First California and now Michigan…I think I’m ready to stick my head in the sand and return to Nebraska politics which are notably not colored by the horrendous act of child abuse.
Calista Springer, of Centreville, never had a chance to flee the bedroom where she died in a fire on Wednesday.
The teen had been confined to her bed at the time of the fire, say sources who spoke on the condition that they not be named. Kalamazoo Gazette
“Restrained,” otherwise described as “a tether around her midsection.” And…she was being homeschooled. You have to love the reasons:
Anthony Springer said this morning that Calista was “a compulsive liar” who lied about the family’s situation and that there were people in the community trying to help her run away. He said family members home-schooled Calista because she continually told lies about being beaten, chained, fed little and forced to do all the cleaning of their house. Ibid.
These “lies” (which seem to be confirmed by the fact she was indeed tied to her bed at the time of her death) looked a little different to those who reported her situation to the Department of Human Services (DHS).
They (DHS) said she had problems because she had special needs,” one source said. “I didn’t see any handicap but fear and hunger. I wanted to put food in her backpack when she went home. She said she couldn’t take a banana because she couldn’t hide the peel. So she took an apple because she said she could eat the core. She ate like she was absolutely starved. Ibid.
At this time, most of the discussion I have read has been focused on accusations regarding inept social workers. This case, like so many others, has a long history going back to the first contact back in 1995. Then there is the case of little Nicholas Braman who…I don’t know. I like to think of Social Services as being filled with caring but severely overworked people who are doing the best they can. Anyone can make a mistake and no one can foretell the future.
Would we prefer they acted quicker? Removed children at the first sign of abuse? When we have a dead body, yes. But what about the other mistakes? The children who never should have been removed? The report seems to make this case an obvious string of mistakes on the part of DHS.
Calista had a similar history of department mistakes. As did Ricky Holland. And that case prompted an interesting public discussion given the views of Mark Meadows, then a candidate for the 69th District House seat. Who made a vow that his first introduced legislation would be to tighten up restrictions on homeschoolers.
It’s not uncommon for parents who have abusive records, like the Hollands, to home school their kids to hide the abuse, Meadows said. There’s no restriction on who can home school their kids, so it makes it much easier for families who are abusive to keep the child at home, Meadows said. If the kids aren’t in school, it’s harder for others, specifically teachers to see the abuse. MIRS Capitol Capsule, via Maureen Wittman
He won his race. Fortunately, it appears he went back on his campaign promise.
And because I am fresh from all the activity here in Nebraska, I’ll bring up the testimony of Ken Dick, senior research fellow at Nebraska University, on behalf of Nebraska homeschoolers:
Policy should be built on the rule while we manage the exceptions.
Whether it is homeschooling specifically or how we deal with allegations of abuse in general, we cannot base all of our law and policy on what might happen in some exceptional cases. Nor can we base it on fear related to a few horrific cases. In each of these cases, it appears that if DHS had merely followed its own procedures, these children may have been saved. New law and new procedures (not to mention further restrictions on homeschooling) will solve nothing when existing law and procedures are being ignored.
At the moment, it appears that perhaps they are headed in the right direction in the discussion of these reports. I pray that continues so that we can better protect children who are truly in danger as well as families who are involved in false allegations of abuse.
(I am not in a position to judge whether Calista was indeed being abused. And I have worked with children who needed to be restrained for their own safety. The father’s story, however, doesn’t seem right…nor does tying a child to her bed at night.)
[tags]homeschooling, CPS, child abuse, home school[/tags]
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“It’s not uncommon for parents who have abusive records, like the Hollands, to home school their kids to hide the abuse…”
While that may be true, it is also true that pedophiles often become teachers. Year after year we hear of teachers abusing (sexually and otherwise) their students. Should we close the schools down, or should we deal with it as best we can on a case by case basis? If the latter is the answer, then why don’t we deal with homeschooling in the same manner?
In case after case, the laws already on the books are not being enforced, and policies and procedures are not being adhered to. Blaming home education is a red herring, the system’s “Not Me” a la Family Circus.
All the arguments against homeschooling that involve alleged abuse are ridiculous, considering the abuse that happens in schools every day, and the fact that most abuse involves children under school age. It is a myth that homeschooling allows parents to hide abuse- children still go out in public, interact with family, go to the doctor, etc… and if they never leave the house, this in itself is suspicious and would warrant investigation. The reporting system is anonymous,(which IMO is a bad idea) and social workers who have been trained properly can often immediately see whether or not the accusations are legitimate.
