NEWS: Home School Defender: CBS Used Tragedy to Push Regulation
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Home School Defender: CBS Used Tragedy to Push Regulation
Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
Agape Press
The CBS Evening News is being accused of taking a cheap
shot at home schooling.
In the first of a two-part series on what CBS News calls "a
dark side to home schooling," correspondent Vince Gonzales
highlighted an isolated case in rural North Carolina where
a teenage boy committed suicide after killing his brother
and sister in their squalid trailer home. The parents of the
two children had reportedly been home schooling them, and
were under investigation by the Department of Social Services
for abuse and neglect.
Mike Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense
Association (hslda.org) (HSLDA), believes CBS used the
tragic case to push for government regulation of home
schooling.
"What does home schooling have to do with this? Nothing,"
Smith says, adding, "The only thing that [the media] can
point to is that these folks were alleged home schoolers."
Smith says he does not think the parents in the CBS news
story ever even attempted to comply with state home-
schooling association guidelines, something his group is
attempting to verify. In any event, he feels CBS News is
taking an isolated incident out of its true context to bolster
its case against home schooling.
"We're trying to figure out why they've taken this situation to
try to support their position, because it doesn't do it," Smith
says. He believes that instead of operating on a factual basis
and reporting the news fairly, CBS was using emotionalism
in the hope of sparking public outrage against the home
schooling movement.
Smith feels the CBS reports are deflecting attention and
concern from where they should be focused. "I'm trying
to figure out why this turns against home schooling rather
than against the Department of Social Services," he says,
"because they're responsible for protecting children."
Smith points out that the system in place requires Social
Services to investigate abuse and neglect, which that
department claims to have done. "It appears to me that the
conclusion CBS is making of these facts is totally illogical,"
he says.
The HSLDA was established to defend and advance the
constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their
children and to protect family freedoms. The legal defense
group has been involved in a number of home schooling
disputes in North Carolina, including the recently resolved
Stumbo case, in which the state's Supreme Court finally
ruled against the Department of Child Protective Services
and in favor of safeguarding the privacy of home-schooling
parents.
According to Smith, the Stumbo case was significant
because North Carolina's high court found that social
workers are obligated to examine reports alleging abuse
or neglect to make sure they rise to the level as defined
by the law before initiating an investigation.
The HSLDA president feels that every anonymous report
of abuse should not necessarily result in an investigation,
but that social workers need to carefully scrutinize each
report so that they will not subject families to unjustifiable
trauma due to a trivial or false allegation. While the incidents
reported in the recent CBS Evening News story were tragic
and may have been a situation of actual abuse, Smith
contends that the story has little or nothing to do with home
schooling. He believes the media simply used that spurious
connection for their own purposes, and is urging families to
phone or e-mail CBS to complain about its "Eye on America"
report.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
Agape Press
The CBS Evening News is being accused of taking a cheap
shot at home schooling.
In the first of a two-part series on what CBS News calls "a
dark side to home schooling," correspondent Vince Gonzales
highlighted an isolated case in rural North Carolina where
a teenage boy committed suicide after killing his brother
and sister in their squalid trailer home. The parents of the
two children had reportedly been home schooling them, and
were under investigation by the Department of Social Services
for abuse and neglect.
Mike Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense
Association (hslda.org) (HSLDA), believes CBS used the
tragic case to push for government regulation of home
schooling.
"What does home schooling have to do with this? Nothing,"
Smith says, adding, "The only thing that [the media] can
point to is that these folks were alleged home schoolers."
Smith says he does not think the parents in the CBS news
story ever even attempted to comply with state home-
schooling association guidelines, something his group is
attempting to verify. In any event, he feels CBS News is
taking an isolated incident out of its true context to bolster
its case against home schooling.
"We're trying to figure out why they've taken this situation to
try to support their position, because it doesn't do it," Smith
says. He believes that instead of operating on a factual basis
and reporting the news fairly, CBS was using emotionalism
in the hope of sparking public outrage against the home
schooling movement.
Smith feels the CBS reports are deflecting attention and
concern from where they should be focused. "I'm trying
to figure out why this turns against home schooling rather
than against the Department of Social Services," he says,
"because they're responsible for protecting children."
Smith points out that the system in place requires Social
Services to investigate abuse and neglect, which that
department claims to have done. "It appears to me that the
conclusion CBS is making of these facts is totally illogical,"
he says.
The HSLDA was established to defend and advance the
constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their
children and to protect family freedoms. The legal defense
group has been involved in a number of home schooling
disputes in North Carolina, including the recently resolved
Stumbo case, in which the state's Supreme Court finally
ruled against the Department of Child Protective Services
and in favor of safeguarding the privacy of home-schooling
parents.
According to Smith, the Stumbo case was significant
because North Carolina's high court found that social
workers are obligated to examine reports alleging abuse
or neglect to make sure they rise to the level as defined
by the law before initiating an investigation.
The HSLDA president feels that every anonymous report
of abuse should not necessarily result in an investigation,
but that social workers need to carefully scrutinize each
report so that they will not subject families to unjustifiable
trauma due to a trivial or false allegation. While the incidents
reported in the recent CBS Evening News story were tragic
and may have been a situation of actual abuse, Smith
contends that the story has little or nothing to do with home
schooling. He believes the media simply used that spurious
connection for their own purposes, and is urging families to
phone or e-mail CBS to complain about its "Eye on America"
report.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
[email protected]
<< The legal defense
group has been involved in a number of home schooling
disputes in North Carolina, including the recently resolved
Stumbo case, in which the state's Supreme Court finally
ruled against the Department of Child Protective Services
and in favor of safeguarding the privacy of home-schooling
parents. >>
Maybe that's what triggered the news article.
