Posted on 11/13/2003 10:53:23 AM PST by hsmomx3
On Thursday, November 6, 2003, the Human Resources Subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, held a hearing to examine "a recent failure to protect child safety". The hearing was to investigate an alleged child abuse case in New Jersey involving the starvation of a family's adopted children and the subsequent dismissal of social workers who had been investigating the family but missed the alleged abuse. Accountability was the Committee's focus since in 2002, federal taxpayers provided the states $3.1 billion to support children in adoptive and foster settings, and an additional $2.8 billion in administrative funding to help vulnerable children.
Prior to this hearing, HSLDA contacted the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Wally Herger of California, to inform him that the family at issue was reported to be a homeschooling family, that certain legislators in New Jersey had cited this case as highlighting a need to pursue new regulations on homeschooling (see http://www.hslda.org/elert/archive/2003/10/20031029171258.asp), and why this call for new regulations was in error. Our efforts were not in vain.
Carla Katz, the president of the Communications Workers of America, a union representing social workers in New Jersey testified at the hearing. In her remarks, President Katz stated the following: "Home schooling creates gaps. Nearly 20% of all abuse cases are reported by schools. When children are outside the school system, extra protections are critical. There are no home schooling regulations that would require homeschooled children to see anyone from the public education system. There is no cross-referencing with the Department of Education to look for children who are in the 'system' but have not been seen by anyone."
Fortunately, the hearing did not turn in the direction of whether homeschooling is in need of further regulation. Chairman Herger kept the Committee on its principal task of investigating the use of taxpayer funds and did not develop the homeschooling issue.
At the core of the union's position is that homeschoolers should have greater involvement with the public school system in order to catch child abuse. But this is not the function of the public schools. It has long been held that the government's legitimate constitutional interest in education is literacy and self-sufficiency, not to detect child abuse. Wisconsin v. Yoder 406 U.S. 205 (1972). Moreover, it has been long understood that the government may not require all students to be required to be a part of the public school system, as children are not "mere creatures of the state". Pierce v. Society of Sisters 268 U.S. 510 (1925). Even though some parents might abuse children, it is still a presumption in America that parents act in the best interests of children. Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584 (1979).
As the recent CBS series on homeschooling demonstrated (http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200310/200310230.asp), there is a growing trend to link homeschooling with child abuse. This trend poses a significant threat to homeschool freedom. Should it be accepted, it will pave the way for significant homeschool regulations. HSLDA will be working with Congress to make sure that the truth is presented in the final record of this hearing. Thank you for standing with us for homeschool freedom.
The power of the Google search engine allows for the past statements of political operatives like Carla Katz to be brought to the public light.
Carry on....
gezzzzzz you guys are a littel behind in your reading. LOL
this thread is almost two years old...
Not to worry. It soon will. It's really about control. They just can't stand freedom and not being able to get their hand in everybody's cookie jar.
Not that I am a total fan of homeschooling, but it sure works better for most people who are able to do it than public schooling. Kids have been homeschooled for centuries. I suppose there will be some revisionist history about that, too.
I guess they don't have hearings on cleaning up the schools because they know it's a LOST CAUSE!!! Ain't gonna happen.
Never thought I'd see the day when I would be writing something like this. I'm a public school product who learned fairly well but am not any better "socialized" than those they are yapping about.
And ignore the scariest cases, often afraid to go after the real crazies in the scary neighborhoods, so they dog the less clear cut cases, to make quota. This per a stenographer friend relating the horrors of some aspects of her job upon the clearing of a popular local teacher of all charges once the court finally acknowledged the many medical experts testifying that her son did indeed have brittle bone disease and was never abused. Three years later.
Next, it'll be that merely being in the home with the parents outside of public school hours is dangerous for all children. So more taxes will be needed to fund school breakfasts for all, after school programs and even overnight programs, which I've heard actually do exist in remote areas.
easy, easy Gypsy...
I was just kidding you! LOL
;-)
The foster-care industry is big business. There are organizations of black social workers who lobby endlessly to prevent black babies from being adopted by white couples. Why? Because there are more black babies needing adoption than black couples willing to adopt. The excess are placed in foster care. While in foster care, the foster parents are paid money, and social workers have jobs "monitoring" the kids. If the kids were adopted, there would be less budget money in the social service/foster-care industry
It's always the same. The social workers are supposed to have some medical experts to help them, yet they seem to cause grief for families already troubled by a child's condition. Then stories of truly abused children dying at the hands of often known abusers, overlooked by overworked social services. Of course, I keep trying to see the good they do, that these extreme cases always make the news and occasionally the story of some lucky child actually saved comes along. I know it's a difficult job, but... It took this teacher years to pay off the debts caused by maintaining her innocence and trying to get help for her son. Luckily, they had a large extended family who helped with debts and support.
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