Another case of horrific abuse hidden by homeschooling

[apandaaries]

The problem with just having this is that some parents feel it is their right to keep their children basically uneducated. Or just keep the girls uneducated because the only education a girl needs to have is to learn to keep house and have babies. :roll: So they will see fit to not provide a proper education for their children.

These families could easily(and do since there are people whose parents did this to them) register as a homeschool, send in the end of year report(in NC it is a test but absolutely nothing stops the parents from just filling out the test for the kid and even if the kids does do the test and it is shown that they aren't being taught nothing is done) and take their kids to the doctor. As long as they aren't physically abusing them the doctor can't really do anything because it most states it is perfectly legal to use homeschooling to not educate your child.

We need a proper discussion about Children's Rights in this country. It should not be legal to raise a child without education, whatever religious beliefs one may sincerely hold. Adults can make their own choices, but these kids aren't getting any chances.

ETA: Just a bit of oversight could make such a big difference. Those ideas above are fantastic. But I fear that as individuality-loving Americans, little to no meaningful laws will be passed because it will be viewed as government oversight on individual choices...even if those bullshit choices injure children and hobble their futures.

[Palimpsest]

I think both HARO and CRHE have some good ideas about possible regulations if you are interested. You might have to nose around the sites a bit to find them. I put the links on the previous page.

{L_MESSAGE_HIDDEN}:

Hidden because I don't want to give abusers ideas.

If you wander down the rabbit holes of Prepper, Survivalist and even Homesteading fora you will find plenty of discussion about the best states to hide educational neglect of children because they have no homeschooling oversight, and the best ways of avoiding complying with even minimal regulations in states that do have them. No I don't have links. I haven't looked around those sites for a while because it is like consorting with rabid possums. Those people give me cold chills.

ETA. My apologies to possums. I think they are very responsible mothers and educate their children well. Much better than the people on those sites anyway.

[polecat]

The problem with just having this is that some parents feel it is their right to keep their children basically uneducated. Or just keep the girls uneducated because the only education a girl needs to have is to learn to keep house and have babies. :roll: So they will see fit to not provide a proper education for their children.

These families could easily(and do since there are people whose parents did this to them) register as a homeschool, send in the end of year report(in NC it is a test but absolutely nothing stops the parents from just filling out the test for the kid and even if the kids does do the test and it is shown that they aren't being taught nothing is done) and take their kids to the doctor. As long as they aren't physically abusing them the doctor can't really do anything because it most states it is perfectly legal to use homeschooling to not educate your child.

This is true, but my point, clearly not well explained, was that these bare minimums could help catch people who are engaging in physical or sexual abuse. Education neglect is not necessarily as quantifiable. You could add annual proctored state testing into the requirements, which most HSing parents I know do already, and that would ideally offer a safety net for any kids who are not where they need to be educationally, and offer/recommend/require services for kids who don't meet the standards.

But still ... in our local PS, only 30 percent of sixth graders meet state standards in reading and 36 percent meet standards in math. It would be easy for me to point my finger at the teachers and accuse them of educational neglect because the kids aren't where I (or the state) thinks they should be, but that would also be ignoring the bigger picture.

[Palimpsest]

Interrupting the homeschooling discussion for updates to the story:

According to the Daily Fail both parents have been arrested and charged, but the teen daughter is still facing charges. It looks as though the DA does not want to prosecute her but Nevada law, as it stands, or public opinion, says he must.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said: 'She's a juvenile, she's 17 years old. Does she need services? Does she need treatment by the juvenile system? Or should she be punished for her actions?'

Well, that is a no brainer. She is obviously a victim and needs services and treatment not punishment. A very cursory search indicates that this DA is strong on victims rights.

FJers in the state, especially any who live in Clark County, might want to send letters and emails to the DA urging him to drop the charges against the 17 year old, and file charges against Jondrew Lachaux for rape or statutory rape (if he can) instead. Not knowing how old the girl was when the rape occurred makes it hard to know whether statutory rape would apply.

State residents can also send letters and emails to the AG, the Governor, state representatives, congressmen and so on. They are all elected officials so express some outrage. Of course, anyone can send letters but they make far more impact when they come from the people who vote officials in or out of office.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... death.html

[polecat]

Interrupting the homeschooling discussion for updates to the story:

According to the Daily Fail both parents have been arrested and charged, but the teen daughter is still facing charges. It looks as though the DA does not want to prosecute her but Nevada law, as it stands, or public opinion, says he must.

