These stories are so sad. I do not really know how to comment.
Crystal Ramirez likely spent the last days, weeks and months of her short life hungry, beaten and bound. Crystal, 8, died on Aug. 23. Her sister suffered the same treatment and is currently hospitalized in San Antonio for malnutrition. Victoria Advocate
At eight years old, Crystal (or Chrystal depending on the report) weighed only 28 pounds. That is not much more than my two year old weighs. She had to be little more than a skeleton, a fact that was hidden from public view because her adoptive parents pulled the children out of the public school system in order to homeschool them.
In the case of Chrystal Ramirez and her sister, both had numerous reports made to Child Protective Services during their short stay in the district.However, both students were pulled out of school over a year ago to begin home schooling.
“Once they begin home schooling,” [N-SCISD superintendent Cathy] Booth said, “we lose all contact with them and the state has no way of tracking them after that.
“These kids are out of sight and too often not heard from like Chrystal.” The Gonzales Inquirer
While I have little doubt that these children were pulled from school exclusively to hide the abuse, Ms. Booth makes it sound as if this is a common occurrence in Gonzales, TX. Unfortunately, it plays directly into one of the more deleterious stereotypes of homeschoolers.
Homeschooling as a potential hiding place for abuse is a frequent concern of those who criticize homeschooling. Social services involvement has been proposed for all homeschoolers in Indiana (as a matter of public discussion) and Michigan (by a state legislator.) It is also the subject of an interesting report by the Akron Beacon Journal, Homeschoolers may be no safer in their homes than other children.
The total number of home-school homicides found by the Beacon Journal in the five-year period from 1999 through 2003 represented about 1.3 percent of all national homicides of children in that age range……However, further breakdown of the homicides reveals that all but two home-school homicides were committed by someone in the immediate family (or a family member has been charged). When home schoolers are compared on the basis of homicides by family members, the picture is different: Home-school cases account for 1.9 percent of all U.S. homicides of school-age children within a family.
The picture may be different, but it is not that different. The murder rate is not statistically any higher in homeschooled families than it is in the general population. While the report claims that it likely has underreported the number of abuse cases in homeschooling families for a number of reasons, it has also likely underrepresented the number of homeschooling families since it relied on Department of Education statistics. It also included the Andrea Yates case, although none of her children were of compulsory education age.
It also does not report how many of these cases were at some point reported to Child Protective Services.
Still, the numbers affect all of us. The number of children who die at the hands of CPS do not seem to arouse such strong public sentiments for reform as the number who die at the hands of homeschoolers, even though there appears to be no real significant statistical difference between us and the general population.
The fourth amendment is supposed to protect us from unreasonable search and seizure and homeschooling hardly constitutes probable cause. But what about when the family already has a history of contact with social services? What kind of solution is possible to both protect the rights of all families to be secure in their homes, and the children of those few who desire to hide their abuse behind the guise of homeschooling?
homeschooling, home school, Chrystal Ramirez, Crystal Ramirez
Abuse is abuse – and it is a social issue not a homeschool issue.
There are few incidences like this, and each are horrific.. but to go off and regulate homeschooling because of it is not a way to prevent it.
Signing documents, or attending portfolio reviews is not going to stop this type of child abuse. It is foolish to think that it will. And again the innocent law abiding citizen gets punished for the evils of a few moronic and sick people.
Short of demanding that inspectors see everyone’s children once a week how would anyone know abuse is going on? Kids who go to school are abused in many ways – in the home and in school – yet those abuses have not been eliminated.
Abuse happens right underneath the noses of mandated reporters on a daily basis.
I would be willing to bet that this girl who was starved was really not homeschooled. She was kept at home and out of government school.. but she was not homeschooled by any means.
Dana, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Judy I completely agree with you. It’s not a homeschool issue, but an abuse issue. Surely, in SA, they had nosy neighbors.
In Texas there are no requirements placed on the homeschooler beyond withdrawal from the public school. The education code states you must teach 5 subjects in a “bona fide” manner. There is nothing to be filed, no one to report to.
I’m sure they did not actually school the child. But this is perfect fodder for those who would legislate that we be accountable to someone.
Judy, I absolutely agree with you. And I doubt the children were homeschooled in any way. In fact, I doubt very much that in most of these cases the paperwork is even properly filled out, although in TX there isn’t really anything.
A lot of kids in situations like this have a history of contact with CPS, and a lot are abused while the children are in public school. Regulating all homeschools will not change that.
Many more children die or are abused while in the system than in the family, regardless of the educational situation. I think the rate is like 6x’s higher. And how do we regulate CPS?
I agree Isaiah5513. These cases are horrific. And look at what the school teacher said. She makes it sound like it is a regular occurrence, and a lot of people who have not really thought about it will immediately latch onto that. It was not all that long ago that I read that over 90% of Americans want to see further restrictions placed on homeschooling.
