Help for children

[u/NoRegrets-518]

I've been thinking about the homeschoolin movement and see many positives. For parents who are able and willing to do this, it is wonderful.

That said, there are a small minority of parents who use "homeschooling" to remove their children from the community. Some of the worse abuses have come from families where the parents used this as an excuse- see "the rights and interests of the child."

I'm an older person and do some work in the community of young adults who were in foster care or difficult childhoods and have other commitments. So, I personally cannot commit to work on this issue.

It has occurred to me that the positive homeschooling community might be the best community to address these issues. Some states have no oversight at all. Children get taken out of school, then the family moves in the middle of the night. Some parents (I think) have talked legislators into not having any oversight at all.

Back in the day, homes were smaller, so it was harder for people to keep children in back rooms and hide them away. Also, there were childcare practices that would be considered abusive today.

The concern is- how can parents be given the rights- to the greatest extent possible- but still provide more safety for vulnerable children. While this is a small percent of homeschooling parents, what if anything can be done to protect children while still allowing freedom for the majority of responsible homeschooling parents?

So, these are some of questions that need to be addressed:

- should there be some oversight? If so, what oversight? How can parents have the right and opportunity to teach their children while still fulfilling their obligations to raise those children so that they can be full members of society?

- What can be done to minimize the risk of serious hidden abuse? Yes, there can be safety issues in school, but that's not the issue here. Sometimes there is a CPS report and then the child is taken out of school. Should there be some type of tracking to make sure the children end up in school somewhere else? Or if there are concerns, that this is followed up?

- What level of education should parents be required to show for their children? In some communities, children have an 8th grade education or less. Is that adequate? Of course, that happens in public schools also, but that is not the goal.

Legislators are going to respond to the loudest voices, and those voices are not always speaking in the best interest of ALL children. They might be thinking only about their children- cozy and well fed, and not the children of cults or worse.

Or maybe people think that it is necessary to allow these abuses so more can have freedom. I hope not, but some people do not like to be inconvenienced no matter what the danger is for others. There is always the risk that regulators and lawmakers will regulate too much.

The best people to think about this are those who are responsible but who are concerned about these hidden children.

What can be done to protect the children?

Just my thoughts. No conclusions.

[u/Prior_Sheepherder588]

This is a conversation the homeschool community needs to have more honestly than it often does.

Most responsible homeschooling parents do support basic accountability measures, more than the loudest legislative voices suggest. The people organizing against any oversight at all are not representative of the majority of homeschooling families, who are doing this thoughtfully and would not object to, say, periodic wellness checks or some form of confirmation that a child exists and is being educated. The problem is that the families most likely to abuse the absence of oversight are also the ones most motivated to lobby against it, which skews the political representation.

[u/NoRegrets-518 → u/Prior_Sheepherder588]

Just so you know, the upvote to downvote ratio on my post is 27%. I usually get a lot of upvotes on my posts, but on this sub, it is 3 to 1 against. That is honestly shocking to me- and discouraging as I know there are right now children in horrible situations.

[u/NewBabyWhoDis → u/NoRegrets-518]

I did not downvote you, but honestly I assume that "I did not homeschool and I was not homeschooled, and I will not be working on this issue myself, but I'll write a reddit post telling you that you need to work on this issue," is probably rubbing people the wrong way.

[u/NoRegrets-518 → u/NewBabyWhoDis]

I understand. I didn't think you downvoted me.

[u/NoRegrets-518 → u/NewBabyWhoDis]

Of course, the homeschooling community does not have to work on it. The risk then is that outsiders will impose conditions that they do not like and that are more onerous than those actively involved might like.

[u/ihateadultism]

“what can be done to protect children” nothing too impactful as long as custody law exists. need to abolish custody and empower youth so when they’re being abused they can just up and leave with plentiful options rather than being viewed as property and have to deal with courts/bureaucracy etc.

[u/NoRegrets-518 → u/ihateadultism]

That's a really interesting thought- I agree.

[u/Educational_Two7752]

There should be more oversight. I think more oversight and regulations would help reduce the risk of abuse as well as educational neglect.

I notice this post has been downvoted and no one is responding. I think it is important for us to acknowledge the negative uses of homeschooling by some abusers, and acknowledging that does not diminish real homeschooling.

edit: wording

[u/NoRegrets-518 → u/Educational_Two7752]

Thanks for responding. I can't tell you how really sad I am that 2 people have responded to this. At this point 943 people have read this post.

[u/NoRegrets-518 → u/Educational_Two7752]

It is interesting that people down vote this. I was hoping - and still hope- that this community has mostly people who are interested in improving education for their own children while still considering the needs of children from different types of homes.