Update, 15 Sep 05:
The news concerning the children in Ohio whose sleeping arrangements appeared to be ‘cages,’ continues to develop, and complications about reporting about it in this forum, also develop. In the last-noted news article of this update (below), it is reported that the children are enrolled in the Ohio Connections online public-school-at-home program, also known colloquially as an online charter, an e-school, or, in Ohio, as a community school. This raises the question as to whether the situation technically concerns homeschooling, which is the focus of this forum. This isn’t to callously distance homeschooling from the situation, but only reflects one ramification in a long-term discussion, that, despite outward similarities, homeschooling differs from publicly-provided at-home instruction.
The sensational story will continue to attract attention from various news agencies whose reporting will provide additional information and, with luck, insight.
- Eleven US children ‘found caged’
- Adoptive parent’s mother: Children weren’t abused
- Mother Accused Dad Of Abusing Kids Found In Cages
- Children in home with cages were well-dressed, polite
- Adoption agencies will face scrutiny
Ohio Connections is a publicly funded charter school that educates children via the Internet.
Ray Lambert, Ohio Connections principal, confirmed the children have been enrolled for about a year. He said his school requires teacher contact with the family every other week.
“We have already been in contact with representatives of the Ohio Department of Education to make any records available to them,” Lambert said in an e-mailed response to questions.
“We did have occasion to meet with the children in person on several occasions, and like the others who came into contact with this family, we are surprised at this story. We did not encounter anything that caused us to believe there were issues with the health and safety of the family.”
Ohio Connections, based in suburban Columbus, is part of a nationwide chain with headquarters in Maryland.
On email lists there have been discussions of the conditions reported, and some listmembers have posted information about conditions that require methods that appear abnormal to persons who have no experience with some special-needs situations. A selection of links that have been posted are:
- Angleman Syndrome Foundation — page B for beds
- Smith-Magenis Syndrome –sleep
- TASH — In the Name of Treatment: A Parent’s Guide to Protecting Your Child From the Use of Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion
- Seclusion and Restraint Practice Standards: A Review and Analysis
- A Bed for Every Body
The ‘story’ is still ‘young’ and information based on ‘initial reports from the front’ is subject to change.
Original post:
Another abuse case, to all outward appearances involving a family saying they are homeschooling, was reported in Ohio.
- The Morning Journal, Clarksfield Township, Ohio, 13 September 2005, Children found in locked cages
There were two 3-year-olds, two 7-year-olds, two 8-year-olds, a 1-year-old, a 6-year-old, a 9-year-old, a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old taken who were living in the house, Sommers said.
…
Recently, someone told authorities they had seen the cages more than a year ago, but the information was too old on which to act, Sommers said. Authorities acted after they received a recent complaint by a neighbor who said the children were working in the garden and yard abnormally long hours, Sommers said.
…Sommers and the Department of Job and Family Services are tracking down what agency arranged the adoptions, the family’s history and other details, he said.
…
The investigators believe the children are from out of state and were adopted through private agencies, said Mushett, who didn’t have further details and referred further questions to the Huron County Prosecutor’s Office.
…
At least two of the children at one point attended Western Reserve Schools, Sommers said. Neighbors believe the children were most recently home-schooled, said Sherry Hall, who lives in the area.
…
The Gravelles lived in the small house for at least 10 years, and the first two adopted children moved in about five years ago, Hall said. Gradually, more and more children moved into the home, she said.
Details will probably continue to be reported as investigators uncover information, but viewpoints to keep in mind while reading the story, and later clarifications, might be:
- According to their ages, at least four children would have been adopted into the household in the five years the family began adopting, and perhaps more were adopted during that time. Were no in-home interviews conducted by the agencies involved?
- The cages had been seen more than a year ago. Why was there a delay in finding out why the family had cages?
- Why was the information considered too "old?"
- Why wasn’t the report investigated while the information was fresh?
- Were there any neglect indicators while the children who attended public schools were enrolled?
Articles and information concerning previous news reports of abusive parents who described their family situation as ‘homeschooling’ are:
- Why Legislation to Prevent "Unqualified" Families From Homeschooling Won’t Work
- Text of Cover Letter for Thoughts on Protecting Children in Homeschooling Families, submitted to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force
- Thoughts on Protecting Children in Homeschooling Families
- Homeschooling and Child Abuse: No Connection
- Controversial Topics: Child Abuse
Abuse-reporting statistics are at:
- U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Chapter 2, Reports, Child Maltreatment 2000
The three most common sources of reports were education personnel (16.1%), legal or law enforcement personnel (15.2%), and social services personnel (14.4%).Nonprofessional report sources submitted the remaining 43.9 percent of screened-in reports.
Bad people do bad things. Homeschooling is no more a cover for child abuse than churches are for sexual abuse, or scouting programs, or public schools. Homeschooling advocates and families roundly condemn child abuse regardless of who perpetrates it.
HEM
Helen
Tracy
mark
marynix
ann-lahrson-fisher
valerie
sandi
david
Why do I always get the feeling, when I read these kinds of articles, that the families involved only say that they are homeschooling in order to try to get out of any charges against them due to truancy?
The laws in Ohio are pretty strict on homeschoolers. Did having these strict laws help the "authorities" at all? Did this family comply with all the laws?
