EPPiC Broadcast

This week, our guest is Nicki Neily, the founder and president of Parents Defending Education. Parents Defending Education is a national grassroots organization working to preserve parents’ voices in their children’s public school education. Today, Nicki tells us how she came to found this organization and about the important work it is doing. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, president of the Parental Rights Foundation. You can sign up for email alerts to keep yourself inf...

What does the recent Star Wars show The Acolyte have to do with the flaws in our real-world child welfare system? As it turns out, more than you might think! This week, our guest is Josh Gupta-Kagan, a clinical professor of law and director of the Family Defense Clinic at Columbia University’s School of Law. Today, Josh discusses his recent article for The Imprint, in which he draws connections between the actions of Jedi knights in a galaxy far, far away and the actions of child welfare...

Our guest this week is Angela Burton, founder and co-chair of the New York City Narrowing the Front Door workgroup. Angela is also the founder of the Repeal CAPTA workgroup. Previously, Angela has worked within the New York State child welfare system and she currently works closely with families navigating the system. Today, Angela tells us about the goals and work of the Narrowing the Front Door and the Repeal CAPTA workgroups, plus her insights for her years of experience in working to...

This week, we talk with Jackie Rosario, board member at the Indian River Public School Board in Florida, and Patti Sullivan, Parental Rights Foundation State Coordinator in Florida. The Indian River Public School Board recently passed a proclamation declaring October “Parental Rights and Appreciation Month.” Jackie and Patti tell us about how they passed the proclamation, why it’s important, and other work they’re doing for parental rights in Florida.The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael R...

Today, we welcome Jane Anderson onto the podcast. Dr. Anderson is the Vice President of the American College of Pediatricians, and author of the paper “The Teenage Brain: Under Construction.” She gives us a crash course on how the teenage brain functions, and shows how science supports the idea that teenagers’ brains are not mature enough to make informed decisions yet on medical treatment and other important life decisions. She highlights the crucial role that parents play during these years...

This week’s guest is Vivek Sankaran, a professor of law at the Michigan University School of Law and Director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic. Vivek recently argued two cases in front of the Michigan Supreme Court, which highlight the harms of permanently terminating parental rights without considering other ways to preserve the parent-child relationship. Vivek argues that if a child is in a secure situation, and is benefitting from their parental and familial relationships, courts should ...

This week, our guest is Kevin Boden, an attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association. Kevin tells us about some potential changes to homeschooling law in West Virginia, and makes his case for why the state laws governing homeschooling there should remain unchanged. 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/g...

Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We’re kicking off season 9 with returning guest Christine Gottlieb. Chris has been newly appointed the Director of the New York University School of Law's Family Defense Clinic. Today she tells us about the work the Clinic does to defend individual families in child welfare cases and to advocate for broader systemic change for family preservation in the child welfare system. Plus, Chris shares what you can do to advocate for child welfare reform today.The ...

This week, we’re joined by Sixto Cancel. Sixto is the founder and CEO of Think of Us, a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to reform and transform the child welfare system, led and guided by people who have been directly impacted by this system. Sixto tells us about the work that Think of Us is doing, and shares how his own experience growing in the foster care system led him to work toward its transformation and reform. This episode is the last episode of Season 8! Thank you fo...

This week, Kathleen Creamer is returning to the EPPiC Broadcast. Kathleen is the managing attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. This week, Kathleen gives us an overview of many topics under discussions at the ABA Center on Children and the Law’s recent National Conference on Parent Representation, which featured panels from many of the top scholars, lawyers, and authors in the world of child welfare reform. Support the show

This week, we're rewinding to a a conversation with Ernestine Gray from April 2023.This week, we talk with former judge Ernestine Gray, who served for 35 years in the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court in Louisiana. During her tenure, the Orleans Juvenile Court went from what the New York Times described as “the worst juvenile court in the nation” to a model that other juvenile courts looked to for best practices. Ernestine tells us about her many years of striving to improve the child welfare sys...

What effects would legislation proposed in various states have on families and the states' child welfare systems? To answer that, we looked to Texas, where the same measures have already become law. This week, we talked with Andrew Brown, vice president of Policy with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, about some of the laws Texas passed in recent years, including a new law guarenteeing a right to a second opinion for parents who have been accused of abuse by a child abuse pediatrician, a la...

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. In this episode, Will tells us about his upcoming law review article, in which he argues that parental rights are a pre-political right, and that the family is a basic building block of society.&nbs...

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 reuni...

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 exp...