A Michigan couple is suing their daughter’s former school district after discovering that officials had secretly transitioned their middle school daughter without their knowledge or consent.
The district allegedly altered their daughter’s records and concealed the actions from the parents.
Dan and Jennifer Mead found out when a report was shared with them inadvertently. (Trending: First Moon Mission In 50 Years Blasts Off)
Parents sue school district over alleged concealed transition of their daughter pic.twitter.com/PObKZbDwiF
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Rockford Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Steve Matthews, said, “We will respectfully decline to comment and let the legal process run its course.”
“Most days she was pretty sad and we were feeling a little bit desperate,” Jennifer explained.
“What can we do to help our daughter? So I was working with the counselor, who was then explaining all of this information to the teacher, sharing information from them, confidential information. So the counselor and I had a relationship and I trusted her,” she continued.
ADF Senior Counsel and director of ADF’s Center for Parental Rights Kate Anderson, said, “This social transition went on for several months before the Meads realized what was happening.”
“They found out when the counselor went through to change documents, she missed one and so one went home with the male name and male pronouns,” she continued.
“I think a court’s going to step in and stop that because schools shouldn’t be making these decisions for parents,” said Anderson.
“You really see with the Meads’ daughter how that [policy] affected her and they can speak to that,” she continued.
“This was hurting our daughter, without this critical information, we were not able to help her like we should have been able to,” said Jennifer.
“We know our daughter best, we love our daughter more than anyone and that was very important for us to know that, so that we could help her thrive and they were hiding this from us. This is critical information, this is life-changing information that they were keeping from us intentionally,” she added.
“Parents have the fundamental freedom to direct the upbringing [and] education of their children, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly confirmed that,” said Anderson.
“That means that parents need the information to be able to do that well,” continued the attorney.
“This involves upbringing, education, medical decision-making down the road because a child who is socially transitioned at school is more likely to seek other medical interventions down the road that are going to have lifelong consequences,” added Aderson.
The daughter, who had been struggling academically, had requested to be called by a masculine name, a fact the school counselor allegedly failed to mention to the parents.
The parents claim that the district deliberately chose not to inform them and refused to comply when asked to stop using the masculine name and pronouns.
Anderson said, the Meads’ daughter “was not doing well while the school was hiding this information and then when her parents were able to step in and work with her and walk alongside her, she was able to deal with the things she was truly feeling … and she’s now in a much, much better place, which is why parents need to be involved in these decisions.”
The daughter, who no longer identifies as a boy, is doing well since leaving the district.
“She knows her identity, she knows that she is female, she knows the truth and she was confused because of her autism,” explained Jennifer.
“She struggled with finding her identity in that, so she is on the road to healing, we are on the road to healing as a family.”
“We have our daughter back,” celebrated Dan.
“She is safe, she trusts us. I see her smile. I see her laugh. I see her joyful. Her grades are up. She enjoys life and it’s so wonderful to see because she was miserable almost every single day to the point where she said, ‘Mom, I don’t see the purpose anymore,’ and when we pulled her out of school and loved her and kept her safe and told her the truth of who she is and who she was meant to be, it’s like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders because she didn’t have to deal with this and didn’t have to carry this anxiety with her every day,” said Jennifer.
“Schools have no right to make critical decisions for the well-being of my child or anybody else’s child. We know our children best,” she continued.
“We love our children more than anyone will,” she added.
The lawsuit aims to remind parents of their rights and the need to be informed about their children’s well-being and decisions made by schools.
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