The Indiana Senate passed a bill Monday that aims to keep government entities like the Indiana Department of Child Services and school districts from interfering in parents’ rights, despite concerns that it could end up hurting the privacy rights of LGBTQ youth.

Approved by a 44-5 vote, Senate Bill 143 would forbid government entities from denying parents access to certain information about their children, and from “advising, directing or coercing” a child to withhold that information from parents.

Bill author Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, said the bill “gives parents the rights in Indiana which most of us thought we already had.”

“We’re just making sure that government does not constrain or in any way restrict a parent’s right to direct the upbringing, religious instruction, or health of their child,” Brown said. “You need a compelling governmental interest to interfere with that relationship.”

The bill makes an exception for protecting the health and safety of a child, and for active criminal law enforcement investigations involving a parent.

It also wouldn’t allow parents to decide that their children could access procedures that are banned in Indiana, such as abortion, gender-affirming care or female genital mutilation.

“A parent can’t say they now have that right,” Brown said. “We’re not going to allow a parent to supersede us on mutilating their child or (abortion).”

The bill now moves on to the House for consideration and it still has a lengthy process to becoming law. A similar legislative effort to enshrine parental rights died in the past, though this year’s bill has support from both Republicans and Democrats.

However, there is also some bipartisan opposition, with three Republicans and two Democrats voting against it in the Senate on Monday.

Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, said he worried about the bill’s unintended consequences, though he “strongly agrees” with its goals. Just five years ago, he said, the state decided at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic that it had a compelling interest to close businesses and restrict travel. He doesn’t want the government to create more hurdles for parents in the future.

“It was a compelling government interest back then,” Freeman said. “I don’t want to make it easier for government to say, well, because it’s a compelling government interest, you have to get your children vaccinated. I don’t want to make it easier for the government to act against parents.”

Youth privacy rights vs. ‘the long arm of the state’

Some advocates have raised concerns about how the bill would impact transgender children and their families.

Christopher Daley, executive director of the Indiana ACLU, said the legislation “encroaches on the privacy rights of minors throughout the state.” The organization opposed a similar bill in the past, stating then that the legislation “could have been used to force a teacher to ‘out’ an LGBTQ student to their parents.”

But Brown, the bill’s author, said that wasn’t a concern.

“I do not believe that minors have any significant privacy rights,” Brown said, “particularly that are being invaded by this bill.”

Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, also was motivated by the issue of transgender youth, but supported the bill. The legislation “really hits home” where here’s from, he said.

His constituents lost custody of their child because of a disagreement over the child’s transgender identity, Gaskill said, in a case that made national news as the parents sought a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. But the high court ultimately declined to hear the case.

“They lost it to the long arm of the state,” Gaskill said. “This is long overdue.”

‘Parents need these kinds of protections’

Still, much of the testimony surrounding the bill related to alleged failures by DCS.

Indiana parents Grant and Myranda Phillips, for example, testified that they temporarily lost custody of their two children for nearly a year, and were kept from their children’s medical records, after they said DCS incorrectly alleged abuse of a two-month-old infant.

It turned out instead that the child was suffering with an undiagnosed connective tissue disorder and DCS eventually dismissed the case, the family said. They have since filed a lawsuit.

“We’ve been healing as a family since getting our children home, and we’re trying to use this horrible situation to bring attention to the things that are going on here in Indiana,” Grant Phillips said. “The parents going ahead of us into these situations needs these kinds of protections that we did not have.”

Though he had concerns about the bill, Freeman said its passage was a signal to DCS that the legislature wants the agency to “stay in their lane.”

A DCS spokesperson said “the Braun administration values parents’ rights and their access to information about their children.”

“DCS has had productive conversations with the bill’s author to develop language that complies with disclosure laws and court orders related to the department’s ability to release such information,” spokesperson Brian Heinemann told IndyStar.

“While we cannot comment specifically on open cases involving children or their information due to confidentiality laws,” Heinemann said, “we take all allegations of non-compliance seriously and review those for corrective action when substantiated.”

Contact senior government accountability reporter Hayleigh Colombo at hcolombo@indystar.com.

It might not have been a must win for Indiana women’s basketball at Alaska Airlines Arena on Monday night, but it was pretty close. 

