2023 Tennessee Code › Title 36 - DOMESTIC RELATIONS (§§ 36-1-101 — 36-8-104) › Chapter 8 - FAMILIES' RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES ACT (§§ 36-8-101 — 36-8-104) › Section 36-8-103

(a)
The liberty of a parent to the care, custody, and control of the parent's child, including the right to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of the child, is a fundamental right.
(b)
A government entity shall not substantially burden the fundamental rights of a parent as provided under this section unless the government entity demonstrates that the burden, as applied to the parent and the child, is required by a compelling governmental interest of the highest order and is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.
(c)
All parental rights are exclusively reserved to a parent of a child without obstruction by or interference from a government entity, including, but not limited to, the following rights and responsibilities:
(1)
To direct the upbringing of the child;
(2)
To direct the moral or religious training of the child;
(3)
To make all physical and mental healthcare decisions for the child and consent to all physical and mental health care on the child's behalf, as provided in § 63-1-173;
(4)
To access and review all health and medical records of the child;
(5)
To direct the education of the child, including the right to choose public, private, religious, or home schools, and the right to make reasonable choices within public schools for the education of the child;
(6)
To access and review all educational records of the child maintained by the school, including those maintained in accordance with § 49-1-704 of the Data Accessibility, Transparency and Accountability Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (
20 U.S.C. § 1232g
);
(7)
To have the child excused from school attendance for religious purposes;
(8)
To participate in parent-teacher associations and school organizations that are sanctioned by the board of education of a local education agency;
(9)
To be notified promptly if an employee of the state reasonably believes that abuse, neglect, or any criminal offense has been committed against the child by someone other than the parent, unless doing so would interfere with a criminal investigation or department of children's services investigation, or unless an employee of the state, a political subdivision of the state, a local education agency, aublic charter school, or any other governmental entity is required by law to withhold such information;
(10)
To consent before the collection, storing, or sharing of any individual biometric data, data relative to analysis of facial expressions, electroencephalogram brain wave patterns, skin conductance, galvanic skin response, heart-rate variability, pulse, blood volume, posture, and eye-tracking, as specified in §§ 49-1-706 and 49-2- 211;
(11)
To consent before any record of the child's blood or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is created, stored, or shared, unless authorized by law or pursuant to a court order; and
(12)
To consent before any government entity makes a video or voice recording of the child, unless the video or voice recording is made during or as a part of:
(A)
A court proceeding;
(B)
A law enforcement interaction;
(C)
A forensic interview in a criminal or department of children's services investigation;
(D)
The security or surveillance of buildings or grounds;
(E)
A photo identification card; or
(F)
A public event where the child has no reasonable expectation of privacy.
(d)
(1)
This section does not authorize or allow any individual to abuse, neglect, or endanger a child as defined by § 39-15-401.
(2)
This section does not prevent the department of children's services from conducting an investigation or otherwise carrying out its responsibilities under state law.
(3)
This section does not apply when:
(A)
A parent of the minor has given blanket consent authorizing the person or entity to perform an activity listed in subsection (c);
(B)
A government entity or any other person reasonably relies in good faith on an individual's representations that the individual is the parent of a minor or has otherwise been granted authority to make decisions regarding a minor's care under state law;
(C)
A person, including a law enforcement officer, participates or assists in rendering emergency care pursuant to § 63-6-218;
(D)
An employee of a local education agency acts to control bleeding using a bleeding control kit pursuant to § 49-2-137; or
(E)
Services are provided to or information is received or maintained about a minor enrolled in an institution of higher education or a minor participating in a program for which the minor's parent has consented to the child's participation by an employee of the institution of higher education or other school official.
(e)
A public employee, other than law enforcement personnel, shall not encourage or coerce a child to withhold information from the child's parent. A public employee shall not withhold from a child's parent information that is relevant to the physical, emotional, or mental health of the child unless required by law to withhold such information.
(f)
(1)
A parent whose rights have been burdened by a government entity in violation of this section may assert that violation of this section as a claim or defense in any judicial or administrative proceeding, without regard to whether the proceeding is brought by or in the name of the state, a private person, or another party.
(2)
A parent who prevails in a proceeding to enforce this section against a government entity may recover the following from a court of competent jurisdiction:
(A)
Declaratory relief;
(B)
Injunctive relief; and
(C)
Compensatory damages, including reasonable costs and attorney's fees.
(g)
A person or entity that is not a parent shall not have standing to raise in any proceeding in this state the fundamental rights of a parent established in subsection (a).
Added by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1061,s 1, eff. 7/1/2024.