Well, that is a no brainer. She is obviously a victim and needs services and treatment not punishment. A very cursory search indicates that this DA is strong on victims rights.

FJers in the state, especially any who live in Clark County, might want to send letters and emails to the DA urging him to drop the charges against the 17 year old, and file charges against Jondrew Lachaux for rape or statutory rape (if he can) instead. Not knowing how old the girl was when the rape occurred makes it hard to know whether statutory rape would apply.

State residents can also send letters and emails to the AG, the Governor, state representatives, congressmen and so on. They are all elected officials so express some outrage. Of course, anyone can send letters but they make far more impact when they come from the people who vote officials in or out of office.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... death.html

Thank you so much for this update! I am worried for this girl ... she needs intense therapy and support, not punishment. I don't see her actions as wrong: I see them as survival. I am not a state resident, but I will be sending a letter.

[Palimpsest]

Thank you, Polecat. I think people underestimate how effective letter writing campaigns can be. IME elected officials really do pay attention to them. Actually I should have added the Department of Heath and Human Services to the above list to copy with the letter. HHS oversees CPS in most states. I want them all to be aware that prosecuting this abused child will be really bad PR quite aside from being inhumane. I'm sure DV organizations are already writing, but letters from Joe or Josephine Public are almost more important than those from known advocacy organizations. We want to flood them with indignation.

{L_MESSAGE_HIDDEN}:

Where I used to work in a Cabinet level State agency a message from the Governor saying they'd had even a few eloquent letters, let alone hundreds, from Joe Publics made everyone scurry around as though their pants were on fire. The Governor needs to know how to respond! Full description of the issue, all possible solutions and their outcomes, also thorough assessment of the way the press, all stakeholders, and general public are likely to respond to each by close of business today! Drop everything and get it done!

[nelliebelle1197]

Feministxtian is in Vegas. P- could you let her know about this and your past experience?

[Bethella]

The one good thing that came out of that article is that the baby is doing better. The thought of charging the teen is unbelievable. If state law requires that she be charged I hope they can offer her a plea deal that involves help and treatment with no jail time.

[DGayle]

Talk about making a criminal out of the VICTIM. That teen was VERY badly abused, and did the best she could, given the circumstances. The "parents" should be held for MURDER.

[Palimpsest]

Feministxtian is in Vegas. P- could you let her know about this and your past experience?

Thanks! I sent her an email linking to this thread and asked for her to join us here. I hate relying on the Daily Mail for updates and she can probably give us a more accurate idea of what local views are.

Also, I keep forgetting to say, and she may be able to clarify: It looks to me as if the DA's questions (quote above) are: Should the 17 year old be tried as an adult? As a juvenile? Or charges dropped altogether and we get her the help she needs. As I said, to me a no brainer.

DAs usually have a lot of leeway in this area so he may have been testing the prevailing winds of public opinion.

[FJismyheadship]

Wait, is the teen being charged because of the three year old, or ! because Her baby is in the hospital due to hypothermia and malnutrition? On the watered down formula, I could see her trying to feed her baby but feeling like she needs to make the formula last. Either way, I see no reason for her to be charged. Let her out. Get her help. Let her see her baby.

[Palimpsest]

Wait, is the teen being charged because of the three year old, or ! because Her baby is in the hospital due to hypothermia and malnutrition? On the watered down formula, I could see her trying to feed her baby but feeling like she needs to make the formula last. Either way, I see no reason for her to be charged. Let her out. Get her help. Let her see her baby.

It isn't clear but I'm guessing the charges concern the 3 year old not the baby. She gave birth alone, was too malnourished to keep breastfeeding, and ran out of formula when dad kicked her out of the house.

"The 17-year-old faces one count of child abuse with substantial bodily harm or death and one count of destroying or concealing evidence. " The child died under her supervision and, Step-dad's orders, she didn't report it and helped conceal the body. She hasn't been charged over her baby. That poor girl seems to have tried her best to keep the child alive and they acknowledge that. I hope they are letting her see the baby.

