Parenting Advice Columnist, John Rosemond, Ordered To Cease And Desist In Kentucky
Syndicated parenting advice columnist, John Rosemond, has been order to cease and desist with his writing by the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology.
John Rosemond has authored 14 books on parenting, the first published in 1989. Currently, Rosemond writes a nationally syndicated column, also on parenting. In his column, Rosemond answers questions submit by parents online.
The 65-year-old author is a licensed psychologist, permitted to practice in North Carolina. And his sought after parenting advice appears in hundreds of papers.
Rosemond is known for his old-fashioned, Bible-based parenting philosophy and approach. His outspoken political conservatism has also earned him some criticism.
According to ABC News, on May 7, 2013, the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology sent Rosemond a letter. They asking him to cease and desist his columns because the advice he gave a parent on how to handle a teenager constituted the practice of psychology. The board cited he is not licensed to practice psychology in Kentucky in their complaint.
In response, a Virginia-based legal institute is filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of Rosemond. They allege the state of Kentucky is trying to censor the parenting advice columnist. The federal lawsuit accuses the state of violating Rosemond’s First Amendment right to free speech.
“If John Rosemond is a criminal for writing his column, than Dear Abby, has been on a 50-year crime spree,” Jeff Rowes, a senior attorney at the Institute of Justice who is representing Rosemond, told ABC News. “Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, all of them would be crooks.”
The Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology has since threatened legal action against Rosemond. They contend that his nationally syndicated column constitutes the illegal practice of psychology.
The Lexington Herald-Leader, a local paper in Kentucky, reported how Rosemond had sought a 10-day temporary restraining order so that he could continue writing his parenting advice column without fear of penalties. At least until a federal judge could decide whether to grant a preliminary injunction against the psychology board.
But a federal judge declined to restrain Kentucky officials from taking action against the parenting advice columnist.
Rosemond graduated Western Illinois University in 1971 with a Master’s Degree in Community Psychology. Thereafter, from 1971 to 1980, Rosemond worked as a psychologist and program director at various mental health centers in Illinois, Iowa, and North Carolina. From 1980 to 1990, John was in private practice as a family psychologist.
After becoming the Director of the Early Intervention Program at the Gaston-Lincoln Mental Health Center in Gastonia, North Carolina, Rosemond began writing his newspaper column in 1976.
In 1978, the Charlotte Observer purchased the column and subsequently put it into syndication. It now appears weekly in over 200 newspapers in the USA.
Do you think Rosemond’s right to free speech is being violated? Should Rosemond be permitted to dispense advice in his parenting column regardless of what state it is being disseminated in?
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