Posted on 06/13/2003 12:26:29 PM PDT by pabianice
"We have legal custody of the children and we will do with them as we see fit," DSS worker Susan Etscovitz told the Bryants in their Gale Street home. "They are minors and they do what we tell them to do!"
WALTHAM, MA -- A legal battle over two home-schooled children exploded into a seven-hour standoff yesterday, when they refused to take a standardized test ordered by the Department of Social Services.
George Nicholas Bryant, 15, and Nyssa Bryant, 13, stood behind their parents, Kim and George, as police and DSS workers attempted to collect the children at 7:45 a.m. DSS demanded that the two complete a test to determine their educational level.
After a court order was issued by Framingham Juvenile Court around 1 p.m., the children were driven by their parents to a Waltham hotel.
Again, they refused to take the test.
"The court order said that the children must be here. It said nothing about taking the test," said George Bryant.
The second refusal came after an emotion-filled morning for the family, when DSS workers sternly demanded the Bryants comply with their orders.
"We have legal custody of the children and we will do with them as we see fit," DSS worker Susan Etscovitz told the Bryants in their Gale Street home. "They are minors and they do what we tell them to do."
Four police officers were also at the scene and attempted to coax the Bryants to listen to the DSS worker.
"We are simply here to prevent a breach of the peace," said Waltham Youth Officer Detective James Auld. "We will will not physically remove the children."
Yesterday's events are the continuation of a six-year legal battle between the family and Waltham Public Schools and the state.
The Bryants contend that the city and state do not have the legal right to force their children to take standardized tests, even though DSS workers have threatened to take their children from them.
"There have been threats all along. Most families fall to that bullying by the state and the legal system," said George Bryant.
"But this has been a six-year battle between the Waltham Public Schools and our family over who is in control of the education of our children," Bryant continued. "In the end the law of this state will protect us."
The Bryant children have never attended public school.
Both sides agree that the children are in no way abused mentally, physically, sexually or emotionally, but legal custody of the children was taken from Kim and George Bryant in December 2001. The children will remain under the legal custody of DSS until their 16th birthdays.
The parents have been ruled as unfit because they did not file educational plans or determine a grading system for the children, two criteria of Waltham Public School's home schooling policy.
"We do not believe in assessing our children based on a number or letter. Their education process is their personal intellectual property," said Bryant.
George Bryant said he was arrested six years ago, after not attending a meeting that the city contends he was summoned to. The meeting was called by the Waltham School Department for his failure to send his children to school.
"We want these issues aired in the open, in public. The school system and DSS have fought to keep this behind closed doors," said Bryant.
Superintendent of Schools Susan Parrella said she was unaware of yesterday's incident and that, currently the school department approves of the education plan filed by DSS for the Bryant children.
"An acceptable home school plan is in place right now," said Parrella. "I was not aware of any testing occurring today."
The Bryant children freely admit that they have no intention of taking a test.
"We don't want to take the test. We have taken them before and I don't think they are a fair assessment of what we know," said Nyssa Bryant. "And no one from DSS has ever asked us what we think."
Kenneth Pontes, area director of DSS, denied that workers have never talked to the children privately, but admitted that this type of case isn't often seen by his office.
"This is an unusual case. Different school systems require different regulations for home-schooled children. Waltham requires testing," said Pontes.
Pontes said that a possibility exists that the children will be removed from their home, but that was a last course of action.
"No one wants these children to be put in foster homes. The best course of action would for (the Bryants) to instruct the children to take the test," said Etscovitz.
The Bryant family is due in Framingham District Court this morning, to go before a juvenile court judge. According to DSS, this session will determine what their next course of action will be and if the children will be removed from the Bryants' home.
"These are our children and they have and always will be willing participants in their education," said Kim Bryant.
Noted under the “Adoption Incentive Payment” section of the act, a state can receive as much as $4,000 for adopting out a child. Under another provision technical assistance is offered “through grants or contracts…to assist states and local communities to reach their targets for increased numbers of adoptions.” This financial assistance can be used to expedite termination of parental rights and to “encourage the fast tracking of children who have not attained 1 year of age into pre-adoptive placements.” Technical assistance is also appropriated to the courts – as much as $5,000,000 for each fiscal year.Many agree that the goal of this law is good – to move children out of foster homes and into permanent adoptive placements. But the same state government agency entrusted with the job of protecting children ...is also given huge bonuses by the federal government if they push to terminate parental rights and boost their adoption numbers.
I homeschooled my kids for years and helped teach a number of other kids at home as well. I soon gave up doing regular "curricula" - I am not organized enough, didn't have enough time or money. I taught in a very "organic" way - let the kids learn at their own pace, invented lessons and tests, etc. Result? When my kids had to go to school for a while when I had to work full time, they were in the top 5% and had to get bumped up to "talented and gifted" classes. And I was a high school dropout.
I know people who have spent their entire lives in the "Foster Care" system but were never adopted. The government cannot love...The Foster Care system just like the Government School system has brought much destruction in the lives of many Americans... My prayer is that by the invisible hand of Providence...the Welfare State will come to an end.
Could not agree more, Tax Relief. THANK YOU for bringing this up. The practice of sealing adoption records records is a case in point. The adoption industry lobbbies long and hard to keep records closed in the name of "birthmother privacy." It's not about "birthmother privacy!" If a child is never adopted, the records are never sealed, and anyone can find out who is who, for instance. The records are not sealed to court clerks or insurance companies. Baptismal records are not sealed either. Records are sealed to protect the agencies who have a history of highly questionable adoption practice from lawsuits and public outrage , and to protect the adoptive family FROM birthmothers, not the other way around.
Could not agree with you more, TR, could not agree with you more. Closed records are a conservative issue, imo. The government should not be keeping people's records from then, nor should it be in the business of identity erasure.
JMO
You mention that maybe welfare mothers would sit around watching TV while their kids run around uneducated. I venture to say that welfare mothers who want to watch TV like nothing better than to shunt their kids off to school so they can enjoy the TV without kids screaming. I have known many homeschooling families and it is very hard work. Much "easier" to have them gone all day.
Virtually all homeschooled children are much better educated than those at the gov't schools. The testing thing is intrusive and Nazi-like. Just let the kids pass a test at the end of high school for graduation, that's enough.
I could not agree with you more. I love this little book. I gave my last copy to Rev. J.L. Peterson when I met him (I thought it would help him with his ministry). He was very grateful to receive it : ) Seeing the quote made me realize I need to go buy another one this weekend.
Absolutely right. By definition, a lazy person will ship out the kids at any opportunity, because childcare or homeschooling is hard work.
(Before anyone gets offended--Sending kids off to school or camp does not imply that one is lazy.)
That said, you are still quite right about the adoption bounty and the warehousing of children; it's the next best thing to placing the babies of unwed mothers who are in very short supply (and therefore bring in the big bucks. ) It's all a business. It's all one continuum which exploits people reproductively for the sake of the buck. Its time we woke up to that fact.
May God have mercy on us all
It sure would tickle my fancy if you could authenticate that quote. I will wager, you can't.
"When an opponent declares, 'I will not come over to your side, 'I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already...What are you? You will pass on. Your decendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community. - Adolf Hitler" -- CyberCowboy777
Fortunatly for me, I never had to deal with DSS/CPS. I consider myself lucky, especially in this day and age.
Here is your link. Adolf Hitler Quotes
It is really unnecessary to take such an agressive stance with people. Just ask politely for links if you want them.
Yes, because the agenda of the State can be rolled into the testing.
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