Petition to Restore Parental Rights in Connecticut
Protect Parents' Right to Know
We, the undersigned residents of Connecticut, believe that parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children. Across the United States, courts are increasingly recognizing that government institutions must not replace parents in decisions affecting minors.
Recent federal court rulings — including cases now moving toward the Supreme Court of the United States — are reaffirming that schools and government agencies cannot deliberately conceal critical information about children from their parents. Yet in Connecticut, state policies continue to allow schools and healthcare providers to withhold critical information from the families who know their children best.
Social Gender Transitions
Schools facilitating social gender transitions without parental notification, leaving parents uninformed about significant changes in their child's life at school.
Mental-Health Counseling
Minors receiving mental-health counseling without parental consent under CGS §19a-14c — decisions with lasting psychological impact made without family involvement.
STD Testing & Treatment
Minors receiving STD testing and treatment without parental notification under CGS §19a-216, bypassing the family's role in their child's medical care.
Drug & Alcohol Treatment
Minors seeking drug and alcohol treatment without parental disclosure under CGS §19a-126h, preventing parents from supporting their child's recovery.
Reproductive Health Services
Minors accessing certain reproductive health services without parental consent, removing parents from some of the most consequential healthcare decisions of adolescence.

These policies undermine the most basic principle of family life: Parents — not the state — are responsible for raising their children. While exceptions may be necessary in rare cases involving abuse or genuine danger, Connecticut policies have gone far beyond protecting vulnerable children. They have created a system where parents may be deliberately excluded from major decisions affecting their own children's health and well-being.
Our Demand
We call on the Governor, the Connecticut General Assembly, and the Connecticut State Department of Education to act immediately and restore the foundational rights of Connecticut parents. These are not partisan demands — they are common-sense protections that affirm the irreplaceable role of the family in a child's life.
1
Restore Parental Notification
Reinstate parental notification requirements whenever schools facilitate significant identity changes, social transitions, or counseling services affecting minors. Parents must not be the last to know what is happening in their child's school day.
2
Reform Minor Healthcare Consent Laws
Revise minor consent statutes — including CGS §19a-14c, §19a-216, and §19a-126h — to ensure parents are informed of medical treatment involving their children whenever it is safe to do so. Medical providers should partner with families, not circumvent them.
3
Ensure Full Transparency
Mandate clear, enforceable transparency standards between schools, healthcare providers, and families. Parents deserve accurate, timely information — not institutional silence — when it concerns the wellbeing of their own children.
4
Affirm Primary Parental Authority
Codify in Connecticut law that parents hold the primary role in raising their children, and that state agencies serve in a supporting — never a supplanting — capacity. The family unit must be strengthened, not dismantled, by government policy.
Why This Matters
Families are the foundation of a free society. When government institutions begin making consequential decisions about children's health, identity, and mental wellbeing — without informing the parents who love and know them best — something essential has been lost.
Government institutions exist to support parents, not replace them. Connecticut must respect the constitutional principle that parents have the right to know and guide the lives of their children. The bond between parent and child is not a bureaucratic inconvenience — it is the cornerstone of a healthy, self-governing community.
When parents are excluded from the equation, children lose their most powerful advocates. Connecticut must choose families.
Family as Foundation
Strong families produce resilient children and thriving communities. No government policy should erode that bedrock.
A Constitutional Right
Federal courts across the country are affirming what most parents already know: the right to raise your child is fundamental and protected.
Transparency Builds Trust
Openness between schools, healthcare providers, and parents is not a threat — it is the basis of a healthy relationship between families and institutions.
Sign the Petition
Your signature sends a clear message to Connecticut's Governor, legislators, and education officials: parents will not be sidelined. Every name added to this petition represents a family that demands transparency, accountability, and respect for parental authority in our state.
By signing this petition, I affirm that:
✅ Parental Rights
I support restoring parental rights in Connecticut and believe the state must affirm the family's central role in a child's upbringing.
✅ Transparency
I believe parents deserve full transparency regarding their children's education and healthcare, free from institutional concealment.
✅ Legislative Action
I call on Connecticut leaders to protect families and parental authority through immediate and meaningful legislative reform.
"The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations."
— U.S. Supreme Court, Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)
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