And the rights we are willing to give up “for the children” seem to be without end, even where the result actually places greater stress on the children by placing greater stress on the family. One person in that article suggests “surveilling” children since most or “surveilled” in the public school. To his credit, I think he was only talking about those who have been turned into CPS.
But with the number of false allegations, that gets tricky, too.
The Indiana proposal you wrote about in your linked article was pretty much a non-issue. A volunteer op-ed writer was deliberately trying to stir up controversy prior to local school board elections. His proposals were pretty much ignored by local politicians, but caused a big ruckus among homeschoolers elsewhere.
The substantive legislative proposal connected with his op-ed was sponsored by a state legislator from another district, and merely called for an investigative committee to explore the topic of increased oversight. The bill died in committee in spring 2007, after suffering the same fate in spring 2006. Since my state senator serves on the same committee, and he is no friend of the bill’s sponsor, I don’t think it will ever get off the ground.
I have, however, invited Mr. Coures to come to Indianapolis to have me personally dissect his public testimony, should the bill ever be seriously considered by the committee.
Sad case. Instead of pointing the finger at homeschooling families, perhaps someone can look into whether any reports were ever filed with CPS, and if so, CPS has some explaining to do as to why the children weren’t removed from the abusive home.
Dana,
This story will provide additional “proof” for the anti-adoption groups too. I am quite sure if I was so inclined I could go to a few of the sites and see this story already pointed to as proof that adoption should be eliminated.
Dave, thank you for your insights. Yes, it is a non-issue as far as current legislation is concerned. However, it does seem to be a growing sentiment, and I hear “abuse” raised as a reason for greater homeschool regulation regularly. We have an op-ed piece, a paper’s lengthy study and some MI legislator all with the same concern…it sets the stage.
Jennifer, they did have contact with CPS. After all, CPS placed them in this home. And there was an investigation back in 2004, just before the children were pulled to be homeschooled. CPS does have some explaining to do.
Julie, that is so sad. Foster families as a whole will also get a bad rap for things like this…there is quite a bit of stigma for them to overcome…for opening their homes to difficult children that no one else seems to care about. Does abuse happen there? Yes. Unfortunately at a greater rate than in the general population. After all, abusers are drawn to situations which involve defenseless children.
The discussion I have seen thus far is really against CPS as a system. I’m not sure what they are advocating as an alternative, however.
The salient point here from a public policy perspective is the same as the general argument in favor of parent-directed education.
On the issue of child abuse, when the point is made that the occurrence among homeschoolers appears to be the same as the general population, critics say, “But we don’t really know, because they are not being monitored….” Yet, in the population which is being monitored, they are not capable of preventing or controlling occurrences consistently.
The only difference is that they “know” the extent of the problem, even if they don’t publicize it as a problem with their “system,” as critics attempt to do with homeschooling.
This is the same problem encountered with educational achievement. Critics say that comparisons are unfair because the homeschool population is not adequately monitored. Yet, in the population which is monitored, they are not capable of controlling results with confidence. Again, the difference is supposed to be that they “know” about the problems, even if they refuse to acknowledge or deal with them, as we see with all the whining about NCLB.
The common factor in their claims is the need for centralization of information in the hands of a government entity, regardless of any improvement in effectiveness.
Very true.
Of course, it really has nothing to do with homeschooling itself, but the perceived necessity to monitor kids safety.
While it may be required to report suspected abuse, it certainly is not the primary goal of public education. You would think people would recognize the difficulty with the logic of saying that children needed some sort of contact with the state so that the state could adequately monitor what is going on in the family.
But we have too great a trust in government.
Here, here Dave…..
julie@shanan trail
That would be to stop American children being adopted, right?
Oh, that’s already occured.
Here, here to China etc and forget about our own doorstep. Thanks government.
Seems like the problem is not so much homeschooling, as abuse of homeschooling laws and loopholes in order to hide abuse and other crimes.
People misuse the law all the time. Owning a business isn’t a crime…but using that business to launder money is. That doesn’t mean we should nationalize all small businesses because a few of them were just money laundering operations or fronts for drug dealers or mafiosos. It’s all a bit like the post 911 question of “how much of our civil liberties are we willing to give up for national security?”
The Beacon journal article was an eye opener. As much as I hate to say so, it really sounded to me like the homeschoolers interviewed were doing logical and legal backflips to distance homeschooling from these cases. It really did come off a bit like “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Perhaps we need to instead be asking ourselves how are we as a homeschooling community going to safeguard against this type of abuse of the laws which allow us to homeschool, and how we as homeschoolers can help protect homeschooled children from abuse.
It also struck me how once again our tendency is to turn responsibility for charity and responsibility over to institutions: feed the hungry and clothe the poor? — we have the Salvation Army and Social Services. Care for the elderly? — we have senior centers and nursing homes. Know you neighbors well enough to notice what is going on with their kids or be someone a child could go to for help? — we have schools.
