. Unlawful confinement of the person
of the party, or of the husband
or wife of such party, or of an
ancestor, descendant, or adopted
child of such party, husband, or
wife;
b. Unlawful detention of the property
of any such person; or,
c. Confinement of such person, lawful
in form, but fraudulently obtained,
or fraudulently made unjustly harassing
or oppressive.
(5) "Actual fraud" consists
of any of the following acts, committed
by a party, or with his connivance,
with intent to deceive another party
thereto, or to induce him to enter
into an agreement or to rely upon
it to his detriment:
a. The suggestion, as a fact, of
that which is not true by one who
does not believe it to be true;
b. The positive assertion, in a
manner not warranted by the information
of the person making it, of that
which is not true, though he believes
it to be true;
c. The suppression of that which
is true, by one having knowledge
or belief of the fact;
d. A promise made without any intention
of performing it; or,
e. Any other act fitted to deceive.
(4) "Undue influence"
consists of:
a. In the use, by one in whom a
confidence is reposed by another,
or who holds a real or apparent
authority over him, of such confidence
or authority for the purpose of
obtaining an unfair advantage over
him;
b. In taking an unfair advantage
of another's weakness of mind; or,
c. In taking a grossly oppressive
and unfair advantage of another's
necessities or distress.
(5) "Malice" means conduct
that is intended by the person described
in subdivision (a) to cause injury
to the plaintiff or despicable conduct
that is carried out with a willful
and conscious disregard of the rights
or safety of others;
(6) "Emergency" means
exigent circumstances in which immediate
action is required to prevent the
imminent physical injury or death
of a child.
SECTION 4. HEARINGS OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC.
(a) Upon the request of a parent,
guardian or custodian, the right
to have proceedings open to the
public shall be guaranteed in the
following circumstances:
(1) any hearing for the purpose
of terminating parental rights;
(2) any hearing for the purpose
of determining if a child is or
has been deprived.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a),
a judge may, upon consideration
of written motion and papers filed
in opposition, exclude the public
if it is determined, by a preponderance
of the evidence, that the safety
of the child would be in jeopardy
by a public hearing.
If the public is excluded from the
hearing, the following people may
attend the closed hearing unless
the judge finds it is not in the
best interests of the child:
(i) the child's relatives;
(ii) the child's foster parents,
if the child resides in foster care;
and,
(iii) any person requested by the
parent.
SECTION 5. TRIAL BY JURY.
Upon the request of a parent, guardian
or custodian, the right to a trial
by jury shall be guaranteed in the
following circumstances:
(1) any hearing to terminate parental
rights;
(2) any hearing to determine if
a child is or has been deprived.
SECTION 6. RELIGIOUS/CULTURAL/MORAL/ETHNIC
VALUES AND BELIEFS OF
PARENTS
In placing the legal custody or
guardianship of the person of a
child with an individual or a private
agency, a court shall take into
consideration the religious, cultural,
moral and ethnic values of the child
or of his/her parents, if such values
are known or ascertainable by the
exercise of reasonable care.
SECTION 7. ELECTRONIC OR DIGITAL
RECORDING OF INTERVIEWS
Except in the case of an emergency,
any law enforcement officer, agent
or employee for a state's health
and welfare department or child
protective services, or mental health
professional, who interviews a child
for the purposes of investigation,
shall electronically and/or digitally
cause to be made an audio and visual
recording of all planned questioning
of, and planned interviews with,
children. All recordings made pursuant
to subsection
(a) shall be made available to the
parent, guardian or custodian of
a child not later than ten days
prior to any hearing to terminate
parental rights or to determine
if a child is or has been deprived.
SECTION 8. EVIDENCE IN FACT-FINDING
HEARINGS
(a) Only evidence that is competent,
material and relevant may be admitted
in a fact-finding hearing.
(b) Any determination at the conclusion
of a fact-finding hearing that a
respondent did an act or acts must
be based on proof beyond reasonable
doubt. For this purpose, an uncorroborated
confession made out of court by
a respondent is not sufficient.
