Op-Ed: Illinois Parents Demand Control Over Dangerous Mental Health Screenings in Schools
- Awake IL Media
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
By Shannon Adcock, Awake Illinois Founder, @Shannon_A_IL
Recent legislation in Illinois, signed by Governor Pritzker, mandates annual mental health screenings for students in grades 3 through 12 starting in the 2027-2028 school year, despite concerns from experts about the lack of medical oversight and potential for over-diagnosis.
The policy has drawn backlash from parents, school administrators, and policy experts who warn it may overstep boundaries and wrongly label children, echoing broader national debates on parental rights and the role of schools in mental health interventions. Given the flood of calls our team is receiving from various stakeholders, it's important to reinforce: OPT OUT IS YOUR RIGHT, parents.
As a Illinois Mom and advocate for family rights, I stand with parents who strongly oppose the mandate for universal mental health screenings in Illinois public schools.
This policy, requiring schools to provide these screenings at no cost, represents a dangerous evolution from the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, undermining parental rights, local control, and the safety of our children.
The WSCC model, intended to integrate health and education to support the whole child, has been co-opted into Illinois' "Blueprint For Transformation". Sounds Orwellian doesn't it? This government expansion program was introduced by Governor Pritzker and outlines a worrisome agenda.
Watch a Deep Dive into this "Blueprint" here.
A state mandate via this latest government expansion bill aims to transform schools into quasi-clinical settings. See my friend and researcher Kelly Schenkoske's excellent work on WSCC here.
Schools are for education, not clinical mental healthcare. Schools cannot be expected to cure all the ills of society while they are failing at their most fundamental task: teaching kids to read.
With Illinois’ literacy rates at a dismal 39% - according to Wirepoints - our schools should focus on academic excellence, not diverting resources to subjective, tablet-based screenings that rely on vague questions and questionable conclusions. These screenings risk false positives, potentially labeling healthy children as “at-risk” and funneling them into unnecessary or harmful interventions.
Critics like Abigail Shrier (author or Bad Therapy and Irreversible Damage) have warned of the dangers of such mislabeling, which could stigmatize children or push them toward irreversible treatments. This dangerous evolution from the WSCC model prioritizes state-driven overreach over genuine family-centered care.
The mandate requirement that schools offer these screenings for free raises alarming questions about who stands to profit. Schools, ill-equipped to handle clinical assessments, may rely on activist non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or entities like Lurie Childrens Hospital’s gender clinics, which could exploit these screenings to steer vulnerable children into harmful, ideology-driven pathways.
Schools that already implemented these screenings ahead of the state mandate have used Panorma surveys, a for profit data mining company owned by son in law of former Attorney General Merrick Garland. During the Biden administration, Garland likened concerned parents speaking at school board meetings to domestic terrorists, as covered by Parents Defending Education.
Are these the entities parents want entrusted with sensitive information about their child?
Turns out, they don’t.
Parents describe this policy as “medical surveillance” and a “trojan horse for gender ideology,” with fears that it could serve as a “pipeline to Planned Parenthood and gender clinics.” Such concerns highlight the risk of screenings leading to life-altering medical interventions without sufficient parental oversight, potentially causing long-term physical and psychological harm. Parents are already submitting opt out forms now to signal rejection of this agenda. Schools must permit opt out same as hearing or vision screenings.
Clinicians, including family physicians and psychologists like Dr. Leonard Sax, have publicly questioned the agenda behind these mandatory screenings, arguing that they could lead to the "medicalization of misbehavior" rather than addressing genuine mental health needs.
Congresswoman Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15) is expected to reintroduce her bill, called the Parents Opt-In Protection Act, as reported by Breitbart News today. Rep. Miller's bill seeks to protect parental rights and local control, offering an opt-out mechanism to ensure families can decide what’s best for their children. This legislation is on the right track because it addresses the dangers of state-mandated screenings, prioritizes family autonomy, and counters a policy that diverts resources from education while risking students' well-being.
The good news is Illinois school districts can reject this one-size-fits-all approach and prioritize an opt-in system or, at minimum, a highly transparent and accessible opt-out process to protect families from potential harm.
Parents can find opt-out forms compiled from various advocacy organizations at www.awakeIL.com/forms to exercise their rights. Submitting them now sends a message to the district that parents do not agree with this upcoming mandate. Some schools already screen kids via Panorama Surveys and other questionable methods of invasive questionnaires or secret consultations (Since 2018, under Illinois law, school counselors can meet privately with students without parental consent). Parents who know their rights are the ultimate barrier to this agenda.
Local control is the cornerstone of effective education policy. School districts, accountable to their communities, are best equipped to address students’ unique needs. This state-imposed mandate erodes that autonomy, forcing districts to divert funds from classrooms to comply with a program that may not suit their students. An opt-in system would empower parents to decide whether their child participates, ensuring informed consent and respecting family values. If an opt-out system is used, it must be highly transparent—clearly communicated through multiple channels, with simple, accessible processes to withdraw without pressure or stigma. Parents and districts can access opt-out forms and additional resources at www.awakeIL.com/forms to protect their children. Parents must know the specific questions asked, how data will be used, who will access it, and how long it will be stored. Without this clarity, families are vulnerable to a system that could share sensitive information with unaccountable organizations, raising serious privacy concerns. Visit the Awake Illinois blog for more background on these screenings.
I urge school districts statewide to prioritize parental rights and local control. Make mental health screenings opt-in, or ensure a transparent, parent-friendly opt-out process. Schools must focus on education, not serving as conduits for NGOs and gender clinics that could traffic kids into harmful pathways. It’s clear after consulting with district leadership across the state, some districts are focusing on effective strategies, but not all. As parental rights continue to be protected-including by the Supreme Court as recently as June of this year-school boards across Illinois would do well to mitigate liability.
Illinois families deserve an education system that respects their authority and safeguards their children’s well-being. But here's the profound question we must ask: Are we truly serving our children, or are we sacrificing their futures on the altar of state control? And let's be clear — turning schools into mental health factories is not progress; it's regression in a time when trust in institutions has been shattered enough, and parents are empowered now more than ever to pick up the pieces.
Shannon Adcock is a Mom (not a domestic terrorist) born and raised in Illinois. She is a mother of three who founded the statewide nonprofit Awake Illinois in 2021 to give Illinoisans a platform to defend their liberties, advance ethical policies, and harness their parental rights. Her proven motto is "be uncancellable".