Maybe HSLDA defended privacy SO hard that others were eager to find an
example to counter their case.
<<The HSLDA president feels that every anonymous report
of abuse should not necessarily result in an investigation,
but that social workers need to carefully scrutinize each
report so that they will not subject families to unjustifiable
trauma due to a trivial or false allegation.>>
This won't help.
If an anonymous report of abuse or neglect is treated like proof that's
really bad, but if anyone's recommending not really checking up on all of them,
where is the safety for abused children? Do they have to wait for a second or
third report, or worse?
I'm guessing HSLDA wants spanking to be exempt from considerations of "child
abuse," so their defense of spanking is, from my point of view, problematical.
Sandra
group has been involved in a number of home schooling
disputes in North Carolina, including the recently resolved
Stumbo case, in which the state's Supreme Court finally
ruled against the Department of Child Protective Services
and in favor of safeguarding the privacy of home-schooling
parents. >>
Maybe that's what triggered the news article.
Maybe HSLDA defended privacy SO hard that others were eager to find an
example to counter their case.
<<The HSLDA president feels that every anonymous report
of abuse should not necessarily result in an investigation,
but that social workers need to carefully scrutinize each
report so that they will not subject families to unjustifiable
trauma due to a trivial or false allegation.>>
This won't help.
If an anonymous report of abuse or neglect is treated like proof that's
really bad, but if anyone's recommending not really checking up on all of them,
where is the safety for abused children? Do they have to wait for a second or
third report, or worse?
I'm guessing HSLDA wants spanking to be exempt from considerations of "child
abuse," so their defense of spanking is, from my point of view, problematical.
Sandra
pam sorooshian
On Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 09:50 PM, SandraDodd@... wrote:
of their house naked and was quickly rounded up and brought back
indoors - but not before an anonymous neighbor called police who
reported it to social services and they came out immediately and
demanded to interview their little children without their parents
present. The case was about whether social services had the right to do
that - based on nothing more than an anonymous call. HSLDA defended the
Stumbos and won. It was decided about a month ago or so.
I'm also very curious about what triggered the CBS news report at this
time.
-pam
> Maybe that's what triggered the news article.That is the case where a 2 year old little girl ran out the front door
> Maybe HSLDA defended privacy SO hard that others were eager to find an
> example to counter their case.
of their house naked and was quickly rounded up and brought back
indoors - but not before an anonymous neighbor called police who
reported it to social services and they came out immediately and
demanded to interview their little children without their parents
present. The case was about whether social services had the right to do
that - based on nothing more than an anonymous call. HSLDA defended the
Stumbos and won. It was decided about a month ago or so.
I'm also very curious about what triggered the CBS news report at this
time.
-pam
Deborah Lewis
***I'm also very curious about what triggered the CBS news report at this
time.***
Someone should ask the reporter.
ABC had a new story two years ago about homeschooling's "dark side". It
was right after the Warren children died, I think. They did bring up
Andrea Yates and maybe others.
I don't think it was as strongly holding homeschooling responsible for
child abuse as the CBS story.
But really, I think it had to come.
I've wondered for years when the poo would hit the fan. The first time I
saw a copy of Home School Digest
I wondered how/ why every homeschooler in the world wasn't being
investigated, with all that "train up a child" crap and their happy
advertisements for "THE ROD - the ideal tool for child training."
Religious freedom includes the freedom to hit kids. Fundamentalist folks
are homeschooling to keep their kids away from secular influences. They
*are* homeschooling to isolate their kids and they are "disciplining"
their kids and they do keep them away from doctors because they're afraid
of the questions. It's bad.
If you google Gods Creation Outreach Ministry you can read all about what
the Edgars believed. You can read some stories about how church members
hog tied kids and left them in bathtubs and closets as discipline and how
the boy who died was once tied "crucifixion style" to a bunk bed. Nine
year old Brian Edgar had a sock stuffed in his mouth, duct tape wrapped
around him and a belt round his arms and chest and was left to die in his
bed that way.
CBS linked child abuse to homeschooling because they didn't have the
balls to link it to fundamentalist freaks.
Deb
time.***
Someone should ask the reporter.
ABC had a new story two years ago about homeschooling's "dark side". It
was right after the Warren children died, I think. They did bring up
Andrea Yates and maybe others.
I don't think it was as strongly holding homeschooling responsible for
child abuse as the CBS story.
But really, I think it had to come.
I've wondered for years when the poo would hit the fan. The first time I
saw a copy of Home School Digest
I wondered how/ why every homeschooler in the world wasn't being
investigated, with all that "train up a child" crap and their happy
advertisements for "THE ROD - the ideal tool for child training."
Religious freedom includes the freedom to hit kids. Fundamentalist folks
are homeschooling to keep their kids away from secular influences. They
*are* homeschooling to isolate their kids and they are "disciplining"
their kids and they do keep them away from doctors because they're afraid
of the questions. It's bad.
If you google Gods Creation Outreach Ministry you can read all about what
the Edgars believed. You can read some stories about how church members
hog tied kids and left them in bathtubs and closets as discipline and how
the boy who died was once tied "crucifixion style" to a bunk bed. Nine
year old Brian Edgar had a sock stuffed in his mouth, duct tape wrapped
around him and a belt round his arms and chest and was left to die in his
bed that way.
CBS linked child abuse to homeschooling because they didn't have the
balls to link it to fundamentalist freaks.
Deb
pam sorooshian
On Thursday, October 16, 2003, at 08:09 AM, Deborah Lewis wrote:
-pam
> CBS linked child abuse to homeschooling because they didn't have theOr to social services screwing up yet again. THAT is old news, I guess.
> balls to link it to fundamentalist freaks.
-pam