Wednesday, October 31, 2018 When a pregnant mother has a drug or alcohol problem, or there is spousal abuse taking place, the effect that has on a child can be devastating. While making our documentary film License to Parent , we interviewed Cathy Friend and her husband who have fostered 32 newborns over the years from mothers on drugs, alcohol, or in abusive relationships. As Cathy says, “The damage starts in utero, and there's scientific proof of that. You and I, as parents, did damage to...

When Blue Hess was with his biological family, both his parents and their extended family abused and neglected him and his siblings. They had drug abuse problems, and problems with alcohol. According to Blue, his dad would beat and punch him all the time. In the documentary film License to Parent , Blue tells the story of how he was at his father’s house in his room and was hungry. “I was so hungry and I know my dad was in the house but I couldn’t get the food because I’d get in trouble. So...

Many parents have that experience when they are watching television news with their children, and something bad or inappropriate comes on, and they think, “Should my children be seeing this?” Sometimes it’s easier to say nothing and hope they missed what you just saw, but as I find out almost every time, kids don’t miss much. They may not understand it, but they saw it and they are thinking about it. It’s hard to know what children really understand. We watched the documentary film Bully...

Parenting is one of the most important roles a person can fulfill in their lifetime so it may seem absurd to claim that there are no bad parents. Sure, there are some parents who are more prepared for the rigors of parenting, parents who have the means to provide a good life and the diligence needed to ensure their child has a proper moral upbringing. As long as a parent takes the job of parenting with the utmost seriousness and humility it doesn’t matter who they are, where they come from,...

This month, Utah’s free-range parenting law goes into effect. The bill amends the definition of parental neglect regarding children. In Utah it is now okay for parents to let their kids play in the park alone or walk to and from school by themselves. There have been instances in the past where parents have faced legal trouble for letting their children have this independence. The first thing I thought when reading about this policy is that it doesn’t address the bigger problem and could...

Most of us would agree that parenting is the most important job in the world. If you had to fill out an application to get that job would you be hired? While many people instinctively know how to raise a child, many people who become parents have no idea what they are doing. The 14th amendment to the constitution is interpreted to give people the right to have children and be parents. But something important is missing from the constitution, what about the rights of the child? It’s a strange...