Parents arrested for failure to register homeschooled kids

[CoopCrazy]

I cnat beleive they would arrest them though.. Why not ticket/fine them and have them correct the situation immediatly.. It kills me that in Indiana they dont follow up on any of this.. If you say your child is homeschooled thats it.. I was homeschooled for five years my parents told the school and the school nor anyone else ever followed up on testing or anything...

 

[rainplace]

looking more into the story.. the children were not taken out of the home, they were issued appearance tickets. The sheriffs office says that they parents said they knew they were suppose to file, but hadn't gotten around to it.

Sheesh, the way things get so blown out of proportion when just a little more time spent searching the internet would show what really occurred.

 

[PineappleMama]

These parents had 7 YEARS to file a bit of paperwork. They've no one to blame but themselves for this situation. The eldest being 14, means that on moving the kid was 7 thus supposed to be in school THEN. If they are smart enough to home school, to teach their children all they need to know to enter the work force, then they should be smart enough to file some paperwork. Also, if they're using the HS resources available then they were more than likely aware that HS children have to be registered.

However, I do not think that Child Endangerment is the correct word for this. That indicates abuse/neglect, rather than a clerical problem. One legal definition is "Child endangerment is a criminal offense that involves the subjection of minor children to inappropriate or dangerous situations." That title puts them into the same class as the people who beat, molest, and/or starve their children. People who pimp their children, or send their children to work in mines! I don't believe they fall into the same category at all. Now, if they'd not been teaching them at all... a 14 year old who can't spell their name, then perhaps they could be charged with NEGLECT, but even then I wouldn't say it's endangerment. The only danger would be to the adult they'll become not being able to find work, no harm to the child during their childhood. But since they were receiving an education (not any worse than of one than in the worst fed/state funded schools I bet) in addition to food, shelter, clothing, etc. then I do not feel Endangerment is a fair, or even logical term for the 'offense' THAT should be changed to reflect what's actually happening. You don't arrest someone who's got a spring on their property and then charge them with stealing city water do you? That bit chaps me, and it'd be good to see it changed. Perhaps this news report will help educate and thus prevent future cases.

If I Were In Charge.... cite them for not having proper permits/registration, see that the situation is fixed, move on with life... just like any other clerical type error (IE state reg. for your car) don't make a federal case (literally) out of it. Particularly when it's shown that they did have the proper forms, they just didn't mail them. Doesn't get them out of the fine -the sticker was expired- but it shouldn't be a huge thing that they and their children are put through, never mind the harm to the HS community as a whole.

 

[crazy cat lady]

My youngest sister homeschools her 2 daughter. One is hearing impaired. She has homeschooled them for maybe 3-4 years now. I know the school she pulled the hearing- impaired daughter from told her she couldn't do this. But, she did her homework and found out she could through a organization called Rainbow Bridge or something like that and they helped her. So she is now homeschooling the 2 older girls and the little 4 year old joins in.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

You know, they have themselves to blame for CPS getting involved. If CPS doesn't check & something is going on after all these "red flags" people will start complaining how the giov't should have stepped in, etc. If they wanted to homeschool, fine. But ignoring the law for whatever reason (ignorance, defiance, etc. ) is what has gotten them into a mess. In our country children are entitled to a certain level of education, that's why private schoold & home schools curriculum is supervised by school districts. It is to make sure kids are reaching thier educational milestones. It would be unfair to children if the adults in thier lives who are homeschooling them are not held to a certain educational standard. In the past before homeschooling was highly regulated many children ended up 18 and without the same level of education as thier public school peers.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
IMO, that makes it the parent's fault for not taking care of the situation sooner.

 

[wohneli]

The bummer here is that the parents names are getting dragged through the mud when all they did is not file some paperwork. To have a charge of child neglect on your record - even if not convicted - is really serious. It will show up for a long time on background searches and could cause them to not be eligible for certain jobs. I am a firm believer of the punishment fitting the crime and in this case IMO the punishment is already excessive before they even go to court.

 

[horsejody]

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I know but the state and school district let it go on for soooooooooooooooo long. Why didn't they just use the telephone? Their kids curriculum was approved immediately and their testing is up to date.

Also, charging them with "child endangerment" is a excessive. They should have been charged with something like "failing to file forms" or some other administrative type charge.

 

[PotterWatch]

Quote:
Nope! In California, you have several ways of homeschooling. The most common one of the homeschoolers we know is the one we choose. We register every year as our own private school. Basically all that means is that I fill out a form online saying what our school name is and how many students we have. That's it. No curriculum issues, no testing. You are required to keep certain documents such as immunization records and you are required to teach the same basic subjects as public school, but there are no guidelines as to how they are taught.

That being said, I know there are homeschoolers who choose not to use a legal option to homeschool but they well know there could possibly be consequences. I wouldn't expect an arrest however as the situation is easily rectified.

 

[PotterWatch]

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I would love to see where this fact came from.