In the end, it doesn’t matter. This has nothing to do with whether the parents claimed to be homeschooling or not. These parents are just pulling stuff out of their rear ends in order to try and reduce their guilt. And, if the finger is going to be pointed anywhere, it’s at the agencies that do the adoptions (as well as the parents involved), not all the other homeschoolers in the state who have nothing at all to do with this situation.
Basically, when it comes out that an abusive family is claiming to have been homeschooling, the articles start to read indirectly as follows: "One set of ‘homeschool’ parents did a bad, bad thing. Let’s punish (i.e. increase regulation) all homeschool parents so that this won’t happen again." Every time I cross my fingers that nobody brings out this faulty logic, and every time I’m disappointed. Will I be disappointed again with this situation? Or will it actually happen that the right people are being questioned and they leave homeschoolers alone (even if they don’t come out and admit that it has nothing to do with homeschooling)?
Crossing my fingers hard – Tammy
I, personally, am tired of the SOP in child abuse cases:Â Â 1) the standard answer from CPS being "we’ll have to look into this" when they are caught with their pants down; and 2) "they were homeschooling."Someone in Ohio needs to ask their state the hard questions.
Ohio has Children’s Justice Act grant funds, Title XX
(Social Services Block Grant) funds, the Ohio Statewide Risk Assessment
Model, to continue to support counties participating in ProtectOHIO, a Title
IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project plus CDHS, PCSA, and CSEA who work in
conjunction with OWF.
AND, they have a QA system in place that reviews "standards to ensure that
children in foster care placements are provided quality services that
protect their health and safety."
Soooooo, where were all these folks when it came to placing that many kids in one home? Where were the reviews. Each placement required a home
assessment. Each adoption required a home assessment before the child was placed AND one before the adoption was final. How did they get that many
children, legally, when all they had was a 3 bedroom house? Does Ohio allow
foster kids to be homeschooled? If it does, it is one of the few states
that does! So, if it doesn’t, why weren’t they notified when the kids were
withdrawn from school? That is also a standard form.
And, please don’t let’s use the "private adoption" smoke and mirrors routine. Even private adoptions require some checks and balances before the final adoption papers are filed with the court.Also, there is no such thing as "too old" a complaint. There is "too old" information in new complaints. They are NOT one and the same thing.Bottomline for these children is that Ohio did not do its job to protect these children. There is no *excuse,* none whatsoever!Several someones need to be pounding payment in the unemployment lines!Lynda
While I certainly don’t agree with their methods, this really doesn’t seem to be as horrid as it sounded at first. Today’s articles talk about the children being well clothed & fed and showing no signs of physical abuse. The neighbors describe the kids as extremely well behaved and say that the kids played outside frequently. Reporters describe the house has having toys including 7 bikes, skateboards, etc, outside.
The McCaughy septuplets were put in cages to sleep (two to a cage, in fact); it was broadcast on national television, and no one said a word! The parents claim that they were told by a psychologist to cage at least some of the kids at night for their own protection. I’m not saying it’s right, but if that’s true, and if the kids were otherwise in a safe & loving household where their needs were being met, I think the best solution is probably just to say, "Look, this isn’t acceptible. Let’s find a solution that is."
As for the homeschooling issue… From an article at
<http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050914/NEWS01/50
9140305/1002>:
"Deputies said a small building on the property that also housed several animals was used as a schoolhouse."
We have a pet dog. They could just as accurately say, "Ulrike’s children were living in a building that housed animals." My old dentist had a huge fishtank in his lobby. "Dr Davidson’s practice was located in a building that also housed animals."
It doesn’t give enough detail to be meaningful! Are we talking dog kennels? Are we talking totally separate room in the same building? Are we talking a neat and tidy learning area in the same room as horse/cow stalls? Did some of the kids enjoy petting or even caring for the animals while listening to lessons? None of those is abusive in the least. In fact, I suspect that many students would be better for it if government schools had a few animals around!
Looks like another case of jump the gun and ruin somebody’s life to me. Why is it that we think ourselves to be the judge jury and executioner over such sensationalized media garbage without really knowing the facts ourselves. Based on even the nonsense put out by the media, by all accounts it appears that these children have a loving and caring environment to grow up in. Get the facts and then cast the beam out of your own eye before you go digging into the eye sockets of everyone else. If it’s abuse then let’s do something about it. If it’s not let us not destroy somebody else’s life bantering our busybody noses into it.Bunch of busy body tale bearing gossips just got to point to somebody else to distract from their own wickedness.
THIS IS CRAZY AND WRONG, AS A STUDENT, GOING THROUGH THE ROUTE TO BECOME A SOCIAL WORKER, WHERE WAS HELP? WHY DID IT TAKE THREE YEARS TO FIND? CALL ME CRAZY BUT THESE PEOPLE NEED TO SLEEP IN THE CAGES FOR THREE YEARS AND THEN TELL THE CHILDREN HOW IT MADE THEM FEEL AND SEE IF THEY WOULD LIKE IT PROPABLY NOT, "BUT WERE ONLY DOING IT FOR THIER OWN GOOD" [Near-expletive deleted by the very sensitive moderator because this is a family blog. Shouting's OK, though. I wanted to shout about it, too.]