Alabama's Parental Rights Laws are Being Ignored

In a fiery op-ed for 1819 News, Emily Jones sounds the alarm on what she calls a blatant betrayal of Alabama parents. Despite a new law requiring written parental consent for all school-based mental health services and sensitive instruction, Jones says the Alabama State Department of Education is quietly allowing schools to sidestep it. She points to district forms with fine-print loopholes that let counselors continue classroom sessions—without parental opt-in—and even shares that her own child’s class is being pulled into mandatory counseling every two weeks against her wishes. Calling it “an assault on parental authority,” Jones warns that Alabama families are being deceived by bureaucratic doublespeak and urges parents to fight back before the state’s parental rights law becomes nothing more than ink on paper.