by Renee McGuinness, Vermont Family Alliance Policy Analyst

Two bills, one that will likely result in Vermont’s on-going violation of federal law, and another that could likely circumvent the Department of Children and Families due process under Title 33, passed out of the House Committees on Health Care and Human Services, respectively.

Many legislators believe the bills will help children and adolescents that are uncomfortable talking to their parents about their mental health issues, and help children that are homeless and without guardians, but both bills cast a much wider net.

Mental health programs in schools lack parental consent

H.817, which passed out of the House Committee on Health Care on March 13, 10-0-1, institutes optional mental health literacy and adult-led and peer-to-peer led mental health support programs in schools.

When Representative Debra Powers, Calendonia-1, asked prior to the vote, “Where is it stating that parents will be notified? You said that parents would be notified.”

Representative Daisy Berbeco, the main sponsor, responded by misinforming the Committee, “The local community gets to decide whether or not to put in parental control and all of that stuff. And that’s intentional because some communities really, really need that and some communities don’t want it.”

This is false.

Vermont Family Alliance informed the Committee that under the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Act (PPRA), parents have a right to inspect all instructional materials which will be used in connection with any evaluation at school, and schools cannot ask students questions about mental health and other sensitive issues without prior written consent of parents or guardians. Violators of PPRA risk losing federal funding.

Under Continuing Best Practices for Schools Regarding Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students  the Vermont Agency of Education requires schools to keep students’ gender transitioning secret from parents, based upon a warped interpretation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which upholds parents’ rights to view their children’s school records and curriculum.

Find House Health Care discussion on H.817, here.

Emancipating runaway youth

H.657, “an act relating to enabling unaccompanied homeless youth to obtain certain services without parental consent”,  is a gateway to emancipate all children from their parents (pgs. 5-7). It passed out of House Committee on Human Services on March 12, 10-1-0.

According to Page 7, Elevate Youth Services’ Vermont Coalition of Runaway and Homeless Services will develop a standardized form to certify qualifying unaccompanied youths.

If your child thinks that you will not understand their mental health issues or gender incongruence and seeks shelter with an LGBTQ+-affirming neighbor or other “trusted adult,” would they be classified as a runaway by Elevate Youth Services?

Representative Brenda Steady, Chittenden-25, was the only member of the Committee that voted “No”.

“[I] understand it’s a very compassionate bill. My concern is taking parental rights away from a child that might have ran away just because they didn’t want to do their housework or taking parental rights away from a child just because they didn’t want to be there. I have big concerns, and the money really concerns me because we’re causing so much homelessness and so many people moving out of Vermont because of affordability,” Steady said.

Steady continued, “And if we’re going to cause more homelessness because the kids’ telling their friends, ‘Hey, run away if you don’t want to be there and you can get this stuff too.’”

Find Human Services Committee discussion and on H.657, here.