Attorney Jonathan Emord – Image from YouTube
“When you move the line from defense of children against injury to a State perception of what might be in the better interest of the child, you’ve gone too far.”
Health Impact News Editor Comments
Constitutional attorney Jonathan Emord hosted the Robert Scott Bell show on Thursday (February 19, 2015), and discussed the current situation in Arkansas where local law enforcement together with social services took custody of Hal and Michelle Stanley’s seven homeschooled children by force. (You can read the original story here.)
Starting out by acknowledging that he did not have all the facts, Emord stated that based on what is known, the Arkansas seizure of the Stanley children looks like:
“an abuse of power that is extraordinary.”
Emord goes on to state that it is generally recognized that the State has a responsibility to intervene when someone is physically harming a child, and law enforcement is necessary to protect the child from injury. But in an instance where there is no harm, such as in this case, where a doctor on the scene the day the children were taken away declared the children to be healthy, the State is abusing their power. Emord explains that other circumstances, such as living in poverty, or having an unapproved drug, is not justification to take someone’s children away.
Emord said that the Stanley children are “essentially incarcerated,” because they have been taken by the State and kept away from their parents before there is any trial on the merits of any charges. Emord explains that there is an “epidemic” of this kind of “heavy-handed abuse” happening in other parts of the United States as well:
We have an epidemic in this country of these child welfare services people coming in, …. taking custody, and summarily seizing kids based on arguments of abuse that historically have not amounted to (abuse).
We have reached a status in this country where the historic rights of parents and children to be let alone in the home is now directly in conflict with the expansive State assumption of power over parenting.
When you move the line from defense of children against injury to a State perception of what might be in the better interest of the child, you’ve gone too far.
Things have changed, because the government is now perceiving its role as a supervisor who can second guess parents.
Listen to Jonathan Emord at Epic Times
Friends of the Stanleys supporting them are requesting you contact the following people:
Please contact everyone you can about this ongoing, massive injustice against two American parents and their children: friends, business associates, media, government officials at all levels from the Governor of Arkansas to Arkansas State Representatives and Senators to DHS to the Juvenile Court of Garland County, Arkansas. This is America and We the People have to stick together!
The DHS address is: 115 Stover Ln. Hot Springs, Ar. 71913
Call DHS: 501-321-2583
DIRECTOR DHS ARKANSAS (501) 682-8650Garland County Sheriffs Department at 501-622-3690 or email Sheriff Mike McCormick directly at mmccormick@garlandcounty.org.
FOLLOWING IS A LINK TO DIRECTLY CONTACT GOVERNOR ASA HUTCHINSON:
http://governor.arkansas.gov/contact-info
The above link will allow you to send an email directly to the governor’s office.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE:
JOHN VINES In Session Phone: 501-682-6211
Out of Session Phone: 501-682-7771
TWITTER: @ArkansasHouse
Jonathan W. Emord has been practicing constitutional and administrative law before the federal courts and agencies since 1985. Having begun his career as an attorney in the Federal Communications Commission during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, Emord has maintained an abiding conviction to achieve full First Amendment protection for the freedoms of speech and press. He is routinely consulted by industry, Congress, and the media on regulatory issues that affect health freedom. He is a Guest Lecturer at the Georgetown University, Department of Biochemistry, Course in Nutrition and at the Georgetown University Law Center, Alternative, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine Legal Issues Course.
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by Attorney Jonathan Emord
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