Require Parental Consent for Minor Informants

This bill addresses a practice that strikes at the heart of parental authority: law enforcement agencies enlisting children as confidential informants without the knowledge or consent of their parents. SB 831 would prohibit this practice by creating a new act with real legal force, ensuring that parents are not quietly bypassed when the state seeks to place their children in investigative roles that can carry significant personal danger.

Scripture is clear that parents bear God-given responsibility for the protection and formation of their children. Passages from Deuteronomy through Proverbs and into the New Testament consistently affirm that the family, not the state, is the primary institution charged with a child's welfare. When government agencies recruit minors for covert law enforcement activity without parental knowledge, they are not merely bending a procedural rule; they are actively undermining the divinely ordered structure of the family.

The risks to minors used as confidential informants are well documented. Young people placed in these roles can be exposed to violent criminal networks, psychological trauma, and physical harm. They are rarely equipped to fully understand the dangers or their legal situation. Requiring parental consent before any such arrangement is made is a straightforward safeguard that ensures at least one responsible adult with the child's interests at heart is part of the decision.

The bill is narrowly and carefully drawn. It does not obstruct legitimate law enforcement work in a broad sense; it simply requires that when children are involved, parents must be informed and must consent. This is a reasonable and proportionate limitation that protects children without preventing officers from pursuing investigations through appropriate means.

The American Council supports SB 831 because it restores a proper boundary between state authority and family authority. Government has an important role in maintaining public safety, but that role does not include the power to conscript children into dangerous work behind their parents' backs. This bill draws that line clearly, and we urge its passage.