SECTION 9. RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL
(a) In that removal of a child from
a home for even brief periods is
an extreme hardship on families,
upon the request of a parent, guardian
or custodian, the right to a speedy
trial shall be guaranteed in the
following circumstances:
(1) any hearing to terminate parental
rights;
(2) any hearing to determine if
a child is or has been deprived.
(b) A hearing, as described in subsection
a, shall be conducted within thirty
days of any type of removal of a
child. In the event that the thirtieth
day falls on a legal holiday or
other day when the court is not
in session, the hearing shall be
conducted prior to the thirtieth
day. In no event shall a hearing
be conducted beyond the thirtieth
day after the removal of a child
if the right to a speedy trial has
been
exercised.
SECTION 10. WAIVER OF RIGHTS
The rights of a parent or guardian
as described in this Act cannot
be waived, neither can parental
rights be terminated, if said waiver
is due to:
(1) mistake;
(2) fraud;
(3) undue influence; or
(4) duress.
SECTION 11. IMMUNITY
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, the civil immunity of juvenile
court social workers, agents or
employees of a state's health and
welfare department or child protective
services or law enforcement official
authorized to initiate or conduct
investigations or proceedings shall
not extend to any of the following:
(1) Perjury;
(2) Fabrication of evidence;
(3) Failure to disclose known exculpatory
evidence;
(4) Obtaining testimony by duress,
fraud, or undue influence.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, any prosecutor, investigator,
agent or employee of a state's health
and welfare department or child
protective services who induces
a parent to waive any of his or
her rights under this Act by
(1) fraud;
(2) undue influence; or
(3) duress shall be subject to civil
liability.
SECTION 12. DAMAGESIn the case of
a determination by a court or jury
of any violation of a parent's rights
under this Act, damages shall be
presumed.
SECTION 13. ATTORNEYS FEES
Subsections (b) and (c) of section
722 of the Revised Statutes (42
U.S.C. 1988 (b) and (c)) (concerning
the award of attorney's and expert
fees) shall apply to cases brought
or defended under this Act.
SECTION 14. SEVERABILITY
If any provision of this Act or
of an amendment made by this Act,
or any application of such provision
to any person or circumstance, is
held to be unconstitutional, the
remainder of this Act, the amendments
made by this Act, and the application
of the provision to any other person
or circumstance shall not be a
While a Governmental Offical may
issue laws, they have no lawful
authority to issue any order which
violates the Supreme Law of the
Land.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PARENTAL RIGHTS: Two legislative
proposals seek to minimize the ongoing
war on families by the courts, radical
feminists, assorted "child
rights" advocates, and state
"social and protective services."
The Parental Rights and Responsibilities
Act of 2005 (PRRA) would protect
the constitutional rights of parents
by intrusive state agencies. Some
parents are probably unaware, while
other parents know full well, of
renegade state-based "social
services" bureaucracies that
canon the basis of unsubstantiated
rumor or hearsay-show up at your
child's elementary school and interview
your child at length about her home
environment, parental discipline
practices, eating habits, home life,
etc., without notifying the parents
in advance based on little more
than innuendo or unsubstantiated
third-party complaints. As some
state agencies now operate, parents
under investigation of child neglect
or abuse often are forced to prove
their innocence when hearsay complaints
of neglect or abuse are reported.
This guilty-until-proven-innocent
scenario would be unconstitutional
under PRRA. The Parental Due Process
Act of 2005 would serve to protect
the "due process rights"
of parents who are subjected to
the threat of interrogation or home
invasion without the constitutional
protections afforded others under
our system of justice, e.g., a trial
by jury, right to a fair and speedy
trial, etc.
--- In CourtWatchers@yahoogroups.com,
TIDDYBEAR@a... wrote:
In a message dated 12/31/2005 2:10:26
P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
topshelfstuff@h... writes:
Parental Due Process Act of 2005
(PASSED)
Oh my gosh!!! This absolutely sounds
TOO good to be true!!!
Can you give me the bill # for this?
I would like to write
my "it's
out of my jurisdiction" congressman!!
Jan