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Amend the amendment by striking out all of section 1 (page 1, lines 13 to 25 in amendment) and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §4003-A  is enacted to read:
§ 4003-A. Rights of parents
 
1.  Parents joint natural guardians of children.     The parents are the joint natural guardians of their minor children and are jointly entitled to the care, custody, control, services and earnings of their children. Neither parent has any rights paramount to the rights of the other with reference to any matter affecting their children.
 
2.  Fundamental liberty interest.     A parent has a fundamental liberty interest in directing the care, custody and control of the parent's child.
 
3.  Government interference.    The State or any political subdivision of the State may not infringe the liberty interest in subsection 2 unless that infringement is justified by a compelling state interest and narrowly tailored to achieve that compelling state interest through the least restrictive means necessary.’
 
SUMMARY
This amendment amends Committee Amendment "A" to enact the language outlining the rights of parents in that portion of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22 that governs child and family services and child protection rather than in Title 19-A, which governs domestic relations.