On the other hand -- it seems to me:

Step-dad - three counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm or death (teen, 3 year old and baby) and one count of destroying or concealing evidence (concealing the body). Nothing about raping the teen.

Mom - two counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm or death (teen and 3 year old because she didn't know about the baby and did not participate in concealing the body).

So the charges against the "parents" include child abuse of the teen.

[Mama Mia]

Wait, is the teen being charged because of the three year old, or ! because Her baby is in the hospital due to hypothermia and malnutrition? On the watered down formula, I could see her trying to feed her baby but feeling like she needs to make the formula last. Either way, I see no reason for her to be charged. Let her out. Get her help. Let her see her baby.

And think of the amount of abuse she must have suffered to have her so afraid that she stayed holed up while her baby was starving and her sibling was Dieing!

And if she's seventeen now she must have been sixteen when this all started. And a very young, very traumatized, beaten down 16. They need to get this poor girl help. She doesn't need jail. She needs a really good therapeutic Foster home placement that will take her and her baby.

On the homeschooling issue - I disagree that homeschooling regulations would have made one iota of difference. In my experience, families this fucked up just never register the kids for school at all . Even in my state where it is literally a one page on- line application. They just don't bother. If they had the kids in public school at all ( some never get around to it ) at some point they just move and never enroll them again. Or tell the school they are moving, or the kid went to live with relatives, when asked why their child isn't showing up.

This is a family that left a teen and a small child behind because they didn't have room in their car. That is not a family who is going to comply with government regulations.

[Palimpsest]

And think of the amount of abuse she must have suffered to have her so afraid that she stayed holed up while her baby was starving and her sibling was Dieing!

And if she's seventeen now she must have been sixteen when this all started. And a very young, very traumatized, beaten down 16. They need to get this poor girl help. She doesn't need jail. She needs a really good therapeutic Foster home placement that will take her and her baby.

On the homeschooling issue - I disagree that homeschooling regulations would have made one iota of difference. In my experience, families this fucked up just never register the kids for school at all . Even in my state where it is literally a one page on- line application. They just don't bother. If they had the kids in public school at all ( some never get around to it ) at some point they just move and never enroll them again. Or tell the school they are moving, or the kid went to live with relatives, when asked why their child isn't showing up.

This is a family that left a teen and a small child behind because they didn't have room in their car. That is not a family who is going to comply with government regulations.

Homeschool Regulations probably wouldn't have prevented this particular tragedy with this particular family, agreed. But what is it about regulations and basic measures that might help identify developing abusive situations in less psychopathic educational neglecting fake homeschoolers that you don't seem to get?

Homeschool regulations might help to prevent many other cases in many other families. In addition, proper regulations and penalties in place would have allowed the DA to file charges for educational neglect for all the 5 children in this case and get them harder sentences.

Would penalties be a deterrent? Possibly not with some of these hard-core abusers. No more than the Death Penalty is actually a deterrent for murder. They might be a deterrent for less hard-core abusers.

But these two, and people like them, need to be put away for a long, long, time.

[feministxtian]

Feministxtian is in Vegas. P- could you let her know about this and your past experience?

Yes, I live in SW Vegas...I don't know a lot about this case other than what's been posted here and a few other places. I have been staying away from the news (and I don't watch TV news EVER) because it tends to make me rather pissed off from the rampant stupidity currently taking over the USA.

I can ask a few friends who might know more about this case.

[Palimpsest]

Yes, I live in SW Vegas...I don't know a lot about this case other than what's been posted here and a few other places. I have been staying away from the news (and I don't watch TV news EVER) because it tends to make me rather pissed off from the rampant stupidity currently taking over the USA.

I can ask a few friends who might know more about this case.

Thank you. I would really appreciate if you can keep your ear to the ground and keep us updated.

[feministxtian]

Thank you. I would really appreciate if you can keep your ear to the ground and keep us updated.

I'll do what I can...right now I'm working on starting another blog, essentially blasting "conservative Christians", comparing their political beliefs to what is in the bible.

[Mama Mia]

Homeschool Regulations probably wouldn't have prevented this particular tragedy with this particular family, agreed. But what is it about regulations and basic measures that might help identify developing abusive situations in less psychopathic educational neglecting fake homeschoolers that you don't seem to get?

