EPPiC Broadcast

Latest Episodes:

Diagnosing a Verdict with Michelle Weidner Mar 12, 2024

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This week, we’re talking with Michelle Weidner, executive director of the Family Justice Resource Center in Illinois, which represents families in CPS cases across the country. Michelle is also a parent with lived experience dealing with the child protective system. In this episode, she tells about her experience being falsely accused by a child abuse pediatrician over a blur on her infant son’s medical scan.
Michelle also tells about how the Family Justice Resource Center works to reunite parents and children who have been separated by the system, and legislation that the Center is championing in Illinois to protect families from false allegations of abuse.

The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself informed on parental rights news at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/.

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Rewind: A History of Child Welfare, with Martin Guggenheim Mar 05, 2024

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This week, we're rewinding to a a conversation with Martin Guggenheim from February 2021.
In this episode, we talk with Martin Guggenheim, who has taught at the NYU School of Law for over 25 years, and is one of the foremost experts on family law and family rights today. Marty tells us about his lengthy career in the family law field, including how the current child welfare system came to be, and why it’s vitally important that parents receive legal representation in court.

Marty also explains how the Adoption and Safe Families Act, a cornerstone of the modern child welfare system, provides states with an incentive to permanently remove children from their birth families over the smallest parenting shortcomings, and what a better alternative would look like.

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Motherhood and CPS Surveillance with Kelly Fong Feb 27, 2024

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This week, we’re talking with Kelly Fong, author of Investigating Families: Motherhood in the Shadow of Child Protective Services, published in 2023. Kelly is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California Irvine.

In this episode, Kelly explains how child protective services exert an inescapable surveillance over many parents, especially low income and minority mothers. During her research, Kelly embedded herself in the child protective system to gain an inside perspective on how the system affects families.

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The Families Rights and Responsibilities Act, with Matt Sharp Feb 20, 2024

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This week, we’re talking with Matt Sharp, senior legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. Matt tells us about the Families Rights and Responsibilities Act, recently introduced into the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that aims to safeguard parental rights and provide parents with strong legal protections at the national level. Matt explains what’s in the bill, why it was created, and what you can do to help support it.

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Why Reasonable Childhood Independence Matters, with Diane Redleaf Feb 13, 2024

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Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We’re kicking off season 8 with a returning appearance of Diane Redleaf. 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 hear about her work advocating for families caught up in the child welfare system.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Diane Redleaf's mother, Rhoda Redleaf, herself an iconic national leader in child advocacy for six decades who was instrumental as a strategic partner of our speaker in her own career as a child and family advocate. Rhoda passed away on Feb. 3, 2024.

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A Conversation with Will Estrada Nov 14, 2023

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This week we talk with Will Estrada, senior counsel at the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and former president of the Parental Rights Foundation, as well as the former host of the EPPiC Broadcast. Will has also served as attorney with the Federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Today, Will explains some of the parental rights-focused work that HSLDA is currently doing. Plus, hear about what he accomplished during his tenure as president of the Parental Rights Foundation and his perspective on where the parental rights movement is headed in the future.

This episode marks the end of Season 7. Thank you for listening, and we will see you again in February 2024 for Season 8!

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International Homeschooling, with Kevin Boden Nov 07, 2023

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This week we talk with Kevin Boden, director of HSLDA International. Kevin tells us about the victories and challenges homeschooling is facing internationally. Kevin is the lead attorney for the Romeike family, who came to the US in 2006 after facing legal hardships in Germany for homeschooling their children.

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Homeschooling and Parental Rights, with Jim Mason Oct 31, 2023

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This week we talk with Jim Mason, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association and former president of ParentalRights.org and the Parental Rights Foundation.

In this episode, Jim explains how homeschooling has grown from its fringe roots in the 70's into an enduring education option today, with abundant resources to help parents best educate their children. He also explains what he believes is next for the homeschooling movement.

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The Case for Abolishing Family Court, with Jane Spinak Oct 24, 2023

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This week we talk with Jane Spinak, author of The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and Families. Jane is a Clinical Professor of Law Emerita at Columbia Law School, where she directed clinical programs in family regulation for forty years. In this episode, Jane traces her journey from working to reform the family court system to advocating for its abolishment. She tells us about the history of the family court system, which was created to be benevolent toward families, but harshly punishes parents and children. Jane’s book lays out the case for abolishing family court completely, and replacing it with programs designed to truly support families rather than surveilling and policing them.

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Catching Up with Michael Farris Oct 17, 2023

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This week we talk with Michael Farris, constitutional law scholar, founding president of ParentalRights.org, and the former CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom. In this episode, Michael responds to a recent Washington Post article about his role in the parental rights movement and gives us an update on the projects he’s been working on recently.

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