Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Love, Joy, Feminism

Home
Nonreligious
The Home School Legal Defense Association’s Strange Legislative Agenda vis a vis Children with Disabilities

The Home School Legal Defense Association’s Strange Legislative Agenda vis a vis Children with Disabilities

Last updated on: February 20, 2017 at 12:00 pm by Libby Anne

The Home School Legal Defense Association’s Strange Legislative Agenda vis a vis Children with Disabilities 2017-02-20T07:48:52-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is opposing Tennessee House Bill 1411 and Senate Bill 477. Why? They actually don’t explain—they simply offer an explanation of what the bill does.

As introduced, enhances the punishment for child abuse and child neglect or endangerment if the child is vulnerable because the child is handicapped; also replaces “knowingly exposes” a child to abuse or neglect resulting in physical injury to “exposes.”

Curious, I clicked through to the bill’s language:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-15-401, is amended by deleting

from subsection (a) the following language:

provided, however, that, if the abused child is eight (8) years of age or less, the penalty is a Class D felony.

and substituting instead the following language:

provided, however, that if the abused child is eight (8) years of age or less or is vulnerable because the victim is handicapped, the penalty is a Class D felony.

That appears to be the intent of the bill—to extend the harsher punishment given those who abuse young children, because those children are more vulnerable, to other children who are also more vulnerable, in this case due to disability. And HSLDA’s against it, for some unexplained reason.

Of course, HSLDA does offer a second objection—a removal of the word “knowingly.”

SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-15-401, is further amended by

deleting from subdivision (c)(1) the following language:

A parent or custodian of a child eight (8) years of age or less commits child endangerment who knowingly exposes such child

and substituting instead the following language:

A parent or custodian of a child who is eight (8) years of age or less or is vulnerable because the victim is handicapped commits child endangerment who exposes the child

The current statute reads in full:

A parent or custodian of a child eight (8) years of age or less commits child endangerment who knowingly exposes such child to or knowingly fails to protect such child from abuse or neglect resulting in physical injury to the child.

If this legislation passes, the second “knowingly” will remain. Given this, and given that even this section of the bill is about including children who are more vulnerable due to disabilities, I’m curious whether the removal of the first “knowingly” is an oversight. If it’s not—if the bill’s authors removed it intentionally—I’m curious as to their justification. They must have had some reason, after all—something HSLDA does not even try to address or discuss.

HSLDA’s blanket opposition to this bill—without any attempt to offer nuance (if their objection is to the removal of the word “knowingly” and not to the inclusion of children made vulnerable by disability, say)—strikes me as absurd for two reasons. First, this bill has nothing to do with homeschooling. This bill is about child abuse law. Homeschooling parents ought to find the frequency with which HSLDA puts out positions on changes to child abuse law concerning.

But second, to the extent that legislation acknowledging the vulnerability of children with disabilities does have something to do with homeschooling, HSLDA’s stance should be shocking to the extreme. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education runs a database of severe abuse and neglect cases that occur in homeschool situations, titled Homeschooling’s Invisible Children. According to the website, the goal is to shed light on the way, in the absence of accountability, abusive parents can use homeschooling to hide child maltreatment.

The database highlights a number of themes, including the abuse of children with disabilities. The site includes a long list of cases where children with disabilities were abused, sometimes horrifically, the abuse hidden because the family homeschooled.

See this case, for instance:

Police responding to a child abuse tip in early February 2013 found a mentally challenged 17 year old left emaciated, filthy, and chained to a pole in his family’s basement. The teen’s father, David Martin, had withdrawn him from school to homeschool him the previous September, and with the assistance of the boy’s stepmother, Pamela Martin, had locked him in the basement and systematically starved him.

Here’s another case:

Wilson and Brenda Sullivan’s 17 year old mentally handicapped adopted son was found caged in a crib by investigators responding to an anonymous tip. He was severely malnourished and weighed only 49 pounds, less than what he weighed when the couple had adopted him at age 7 ten years prior.

In most states, when children are homeschooled there is no assessment or check-in to ensure that those children are being educated or to verify their wellbeing. Homeschooled children are not typically required to visit the doctor or other medical care provider; many states require children who attend public school to have medical visits during specific grades, but homeschooled children are not included. This means that when a parent homeschools a child with disabilities, there is usually no system for ensuring that that child is being educated or that their needs are being met.

HSLDA has time to oppose legislation acknowledging that disabilities can make children more vulnerable to abuse—but they apparently don’t have time to craft push for legislation that might help protect children with disabilities, like those mentioned above, from being horrifically abused under the guise of homeschooling.

Interesting priorities.

I have a Patreon! Please support my writing!

Homeschool

abuse

HSLDA

Previous Post

February 20, 2017

You're Not Helping, Franklin Graham

Next Post

February 21, 2017 An Evangelical-TERF Alliance Shouldn't Surprise Anyone

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Malachi" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The anointed one Strength of the Lord Holy one My messenger