Rebecca, you are very right. The defenses homeschoolers had in the article bothered me, as well, but I was not sure if that was perhaps what the newspaper was going for. They made those pointing out constitutional rights look like they had something to hide rather easily.
It is a sad state of affairs that CPS was born because the church refused to get involved in the “family matter” of a severely abused little girl. And disgusting that the first case used animal welfare laws to reason that a child should at least have as many rights as an animal.
Where was the church? Looking the other way.
There are those out there who would love to use things like this to end the home school movement. I once knew a Christian girl who actually thought homeschooling should be illegal.
Mortifying.
ThirstyJon
freedomthirst.com
I am just at a loss. These stories break my heart, anger me…and yet they do feed the stereoypes.
Instead of looking at the real issues, the easiest thing is to look at how these children/families were “different” (homeschooling standing out in the fore front) and say that is why this happened.
Absolutely, Shawna! The leading factor most abusive families have is the education of the mother, especially if she is on some assistance of some sort.
Since there is a proven correlation, should we then add on increased monitoring of all parents who have a GED? Or dropped out? Are on some assistance program?
Of course not. You have to do something wrong to have the state come in and monitor what you are doing, not just fit the demographic.
Homeschooling cannot even be linked through such statistics, but few think twice about demanding exactly that based on a demographic.
Why shouldn’t homeschooling be regulated???! Children deserve a decent education, and if they aren’t getting it from trained professionals then there should absolutely be someone watching over their progress.
And abuse victims are very often “home-schooled,” which means locked in a closet and tortured all day.
No, abuse victims are not “very often” homeschooled. The study cited above by a paper trying to prove the same point you are demonstrates that…the percentage is not any higher than the general population, meaning that homeschooling alone is not indicative of abuse.
Being on public assistance is. Should we monitor that more closely?
Being in foster care is 6 times more dangerous than being in the home…surrounded by professionals such as teachers, counselors, psychiatrists and case workers all trained in recognizing and dealing with abuse. And yet it goes on more often? Right under their noses?
And why is education only possible under the supervision of “trained professionals?” Studies have shown no difference between the education of children in taught by a certified teacher as opposed to an uncertified teacher.
And the parent has several advantages: 1) we know our children better, 2) we have a smaller class size, 3) we have the ability to tailor the curriculum specifically to our children with no need to leave some children behind while holding others back as we “teach to the middle.”
For the state to supervise the family, some probable cause needs to be established. Not just a reaction to a news story and a few stereotypes.
That is why we have a Constitution. And it is clear that we should be secure in our persons from unreasonable search and seizure, for which the state need acquire a permit based on probable cause.
That is why homeschooling should not be further regulated.
Anonymous, being a trained professional ie. teacher and having worked with trained professionals ie. teachers…you might be shocked at what is often said and done in front of and to children AT school. Being a trained professional doesn’t always mean something or someone is better qualified. Honestly!
And ask a few homeschoolers if they are locked in the closet and tortured before making that assumption, because you know what they say about assumptions…
I’m not suggesting that the child was abused BECAUSE of homeschooling. That would be ignorant. I’m saying that many abusive caregivers use homeschooling as an excuse to keep the child they are destroying away from prying eyes, thus avoiding public scrutiny for their behaviors. If a parent is going to homeschool a child, he or she should be forced by law to remain under the radar of the educational system in his or her town. Otherwise, these children spend months and even years languishing in agony and torment until they either a) are destoyed emotionally or b) expire. Of course every homeschooler is not an abuser, but the number who ARE tells me that we need to watch over the children whose lives are affected by this major parental decision. Don’t they deserve that much?
Kristen, I understand what you are saying, but there are problems with that, too. I do not think the state has the authority to enter a home and “investigate” without probable cause. That is the way our Constitution is set up for good reason.
We frequently hear that people believe homeschooling is being used to hide abuse, but is it really? Is it that chronic of a problem? I would presume that everyone who is planning on torturing their child will do so. Yet the (very scanty) statistics we do have on the subject suggest that the actual cases are about the same in homeschooling families as in other families.
And the state does not seem to be doing a very good job at what they are supposed to do. A child is six times more likely to die of abuse in the foster system than in the general population. Six times! And that is while they are in the public school surrounded by a team of people (counselors, case workers, doctors and psychiatrists) all trained in abuse.
Then there are cases like this one. And the Paddock case. And the case cited in MI in the article linked in this entry. In all of these cases, CPS placed the children in these homes! And received reports of abuse.
If you want to go off statistical probability of abuse, two groups of people need to be monitored cloesely: foster parents (who are, although it does not seem to be helping much) and single mothers on Medicaid. But somehow that does not seem right, either.
And even the school districts do not seem to be able to report what is going on in their own buildings. The entry just after this one is about cases in NYC where schools are not reporting such things as rape of their own student body.
I do understand the desire to protect children. I have that, too. That is why I do think that in a situation like this, a flag should have been raised when the parents pulled the children out of school. To receive an investigation and then exit the school system? That is a little fishy and justifies probable cause in my mind.