What If Family Is Being Redefined Without You Knowing?

The redefinition of the family is not happening all at once. It is happening one sentence at a time, buried inside 80-page bills that most lawmakers never fully read, drafted by legal bodies most people have never heard of, and framed as routine updates to reflect the modern reality of family life. Patience Sunne, Engagement Director at Them Before Us, has been reading those bills. She joins Dear Jane to talk about what is actually in them: the removal of mother and father language from parentage laws, the legalization of surrogacy without a single background check, the quiet allowance of poly parenting slipped into a single line of code, and what any of it means for the child at the center of all of it. Them Before Us recently released the Children's Rights Scorecard, grading all 50 states on how well their laws protect children's rights. You can look up your state. The grades are illuminating. This is not a conversation about politics. It is a conversation about what children need and whether anyone in power is asking. Watch the full episode on Dear Jane. -- Are childrens rights being ignored in court? We examine how legal parental rights are changing and if children are truly resilient. This discussion centers on the Childrens Rights Scoresheet, a tool used to analyze how current legal standards impact the wellbeing of minors. We look at the assumption that children are resilient and challenge the idea that family court system decisions always prioritize the child. This conversation is for anyone concerned about how child custody laws are evolving and the potential long-term effects of these shifts on family structures. We break down the data to see if the legal system is failing to address the fundamental needs of children when determining custody. By looking at the Childrens Rights Scoresheet, you will better understand why some experts argue that childrens rights need stronger protections against evolving definitions of parenthood. We explore the reality behind the rhetoric of resilience. Subscribe for weekly policy breakdowns, and comment your thoughts on whether current family court system rulings are doing enough to protect children. 0:30 — Family Redefined 1:07 — Erasing Mother and Father 1:55 — Surrogacy's Legal Gray Area 3:36 — The Wild Wild West 5:24 — The Poly Parenting Trend 6:30 — Slipping Through Unnoticed 9:55 — What Children Actually Need 11:00 — The Unrelated Adult Problem 12:13 — Too Many Adults, Too Little Accountability 13:16 — When Adults Come First 13:48 — The Self-Fulfillment Shift 15:22 — Compassion as Blind Spot 17:18 — IVF and the Children Nobody Counts 21:10 — The Grades Are In 25:06 — What You Can Actually Do 27:30 — Why Tennessee's Score Dropped 29:30 — Missouri vs Tennessee