ALERT: Tennessee Child “Wellbeing Checks”

UPDATE: Thankfully, due to public outcry, the governor has asked the Department of Education to remove this document and to “go back to the drawing board.” You can read the letter from the Department of Education here. Even though this concerning document has been walked back, we are remaining vigilant about future developments and will keep you updated.

On August 11, 2020, the Tennessee Department of Education published a document entitled “Wellbeing Checks,”[1] which states a goal to conduct a “wellbeing check” of all Tennessee children.

If fully implemented, the program described in the document would deploy “Wellbeing Liaisons” to visit the home of every child in the state to check on their well-being.

The document implies that participation in a well-being check is voluntary. However, the document links to a “Wellbeing Check Script” which instructs Wellbeing Liaisons to document all households which were not receptive to a well-being check. The document does not discuss what would happen with the list of “non-receptive” households or how that list might be used in the future. Of course, this list could be misused to target families in the future.

Please call Governor Bill Lee at (615) 741-2001 to express your opinion.

When the potential threats to your parental rights seem to be increasing more every day, get peace of mind about your parental rights by joining Heritage Defense. You can also download our free guide, Four Steps to Take if Child Protective Services Shows up at Your Front Door.

[1] The Tennessee Department of Education seems to have removed the document previously at this link, so our link now goes to a version uploaded to Scribd.