‘Promise to America’s Children’ – Join the Movement to Protect Children

A coalition of non-profit organizations has launched a “Promise to America’s Children.” Concerned parents and policy makers are encouraged to sign on to the pledge, promising to protect children’s health, safety and relationship.

The movement was organized by The Heritage Foundation, Family Policy Alliance and Alliance Defending Freedom over concerns that “American children are increasingly targeted for adults’ sexual messages, images, and themes, and this is happening at younger ages.” Focus on the Family signed on to the pledge as a national partner, along with dozens of other state and national groups, including Focus-affiliated Family Policy Councils.

The alliance’s website says, “Children are among our most precious gifts, and they deserve to be protected in the whole of their persons – mind, body and heart.” The alliance has created a promise for parents and a promise for policy makers.

The promise from parent to child says, “My child and our family come first. As my child’s parent, it is my great honor and responsibility to intimately know and lovingly protect my child—mind, body, and soul. While every child is a unique gift, made in the image of God, my great calling is to shepherd and nurture my child through our culture’s challenges and opportunities to adulthood.”  Parents promise to nurture and protect their child’s mind, body and relationships.

There is also a more detailed pledge, with 10 principles to unite concerned citizens and policy makers. The pledge to protect children’s minds begins with an affirmation that children deserve to be protected from graphic sexual content and pornography in the media and internet.

The more in depth promise puts a spotlight on education and parental rights, stating that children’s education should be guided by their parents and “free from graphic sexual curriculum or content, the promotion of abortion, and politicized ideas about sexual orientation and gender identity.”

In terms of policy, the Promise to America’s Children says that “all public school sexual education programs should be opt-in, voluntarily chosen by parents” and “a general opt-out should be provided for other sensitive topics that families do not believe is appropriate for their children.” It goes on to state, “Parents should have the right to review all curriculum, reading materials, teacher’s guides, and computer programs or apps.”

In the portion dealing with protecting children’s bodies, the pledge affirms, “Every child deserves safety and privacy in sex-specific spaces such as locker rooms, showers, and restrooms at schools and other federally-funded public facilities.” It adds that “female athletes should not be forced to compete against biological males who identify as female in sports competitions intended for females.”

Those signing the promise oppose attempts to “transition” children to the opposite sex, stating, “Every child deserves the opportunity to be affirmed in their biological sex, and to be supported as they mature through puberty and other normal adolescent changes that shape their maturity and reproductive capacity.”

“Elective physical interventions on the bodies of children (including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sterilizing surgeries) have not been proven safe or effective for physically healthy minors,” the promise explains.

Finally, policy makers promise to protect children’s relationships with their parents. Adoption and foster care agencies should be free to follow religious beliefs, “including the belief that every child deserves a mother and a father.”

The pledge affirms parental rights over educational and state intrusion saying, “Children should not be removed from their parents over disagreements between their parents and the state about sexual orientation/gender identity counseling, therapy, or medical procedures.”

It also states that teachers, counselors and medical professionals “should not withhold information about a child’s sexual activity, development, or identity from parents or take any action that undermines the parents’ role in guiding the child in these areas.”

Focus on the Family invites all concerned parents and policy makers to sign the Promise to America’s Children. Join the movement and work toward protecting children.

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