JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – During a news conference in Jacksonville on Tuesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a brand-new state agency.
According to Uthmeier, this agency, dubbed the “Office of Parental Rights,” aims to investigate cases where state laws involving parental rights have been violated.
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“Governments should understand that when it comes to raising a child, they don’t know best. The parents do, and they deserve an Attorney General’s office working on their behalf,” Uthmeier declared. “This first-in-the-nation office is a mechanism for parents and families to seek justice where local governments and school systems seek to ‘treat,’ indoctrinate, or collect data from students without parental involvement.”
Per state officials, the OPR will be able to help with the following types of cases:
- Denial of access to school records
- Lack of consent for biometric or personal data collection
- Unauthorized healthcare, counseling, or mental health services
- Interference with educational choices
- Failure to notify parents or suspected criminal offenses
- Coercion or encouragement to withhold information
- Objectionable instructional or library materials
- Violations of parental notification for health services
- Restrictions on parental participation in school governance
- Unauthorized data sharing or surveys
“We’ve got a team of litigators, many of them moms who’ve got their own kids; they are fired up and ready to get to work,” Uthmeier stated.
As Uthmeier explained, the new office is meant to bolster efforts taken by state leaders in recent years to strengthen parental rights in schools, such as the Parental Rights in Education Act from 2022.
Uthmeier added that state officials are putting together an online portal where parents can report violations directly to the OPR. Further details about this portal are expected to be released in the coming days.