The Family Privacy Protection Act was written as part of the Republican "Contract with America." Its stated goal is to shield children from questions about sex and other personal matters by requiring that any young person surveyed at school must have written parental permission to participate in the survey. Survey research specialists say that its actual implementation will severely limit the information program planners need to design and implement public health interventions to keep young people from risky behaviors by selectively eliminating half or more than half of potential respondents. Parents often forget to return signed permission slips, rather than object to their children's participation. The proportion who actively refuse to allow their children to participate in survey research is much smaller. Director of one family advocacy group said "I think Congress just doesn't understand the impact of this part of the legislation." (NYT 5/19/96 p.12)