About CHILD -

About CHILD

MISSION STATEMENT

Since 1983 when Rita and her husband, Doug Swan, founded Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, its mission has been to end child abuse or neglect related to religion, cultural practices, or quackery through public education, research, legal action, and a limited amount of lobbying.

CHILD has supported

Laws requiring medical care of children, including preventive and diagnostic measures, without exception for religious belief
Reporting of child abuse and neglect without religious exemption
Licensing of child care facilities including those run by churches
Ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child

CHILD has engaged in

Publishing newsletters (usually quarterly)
Filing lawsuits and amicus briefs
Supporting laws that protect children against medical neglect
Providing emotional support for victims of religion-based medical neglect
Providing speakers
Collecting and disseminating information about court cases and state and federal laws

For a partial history of CHILD’s founding, see CHILD NEWSLETTER 2013 vol.2 (30th anniversary issue)

“The Last Strawberry”, Rita Swan’s memoir about the loss of her son Matthew, can be ordered here.

Rita’s Curriculum Vitae

Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (CHILD), Inc.

is no longer an active tax-exempt charity. There is, however, a new successor non-profit organization called CHILD USA operating out of the University of Pennsylvania. It was formed with the original CHILD’s encouragement and support and is dedicated to ending child abuse and neglect through evidence-based research resulting in enlightened law and public policy.

This original CHILD website, www.childrenshealthcare.org, continues however as an archive for CHILD’s many endeavors from 1983 to 2017 to protect children from harmful religious and cultural practices—especially faith-based medical neglect—through public education, research, legal action, and a limited amount of lobbying. A second webpage, designed to educate the public about the situation in Idaho, IdahoChildren.org , will also continue to be available online for an indefinite period. It is our intention and hope that both sites will be valuable resources for current and future advocates working to establish healthcare for all children as a legal duty.

We are deeply grateful to those who supported our child advocacy work during the past 34 years.

Rita and Douglas Swan, Co-founders