New Hampshire's Bad Parenting Bill Is a Nightmare
That could be almost anything, of course.
"I happen to be a tax-and-spend liberal," Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, tells Reason. "But this bill provides not one iota of additional help. It simply turns the [Division for Children, Youth and Families] into the 'well-being' police."
House Bill 553 has 14 sponsors from across the political spectrum. State Rep. Alicia Gregg (D–Hillsborough), who filed the bill, told the New Hampshire Bulletin that she believes the state needs an "updated definition of what child abuse and endangerment looks like." She has worked with domestic abuse victims and hopes the bill will allow the state to set aside its "hesitancy to step in" and intervene "before we have a crisis."
But New Hampshire already has "robust and effective" laws to protect children, says Will Estrada, senior counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association. In fact, New Hampshire removes children from their families at a rate nearly double the national average, says Wexler.
Overall, 37 percent of American children will be investigated by child protective services sometime before age 18. For black kids, that number is 53 percent.
The proposed law does contain some good provisions for the children who are removed from their families, making sure there are "frequent" reviews of their case, and that children are returned home as soon as possible in cases of overreach. But its vagueness would allow state intervention not only when a child is in imminent danger—which most of us would want and is already the case—but whenever there is a "risk to a child's psychological or emotional well-being…or mental health."
The bill also stipulates that "exposure of a child to verbal abuse, or psychological maltreatment directed at the child, a sibling, the other parent or significant other or another person living in the home" could also impair a child's well-being, opening the door to investigating parents who fight or shout at one of the kids.
Finally, the law also comes down hard on "adultification," a new term for making a child take on some of the responsibilities an adult should presumably be doing for them. This happens in incredibly dysfunctional families as well as in incredibly functional ones—say, when a child of immigrants proudly translates for their parents at the doctor's office or the auto repair shop.
Looking back on any tragedy, there's always the feeling that someone ought to have intervened sooner. But inviting the state to intervene in many, many more cases—and perpetually expanding the definition of abuse—will cause more problems than it solves.
The post New Hampshire's Bad Parenting Bill Is a Nightmare appeared first on Reason.com.
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America's basic message to Europe of late has been: You're on your own. From now on, don't expect too much help from us. The fact that a bus load of European leaders had to surround Trump to extract the hitherto wholly uncontroversial idea that the U.S. might play some role—with no boots on the ground—to guarantee Ukraine's future security, is a sign of how far things have changed. But this logic goes both ways. In the coming years, it will become more difficult for Washington to insist that Europe follows its lead in isolating and weakening China, especially if doing so harms European prosperity. If the U.S. is ever more ambivalent to the Russian threat on Europe's doorstep—especially if any peace deal in Ukraine gives Putin a free hand to destabilize or reinvade the country in the future—and continues to interfere in European elections while hitting Europeans with tariffs, European governments will have difficulty explaining to voters why they should go out of their way to help Uncle Sam in its rivalry with Beijing. In all of this, the inescapable facts of geography appear to be reasserting themselves. Europe does not face Asia across the Pacific. Russian tanks will never roll onto American soil. Of the two continents, America is blessed with the most benign geographical inheritance: a young continent-size nation, shielded by two vast oceans on either side, with mostly pliant neighbors to the north and south and a national history free of external invasion (though of course not without foreign attacks), one that has skillfully ridden its natural advantage to a hegemonic position and now stands without equal. Compare that with the cluttered old patchwork of middling and small nations—with different ethnic, religious, and linguistic identities stretching back millennia—living cheek by jowl in a crowded continent in a risky neighborhood. To most Americans, conflicts in the Middle East are a distant tragedy; to Europeans, they are next door. Russia is ever menacing; a land war rages in the heart of the continent; and handling mass migration across the Mediterranean from Africa continues to divide European governments. Europe is simply more precariously located than many Americans appreciate. Today's shift in American politics marks a new chapter in the diverging histories of our two continents. It is no passing mood, much though Trump's critics might wish otherwise. A significant portion of the American voting public supports the newly assertive 'America First' worldview. This will not disappear overnight, nor will the growing distance between Europe and America. And that is perhaps the most important lesson of all: Rather than being mugged by the surprise discovery that we are very different, maybe a more mature transatlantic relationship going forward will acknowledge and even celebrate those differences. There is no reason why we cannot have a productive relationship—geopolitically, economically, culturally—despite them. 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32 minutes ago
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'With his wealth of experience countering foreign threats, Joe is exceptionally qualified to lead the next generation of American cybersecurity experts, spearheading efforts to outmaneuver evolving threats and counter our adversaries,' the statement said. Far-right activist Laura Loomer posted earlier Thursday on X that Francescon's name had been sent to the Presidential Personnel Office for approval, and gave details on his professional background. Loomer, who has managed to influence a number of staffing decisions by the administration, did not weigh in on Francescon's qualifications. Francescon, who also previously served for over a decade as an intelligence analyst at NSA, said in a separate statement that he is 'deeply honored and filled with excitement to return home' to the agency. 'I am eager to lead NSA's exceptional team in safeguarding our nation and countering global threats to protect the American people,' he said. He will take over the role as deputy director at the NSA months after his predecessor, Wendy Noble, along with NSA and Cyber Command leader Gen. Timothy Haugh, was fired by President Donald Trump, which reportedly followed a meeting with Loomer in the Oval Office. While no details were given by either the White House or the agencies on why Haugh and Noble were dismissed at the time, Loomer posted on X that both were 'disloyal to President Trump,' citing claims that they were each selected by former leaders under the Biden and Obama administrations.
