Children and youth thrive when they are supported by their parents — and families thrive when both children and parents are supported by a broad circle of adults – caregivers, educators, health providers and community members. 

Ensuring parents have rights is critical to ensuring the best outcomes for children and youth. Across the country, however, well-funded extremist groups are advancing laws branded as “parents’ rights” that impose an archaic, retrogressive view of what families look like and how children grow. While these policies may seem benign and even compelling on their surface, the proposals are not really about strengthening the rights of parents or supporting youth; instead they endanger children, youth and families.

At NCYL, we believe children grow best in their families and that parents hold unique and constitutionally protected roles in the upbringing of their children.  We also believe this role is not absolute. Our vision is straightforward and expansive: a society where every parent, regardless of race, income, immigration status, zip code, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or family structure, can nurture their children’s well-being and dignity with real freedom and strong support. And where every child, regardless of race, income, immigration status, zip code, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or family structure, is offered dignity, a chance to be heard and understood, and to grow up into their fullest selves nurtured by love and dignity.

To that end, we use multiple strategies (litigation, policy advocacy, technical assistance, messaging) across our key issue areas to support the wide diversity of parents, youth and families while also working to expose and defeat dangerous and harmful policies being moved in the name of “parents rights.”

To request access to our latest resources on messaging to policy makers about harmful parents rights bills, please fill out the partner request form at this link. We’ll also update this page with additional resources over time.