An HSing friend was reported for abuse and neglect- the accusation was that their windows were boarded up and they didn’t let the kids out of the house. When the CPS worker got there, she could see that the windows were fine, and the kids happened to be playing outside- having a good time and looking quite healthy. Well, duh- close the case and hit McDonald’s!
As I have said before- there is no way to pass enough legislation so that nothing bad ever happens again. There isn’t enough paper in the known universe to accomplish it, not to mention ways to enforce it.
Liberty relies much on the idea of sowing and reaping- you are free to do as you wish, but you do so knowing you will suffer consequences for your actions.
Actually, LOTP, I don’t think it is true that it is “not uncommon for parents who have abusive records…to home school their kids to hide the abuse.” I think Mr. Meadows just made it up.
It is a difficult thing to assess, but one study by some paper found that the rate was roughly equal to the national average and it included some cases which did not involve children of compulsory school age.
Of course, if we begin defining homeschooling as abuse as the CA court seems to want to do, then I guess we all will be guilty.
Sunniemom, you are quite right.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there are any more abusers amongst the ranks of homeschoolers than elsewhere. I’m just saying that they are everywhere, and that the way society deals with them seems to depend on whether they are homeschoolers or not. If they are homeschoolers, then homeschooling is at fault, if they are public school parents or teachers then it’s, “Hey, these things unfortunately happen.” The public school system is never to blame, but the homeschooling system always is.
Hey, I just found something I like:
Adams v. [p403] Tanner, supra, p. 594, pointed out that mere abuse incident to an occupation ordinarily useful is not enough to justify its abolition, although regulation may be entirely proper.
Meyer v. Nebraska
And I didn’t mean to imply you thought that homeschoolers hide abuse in some greater level. I just wanted to point out Mr. Meadows appears to be pulling his “facts” out of thin air. If he isn’t, I’d like to see the sources. : )
I seriously doubt that there is any scientific evidence to back his assertions. Sounds suspiciously antecdotal to me!
(Of course, that’s admissable in NE!)
Unfortunately, however, I am sure that a few homeschoolers are abusing the system (as well as their children). I got where you were coming from Dana, but I just wanted to make the point that homeschoolers, in those instances, should be treated like everyone else, and that the institution, if you will, of homeschooling should not be held accountable for the actions of a few if the public school system is not.
Off soap box:)
I think what happened to the girl is horrible!
I agree, Angela. Sickening, actually. It is hard to imagine…but actually, I think I don’t want to think about it enough to imagine it.
It’s interesting…
You know, we homeschool our 7 y.o. because the public school was constantly locking him in the closet and not helping him with an aide or other accomodations (he is on the autism spectrum).
It’s NOT abuse when the public school locks him up in a closet frequently and calls it a “safe room.” But what do you think would happen to me if I pulled something like that?
I wouldn’t do that to my child and I’m still very mad at the public schools for what they did to my kid.
I’ve no clue about this case, though. I don’t think when kids are murdered by their parents though that they investigate the public school - the whole thing is asinine!
I am catching up on my blogs and thought that I would post a good statement about homeschooling and abusive parents:
Homeschooling and Child Abuse: No Connection
http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/issues/child_abuse.asp
Thank you for adding that, Stephanie!
my sister knew Calista and had reported her parents to D.h.s. She was also a first responder on the fire dept.There is no evidence so far that Calista was home schooled.She was removed from public school because of her”lying and stealing”this poor girl suffered alot of abuse and Dhs was called numerous times.I really feel that every home schooled child should be followed up on by some type of agency,just to make sure theres nothing going on.I mean ,there were red flags all over the place and no one bothered to step out side the box,excuse me no one bothered to look past policy and procedure,get off their duff.and check on that poor girl.What a worthless bunch of people we have protecting the innocent.
Sue, these cases are difficult for everyone involved. But it appears there was enough evidence to follow up on her without pulling homeschooling into it. After all, the vast majority of homeschool families are also innocent. We cannot disrupt their families for fear of what might happen. We need some probable cause.
And I believe probable cause existed in Calista’s case. It is atrocious that the department did no more to follow up on her case.
While what happened to this girl is horrible, it has nothing to do with homeschooling being any safer for kids than a public school. It is so like human nature to use irrational fears to grab more power! I wonder how many people will think ridiculous things like “because of that girl who died in the fire we shouldn’t allow or should restrict homeschooling?”
This is yet another argument for homeschooling. We need children to get a better education so that when they are older they will be able to see through such silly logic.
ThirstyJon
freedomthirst.com