The Hoosiers ended a three-game losing streak and avoided falling under .500 in the Big Ten with a 73-70 win over Washington. They gave themselves a nice cushion by dropping 30 points on the Huskies in the third quarter.

Indiana (13-7, 5-4 Big Ten) hit a season-high 13 3-pointers (56.5%) with Yarden Garzon doing much of the heavy lifting. Garzon scored a career-high 35 points while hitting a career-high eight triples on 10 attempts. 

Insider: ‘Sloppy, careless’ loss to Oregon continued skid

The Hoosiers improved to 3-4 against Quad 1 opponents by shutting down a late rally from Washington (13-8, 4-5). The Huskies trailed by 14 points before going on an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter while holding IU without any field goals for more than four minutes.

Garzon ended that scoreless drought by banking in a jumper through contact that set her career high with 4:31 to go in the game. She knocked down the free throw to give her team a 65-59 lead.

Washington kept on coming and tied the game multiple times down the stretch, but IU got a clutch 3-pointer from Sydney Parrish — she had 16 points and was 4 of 6 from long range — and jumper from just inside the 3-point line from Garzon in the final minute.

Indiana women’s basketball’ forward’s Yarden Garzon finds shooting touch against Washington

Garzon gave IU some reason for optimism when she knocked down her first five shots, including a pair of 3-pointers in the first half. The junior was just 1 of 12 from the outside in the team’s previous three games. 

Indiana coach Teri Moren called her recent struggles “concerning” after a loss to Oregon considering how much the Hoosiers rely on her offensive production. 

She bested her season average (13.4 points per game) going into halftime with 15 points and that flurry of early offense was a sign of things to come. 

‘Built for moments like this.’ Yarden Garzon blows kisses, leads IU to rare win at Iowa

Garzon hit three straight 3-pointers coming out of halftime to push IU’s lead to double digits. She surpassed 1,000-career points with the first of those outside shots and is the second Hoosiers player (Chloe Moore-McNeil) to reach the milestone this season. 

Indiana women’s basketball’s Achilles’ heel shows up in Seattle 

Moren probably had a bit of déjà vu in the second quarter as Indiana gave away the lead while turning it over nine times. On Friday, Moren called out her team’s sloppy play after watching the Hoosiers turn it over seven times in the fourth quarter of a loss to Oregon. 

It’s been a season-long issue for an Indiana team averaging 14.6 turnovers per game. 

The Hoosiers have turned it over on 20% or more of their possessions five times — they turned it over on 32.4% of their possessions in the first half — and only did that four times last season. 

Indiana closed out the half with a scoring drought of more than three minutes, which allowed Washington to go into the break with a 31-29 advantage. The Hoosiers finished the second quarter with only eight points on eight field goal attempts.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

The Indiana Pacers have some work to do if they want to be seen as legitimate title contenders.

With a pair of routs during the NBA Paris Games — losing by 30 and two days later winning by 38 — the Pacers are now at 24-20 which is good for the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.

At 8-2 in the last 10 matchups, the Pacers are certainly doing something right, but to compete with the top-tier of NBA talent come playoff time, a roster edit or two might be necessary.

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A name that has been thrown around is rotational piece Obi Toppin.

Continuing his solid play from last season, Toppin is putting up 10 points and four rebounds per game on 54 percent shooting during his second season in Indiana.

The 26-year-old has recently been predicted to get dealt before the Feb. 6 trade deadline in exchange for another bench piece.

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Pacers receive: Grayson Allen

Suns receive: Obi Toppin

The Phoenix Suns are in a similar position to Indiana as they see themselves as contenders, despite being the No. 8 seed in a stacked Western Conference. This can be a mutually beneficial trade.

Allen is a three-point specialist leading the NBA in three-point percentage last year with a 46 percent average. Putting up 10.9 points per game, he can be a similar scoring presence to Toppin but with the ability to spread the floor in a more efficient way.

Indiana is also 20th in the league in total three-pointers made per game this season and would love to have a deep threat on the bench in Allen.

Although it would be hard to part ways with Toppin, making a trade now may be the best time to do it given his current value. Additionally, there are a lot of forwards on the Pacers roster, and making this trade gives more opportunity to others to get minutes while adding a piece that makes them more of a contender.

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