Homeschooling Should Not be Grounds for Terminating Parental Rights

Annie and Domenic Johansson

"Social services workers who had police snatch a 7-year-old boy from his parents while they were aboard a jetliner preparing to move to the mother's home country of India because he was being homeschooled have called for a court hearing where they apparently will seek to terminate the parents' rights completely.

That word has come from officials with the Home School Legal Defense Association, which along with the Alliance Defense Fund already has elevated the dispute involving Christer and Annie Johannson and their son, Domenic, of Sweden to the Europe Court of Human rights.

Find out why classes seem so different these days, in "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools"

Christer Johannson told WND by email this week that he got a letter from the court explaining social workers wished 'to move custody of Domenic to the foster family.'

Domenic, now 9, has been in the custody of social services, and in foster homes, in Sweden ever since 2009 when he was snatched from a jetliner he and his parents had boarded in order to move to India."  Read the entire story at http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=352733. Read more at Social services threaten homeschooling parents http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=352733#ixzz1aV8RyqoL.

 

Homeschooling should not be grounds for terminating parental rights, nor should it have been a cause for emergency removal of a boy from his parents' custody.

There have been several post on this blog regarding homeschooling and its benefits to children, their families and societies.  See http://www.regentfamilyrestoration.blogspot.com/search?q=Aaron+Block

and  http://www.regentfamilyrestoration.blogspot.com/search?q=homeschool.

 

Parents want educational choice, and in large numbers are choosing home school.  In Virginia, for example, about one third of families in Hampton Roads choose home education every year.

 

The Supreme Court of the United States has clarified that the parental right to direct the upbringing of children is fundamental to our constitution.  Parents have a right to teach their children values and to prepare them to become self-sufficient and productive members of society.

 

Furthermore, this method of education is extremely economical for the state.  At a time when public education is failing families and private education is cost prohibitive, homeschooling is an alternative that allows parental responsibility in the best sense.  Student results reveal that those who are educated at home are academically and civically far surpassing their public school counter-parts.  Homeschooling is a growing trend in America and globally (see  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/09/educating-children-evolution-home-schooling/). 

but Sweden's decision to punish one family for doing so seems a clear violation of basic human rights, and certainly family destructive. 

School is Out on Home Education - and States Should Take Notice

Educational choice is a hot button issue in the realm of childhood education, and the homeschooling choice is gaining in popularity, particularly with parents who wish to take active responsibility in their children's education.

One of the primary issues surrounding home schooling in the United States is one of parental rights. Parents have a right to teach their children values and to prepare them to become self-sufficient and productive members of society. While this preparation, often referred to as 'socialization,' is one of the most commonly cited concerns about the homeschooling movement, research shows that home-educated adults are doing exceptionally well academically, civically, and socially.

Today an increasing number of parents are teaching their children at home, effectively saving the state thousands of dollars each year while parents spend their own funds on curricular resources, without so much as even a tax deduction for those expenses. This method of education is extremely economical for the state, and student results reveal that they are academically far surpassing their public school counter-parts.

Aaron Block, J.D. Candidate 2011 Regent Law, examined the results of the home schooling movement in America in his recent work for Juvenile Law. He makes the case that both states and the federal government should adopt public policies that proactively support parental rights especially as they relate to home education. He describes both the history and the present day success of home schooling and the various reasons why parents are returning to it. Then his work considers alarming international trends to ban home education and limit parental rights.

Finally, he suggests what lawmakers should do to protect parental rights and home education within the United States, arguing that based on fundamental parental rights, the higher academic achievement, and the cost-saving effects of home schooling, states should protect if not promote home schooling as an alternative to public education. At the very least, states should allow home schooling as form of school choice. His final article is forthcoming.