TESTIMONY OPPOSING OHIO BILL 174
Submitted by: Jennifer Vollmar
Williams County, Ohio
Date: October 7, 2025
Good afternoon, Chairperson and Honorable Members of the Committee,
My name is Jennifer Vollmar, and I am a mother from Williams County, Ohio. I’m here today to
speak from the heart — as a parent, as someone who has lived through firsthand how broken
systems can interfere with family bonds — and to urge you to REJECT Bill 174.
I feel very strongly that parental rights should NEVER be replaced with anything. Period. The
words “parental rights” are sacred because they recognize that parents, not the government, are
the primary protectors, teachers, and nurturers of their children. Replacing those rights with
something vague like “parenting responsibilities” is dangerous, manipulative, and misleading.
Parents already have responsibilities — we live them every single day. We love, protect, feed,
and guide our children. But rights are what protect us when others — including the state — try
to step in and take over what is not theirs to control. Rights give parents the ability to defend
their families and to stand up for their children when systems fail them.
Bill 174 tries to make it sound like “responsibility” is more positive, but it’s really a way to strip
away the power and protection that families have left. Once those rights are gone, the
government decides what’s “best” for our kids instead of the people who know them, love them,
and gave them life. That is not reform — that is control.
I’ve seen firsthand how easily systems can overstep and destroy family bonds. I’ve watched
courts and agencies ignore evidence, silence mothers, and reward manipulation instead of truth.
If the law stops recognizing parents as having inherent rights, more families will be torn apart —
and more children will grow up feeling confused, disconnected, and emotionally harmed by
unnecessary state interference.
Children are not property of the state. They belong with the parents who love them and fight for
them. The government’s job should be to protect families — not replace them.
This bill is not about equality or fairness — it’s about power. And if we don’t speak up now, we
will wake up one day to realize that parents no longer have a legal voice in their own children’s
lives.
I ask you — as leaders, as human beings, and hopefully as parents yourselves — to look
deeper at what this bill truly means. Reject Bill 174, protect parental rights, and stand up for the
families who need your courage to defend them.
Thank you for your time, and for allowing me to speak on behalf of every parent who refuses to
be silenced.
Respectfully,
Jennifer Vollmar
Williams County, Ohio