Free Republic

That children have a right to grow up with their biological mother and father should be uncontroversial, but unfortunately it isn’t. The International Children’s Rights Institute was recently founded in order to defend this important right. Below are three practices which it thinks often involve gross and depressingly-common violations of children’s rights.

A 13-year-old boy who had been missing for four years was found by police hidden behind a false wall in a home in Jonesboro, Georgia.... Five people at the home were arrested, including the boy's father and stepmother. They have been charged with false imprisonment, cruelty to children and obstruction, the Journal-Constitution reported. The boy's mother, who lives out of state, was traveling to Georgia to be reunited with her son, police said.

(CNN) -- Witnesses are crediting a family's German shepherd with shielding its owners from gunfire in an Atlanta road-rage incident (video also)

**SNIP** His photo of a soupy Spanish rice gone wrong and an apple on a school lunch tray was retweeted more than 170 times. Hunter, 17, is a senior at Richland Center High School in Richland Center, Wisconsin. He said in an interview with The Associated Press that his school lunches have gone downhill over his four years in high school. Of the Spanish rice, he said "you couldn't feel the individual grains of rice. It was just a solid mush." Halana Turner, a junior at Fraser High School in Fraser, Michigan, posted a photo of a mushy breakfast sandwich...

Police are searching for a teacher suspected of sexually abusing students who attended a private Cooper City school. The investigation centers on accusations against Tariq Ahmad.... ...a former teacher at Nur-Ul-Islam Academy in Cooper City, school officials said. ....After a parent caught one of the girls in a late night phone conversation with Ahmed, the parent confronted school officials about the inappropriate behavior, but got no response, the lawsuit said. The school "maintained Tariq Ahmad in his capacity as a teacher and continued to cloak him with the authority and prestige as being the head of its high school, and...

Parents aren't happy that the toy store chain is selling drug dealer dolls, complete with bags of crystal meth and sacks of cash. Susan Schrivjer, a mom from Fort Myers, Fla., was a fan of the award-winning AMC show Breaking Bad.... Even so, she thinks it’s not such a great idea to sell action figures based on the show’s notorious crystal meth dealers Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in a store where the customer base is families with young children.

One Saturday afternoon last month, six second graders from P.S. 295 in Brooklyn got a head start on the fine-dining life when they visited the acclaimed French restaurant Daniel. There, five waiters presented them with a seven-course tasting menu (after the trio of canapés and an amuse-bouche, naturellement). The meal was overseen by the star chef and eponym himself, Daniel Boulud, whose goal was, he says, “for the children to really discover a lot of flavor, a lot of layers, a lot of texture.”

same link here

Charlie Crist is siding with the teachers union — not African-American ministers — over a new lawsuit that seeks to dismantle the state’s major school-choice program..... Crist made his choice clear Wednesday when he refused to heed the request of a major Panhandle civil-rights leader, the Rev. H.K. Matthews, who asked the Democrat to “publicly denounce” a new teacher union-led lawsuit that seeks to dismantle the major school-choice program. “You cannot stay silent on this lawsuit,” Matthews wrote. “These families deserve to know if you support or oppose the lawsuit to evict 70,000 poor — and mostly minority — children...

Remember the "Apparently Kid" from the PA county fair?

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at Booker T. Washington High School, a predominantly black school, in Atlanta on Monday. During her speech a student fainted. Obama paused her speech to make sure the child was attended to, then she took a weird swipe at “rich kids.” White House Dossier posted the transcript: MRS. OBAMA: But here’s the thing –- even if you’re working hard and doing everything right, there will still be times when things don’t go according to plan. That ever happen to you all? STUDENTS: Yes…. (student faints) MRS. OBAMA: Are you all still fired up and ready...

A mom telling her two children she was pregnant drew an unexpected reaction: rather than being excited about being a big brother again, the little boy burst out, “What were you thinking?” and “You just had two! This is exasperating.”

The American Heart Association says e-cigarettes are dangerous gateway products that cause nicotine addiction and should be subject to strict federal controls for minor-aged use. The group published its statement into the journal Circulation. Among its views: Ban e-cigarettes for minors, tightly regulate the product’s marketing and ban vapors that have flavors because they entice youngsters to try the product, Medical News Today reported.

Kids reacting to technology of the past, this time around, it's rotary phones. Amazing how technology changes so quickly.

It's almost time for the Friday Night Huddle, and the best high school teams in the region are gearing up for kickoff. News 5 found a special player in Chilhowie, who is breaking barriers and a few face masks. Rachel Poston spends an hour each day in U.S. History with the school's head football coach, but it's what she is doing outside of that classroom that's making history -- she's the first female to earn a starting position on the Warriors' special team....

New federal data published Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families showed Tennessee received 760 of the more than 30,000 children who have been released to sponsors this year through July 7.

Blogging for the Ruth Institute, Jennifer Johnson recounted her experience of growing up with five parents. The piece responds to claims by Masha Gessen, a prominent LGBT activist who was recently honored by the state department, who has famously celebrated her own unorthodox family as the shape of things to come: I have three kids who have five parents, more or less, and I don’t see why they shouldn’t have five parents legally… I would like to live in a legal system that is capable of reflecting that reality, and I don’t think that’s compatible with the institution of marriage....

Three in five Americans believe the illegal immigrant children flooding across the U.S.-Mexico border "should be ordered to leave the U.S." according to a recent poll.

Not allowed to post WBIR so you will have to go to web site to read. I did not enable the direct link. Kids crossing border may affect Tenn. refugees www.wbir.com/story/news/local/2014/07/06/kids-crossing-border-may-affect-tenn-refugees/12273841/ Memphis is most likely target, we currently are under a Blue Flu and Red Rash contract dispute. Our only public hospital is over run with illegals using it as a doctor's office.

A college degree will help Americans get a leg up on the job market. But financial independence proves more elusive as graduates tap their parents for help with living expenses, new research finds. Some 50% of recent college graduates say they’re receiving financial help from their family, while an additional 19% say they need financial help from their partner or spouse. This is despite the fact that half of these graduates have full-time jobs, ... Roughly 85% of parents, including those with young children, plan to offer their children monetary aid after college graduation by providing health insurance, assisting with...