Homeschool regulations might help to prevent many other cases in many other families. In addition, proper regulations and penalties in place would have allowed the DA to file charges for educational neglect for all the 5 children in this case and get them harder sentences.

Would penalties be a deterrent? Possibly not with some of these hard-core abusers. No more than the Death Penalty is actually a deterrent for murder. They might be a deterrent for less hard-core abusers.

But these two, and people like them, need to be put away for a long, long, time.

But I think the problem with using this kind of case as a terrifying example of " homeschooling" - in scare quotes - is that it's the same as using public school mass shooting to stir up fear of public school. It's extremely rare for this level of abuse to happen regardless of wherever the child spends their day.

I think what worries many people about some sort of educational neglect standard is who decides what it is? What are the consequences if a child doesn't pass whatever the standard is?

All of my kids primarily attended public school. A few of them were home schooled part of the time. The main reason they were homeschooled was because they had issues that made learning in a crowded classroom extremely difficult ( yes, they had IEPs and and all of the zillion interventions and specialists and meetings that go along with That).

One of them in particularly wasn't learning anything and was being destroyed emotionally. He did much better being homeschooled. But it wa still an uphill battle. And if he was being tested to state standards he would if likely fallen below some mandated bar. What would the answer be? Require public school because he didn't test well? How would that make sense when the majority of students in most states fall below the arbitrary standards the states have mandated? Are public school students sent off to be home schooled if the public school is failing to educate?

I like the system we ended up using, but I don't think it is available everywhere. The school district offered a home school option. Parents , teachers and students worked together to come up with curriculum and goals and learning methods for each child each Semester. There was a huge amount of leeway regarding subject matter.and learning styles. Kids met with accredited , district employed teachers periodically. The district also had textbooks, classes and materials freely available, or parents could supply their own. Or mix it up.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

The teen is a victim and will not face charges

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3037655/District-Attorney-17-year-old-wont-face-charges-death.html?ito=social-facebook

[antwan]

Oh good god. This has nothing to do with homeschooling and everything to do with two crazy abusive fucks who should spend the rest of their natural lives in prison.

The system people think would have saved these kids if their parents had just not had the cover of homeschooling is run by the exact same kind of people who have chosen to imprison an abused teenager.

These are not upstanding citizens we're talking about here. Do you (in general...not anyone specifically) honestly think they'd let the school system stop them from doing what they did??? Really? Horrible people do horrible things. Eliminating homeschooling won't stop that.

I so appreciate your objective perspective. As a veteran home school mom, it is so very frustrating to have to be lumped together, time after time, with such horrible, horrible people. The fact is, the numbers don't stack up; there is not a trend of majority numbers falling toward home schooled children where abuse and/or neglect is concerned. 3,000,000 cases are reported every year. Of those, the highest physical and neglect abuse numbers are in the 0-1 year old age range (when NO required schooling is occuring.) And logically, monsters like the ones in this article are not for a second actually home schooling their children. Rather, they claim to be home schooling because they are abusers.

Many children are sadly abused every day, and they attend brick/mortar school in the midst of that abuse. It makes zero sense to blame their teachers for not discovering it, just as it makes no sense to blame all home schoolers just because some twisted sick person is abusing their children while hiding behind a "homeschool" curtain.

(For the record, the curtains on my homeschool windows are always wide open. Thanks to stories like this one, I feel it is an absolute must.)

[Palimpsest]

The teen is a victim and will not face charges

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3037655/District-Attorney-17-year-old-wont-face-charges-death.html?ito=social-facebook

:banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance: :banana-dance:

Yes, I just got an email and was about to post this myself! Thank you to anyone who wrote. :D

[ILoveJellybeans]

Im glad that the teenager will not face charges for things that happened because her parents were abusive. I hope that she gets the help she needs.

[roddma]

I'll do what I can...right now I'm working on starting another blog, essentially blasting "conservative Christians, comparing their political beliefs to what is in the bible.

I cant wait to see it.

Anyhow, Im glad this poor child isn't facing charges.It's hard to say what the solution is , but I do agree homeschool makes it easier to hide and gives the ones doing it right a bad name. I used to be against homeschool I guess from the poor examples.