Are You Prepared?
Imagine this: you return from a field trip to find a note on the door from Child Protective Services. You call the number on the card and are told that an anonymous caller has reported that you are neglecting your children. The social worker wants to inspect your home, review your homeschool program and privately interview each of your children including the two year old. You may not be present during the interrogation of your children and they may be strip-searched for signs of abuse or neglect. If you refuse to cooperate, the social worker threatens to take your children away and place them in foster care.
Does this sound scary - or too farfetched? Variations on this scenario happen to many families every year. Anonymous reporting has become the weapon of choice for disgruntled neighbors, acquaintances and even family members against people they dislike or disapprove of.
“But, I haven’t done anything wrong or illegal. My children are fine!” you protest. No matter. You are now guilty until you can prove yourself innocent and you have a terrifying choice to make: allow the search and “interviews” or refuse and try to stand up to the full might of Child Protective Services. Either way you could lose your children. “No way!” you say, “this is America.” Yes, and America has largely trashed her Constitution and much of her Bill of Rights. This is real and it is happening every day, sometimes to real child abusers, often to people just like you.
Recently I received two calls in the same week from families who were being harassed by government officials. One family was in LA County and the other was in Ventura County. Neither is enrolled in EIE but that doesn’t matter. They could have been. Sadly, neither had joined Home School Legal Defense Association. They will have to defend their families as best they can and pay the going rate for an attorney if their children are taken away - if they can find one who knows how to help them.
Just a little over half of the families in EIE Academy are enrolled in HSLDA. We leave the choice to you. If you have paid the $85.00 a year for HSLDA, you have a knowledgeable attorney available 24 hours a day for emergencies and during business hours for any questions you may have regarding educational legalities in California. Usually, HSLDA can stop Child Protective Services at the door. HSLDA has wan many legal victories and has a good deal of clout. If you think you are secure from this sort of harassment, think again. A complaint can come from anywhere, even a total stranger. The complaint does not have to have any basis in fact and it can trigger horrifying results. A single bruise can get a child removed from a home. Christians and homeschoolers are considered “at risk” for child abuse and educational neglect.
We don’t want to needlessly scare you. California is one of the best states for homeschooling with very few problems relative to our numbers. Most of us think it prudent to purchase fire insurance on our homes though few ever experience a major fire. We have watched families go through hell because they didn’t “get around to joining” HSLDA. Please don’t put your family at risk. Homeschooling is legal in California but Child Protective Services is a law unto itself. It has enormous unchecked power. We recommend the following steps if you want to protect yourself and get involved:
1. Join Home School Legal Defense Association. We have applications at the store or we can mail one to you.
2. Join one or more state wide homeschool organizations such as California Homeschool Network(CHN) or Christian Home Educators Association. The phone numbers are listed on the Services page of this newsletter. These organizations promote homeschooling and provide numerous services to homeschoolers. They work very hard to keep homeschooling legal in California.
3. Subscribe to Roy Hansen’s Family Protection Ministries' Newsletter. Roy is our watchdog in Sacramento. He scrutinizes all legislation that could affect the family and works behind the scenes to stop bad legislation before it becomes bad law. He and his staff are supported entirely by donations from California homeschoolers. You may not recognize his name, but without his services in the past you would probably not be able to homeschool now. For a donation of $30 a year, he will send you his newsletter, which will keep you updated on both state and national legislation which could affect homeschooling.
4. Write your State Senators and Assemblymen. Let them know your views. If you have the newsletter from Family Protection Ministries, you will know what needs to be addressed in the education and family law arena.
We hope you will consider these recommendations. Someone once said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. If we want to keep our freedom to direct the education of our children, we had better be vigilante. God bless you all!
