Comments on Our Report Card: Child abuse is bad parenting. Therefor, if we moni...

So a FOUR-YEAR-OLD child (i.e., NOT school-age)is ...

2008-06-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

So a FOUR-YEAR-OLD child (i.e., NOT school-age)is killed and the answer is to monitor homeschooling families more closely? WTF?

PS I can't get onto TDJ, either, so it's not just you, Amy.

It's so sad what these children, as well as many o...

2008-06-17T10:25:00.000-04:00

It's so sad what these children, as well as many others like them, are forced to endure.

You stated very well that the problem in these circumstances is a parenting issue, not a homeschooling issue.

Sometimes I think the government is just looking for any excuse to trample into our homes and monitor our private lives. For some reason, they feel led to start with the home schoolers, I just can't figure out why.

This makes me sick too. I HATE the thought of chil...

2008-06-17T09:48:00.000-04:00

This makes me sick too. I HATE the thought of children being abused and killed, but funneling money into monitoring homeschooling isn't going to solve those problems. If anything it will take funding away from areas that are in a better position to help these kids.

Most of the homeschooling families that end up on the news in abuse situations already have a record with social services, police, etc. They have already had several 'mandatory reporters' involved in their lives, in fact THE mandatory reporters that have any power to change their situation. Teachers cannot, they just report to social services or police if they suspect a problem.

So I don't get, if the system already failed these kids, how is more oversight from people with less power supposed to help? It is all about getting more money and who gets the blame. I wish it were more about the kids.

My sister is a mental health counselor. I know how the system works and frankly it doesn't. It is sick how much a child has to suffer before he is removed from an abusive home. And foster care isn't a happy ending for that child. The thing that needs fixing is not the homeschooling requirements. It is the mental health/social service system that is broken.

Sorry, ranting... oops! This issue always strikes a nerve with me.

I was going to respond to this, but it got so long...

2008-06-17T09:43:00.000-04:00

I was going to respond to this, but it got so long and drawn out I decided to blog about it. This is just really, really tragic and stupid and infuriating and ignorant and.. and.. and..

After leaving the previous comment I went back to ...

2008-06-17T09:37:00.000-04:00

After leaving the previous comment I went back to WRAL's story and there was a link to the 'task force' findings. Said task force is made up of DSS officers and members of the Guardian Ad Litum services. There were seven points that were addressed, one of which was homeschooling. Out of that one point, WRAL took one paragraph and has created a witch hunt.

You are absolutely correct that this is nothing more than an attempt to divert the attention to their failures, one being placing additional children into the Paddock home after abuse had already been alleged and was being followed-up by DSS.

Last night I fell asleep after reading the story to images of Ayn Rand's book "Anthem." It isn't pretty where all this government oversight can head.

OT - can you tell me if the Denim Jumper site is down, or is it just my computer?

Thanks,
Amy

I think it is important to notice that the Departm...

2008-06-17T09:07:00.000-04:00

I think it is important to notice that the Department of Social Services is calling for more homeschool oversight. I think they are worried about being blamed for missing the horrible abuse happening in this family, a family that was already in their system. By their own implication, its their fault this boy died? Did oversight make any difference to this boy?

The truth is, we can not protect children from their parents. And were it the government's job to monitor parenting, I shudder to think what would happen.

Clearly, government run schools are mediocre. Do we want government run homes as well? Because, lets be clear, this is a call to monitor parenting. Homeschool didn't hurt these children. Parents hurt these children.

Ugh, I could go on and on. Its all so sick and so sad.

Katherine,I was wondering if you were going to pos...

2008-06-17T08:47:00.000-04:00

Katherine,

I was wondering if you were going to post on the local homeschool witch hunt or not. I was thinking about it, but your response was much more civilized than mine would have been. My heart aches over the death of these two boys, but you are correct that in the Paddock case there was regular social service involvement which didn't save Sean's life. And, in the first story on the 13 yr old a commenter was one of his teachers for classes the children were taking outside the home. He/She didn't have any clues that the family was in trouble. Based on the number of children who die each year under the supervision of social services and public schools, how in the world can they correlate that hoemschool children are at more risk.

Amy