Foote v. Ludlow School Committee
Description: Public school officials in Ludlow, Massachusetts enacted a gender-identity policy that excludes parents from any knowledge or involvement in key decisions regarding their children’s care, blatantly violating parents’ fundamental right to direct their kids’ upbringing, health care, and education.
ADF to 1st Circuit: Protect parents' right to raise children without govt interference
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, regarding a friend-of-the-court brief ADF attorneys filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Foote v. Ludlow School Committee supporting parents’ rights to make decisions about how their children are raised:
“Parents—not government officials—have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, care, and education of their children. Yet the Ludlow School Committee has joined a troubling trend of school districts enacting gender-identity policies that exclude parents from any knowledge or involvement in key decisions regarding their children’s care and education. As we explain in our brief, Ludlow School Committee officials blatantly disregarded parents’ rights, acting as if government-run schools are more appropriate guardians of children than their own moms and dads. When public school officials violate parental rights, it’s vulnerable children who suffer. We urge the 1st Circuit to affirm the constitutional protections parents have so they can make the best decisions for their own kids.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Kate Anderson
Kate Anderson serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where she is the director of the Center for Parental Rights. In this role, she leads the team working to ensure schools respect the role of parents in directing the upbringing, education, and health care of their children. In 2023, Anderson, together with allied attorneys, successfully defended parents in Wisconsin, and her team is actively engaged in many other states and courts protecting the fundamental rights of parents. Anderson's work at ADF began in 2015, focusing on protecting the conscience rights of individuals being unjustly compelled to forfeit their beliefs under threat of government retaliation, heavy fines, or other punishment. Prior to joining ADF, Anderson was an associate attorney with Ellis, Li & McKinstry, PLLC, in Seattle, where she litigated both civil and criminal cases. She obtained her law degree magna cum laude in 2009 from Gonzaga University School of Law, where she served on the Gonzaga Law Review . She is admitted to the state bars of Arizona and Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court, and several federal district and appellate courts.