Front Gate Under Siege in Texas

[ebenz47037]

Front Gate Under Siege in Texas

Child Protective Services in El Paso contacted a single,
homeschooling mother to question her about anonymous "allegations."

Read more about it at:
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=632

 

[ebenz47037]

This story really bothers me because someone reported me to DFS for neglect. And, it ended up being because I homeschool my daughter. The worker told me that I had to have a teacher's credential to homeschool in Indiana. Well, I printed up the state law from the Dept. of Education's website. All, I have to do is let the school know and keep attendance.

 

[Pilgrimagain]

It's true in most states that for private or homeschooling a credential is not needed.

The credential lets the state know that the people it hires for the public schools they support have had "adequate" training in the art of teaching.

I have to say though that my wife is working on her masters of ed. and teaching credential at the same time from the University of Michigan and she can't say enough good things about what that training is doing for her. Education is always a good thing though of course you are quite right that you don't need a specific education to teach kids in a home school setting. Good for you for finding out your rights and sticking to your guns....so to speak.

 

[Pilgrimagain]

One thing about the article though is that it listed a number of cases in which they gave no follow up. I wonder what the result of the allegations were? Were all the allegations false? That is the sense that the article leaves on with but they don't clarify.

To be honest, as a pastor, if I think I child is danger or sever need, I'm going to investigate and take actions if needs be. In my mind the safety of the child is paramount. Unfortunately to many people go off half cocked in that regard with out actually checking into things.

For instance I knew of an individual who was threatening suicide and the first response is typically to call the cops right in...but when the cops show up they take the kids away...so what do you do in that situation? If the attempt is a serious one I guess you have no choice, but what if it is a simple cry for help? It's a tough call.

 

[ebenz47037]

Originally posted by Pilgrimagain
One thing about the article though is that it listed a number of cases in which they gave no follow up. I wonder what the result of the allegations were? Were all the allegations false? That is the sense that the article leaves on with but they don't clarify.

To be honest, as a pastor, if I think I child is danger or sever need, I'm going to investigate and take actions if needs be. In my mind the safety of the child is paramount. Unfortunately to many people go off half cocked in that regard with out actually checking into things.

For instance I knew of an individual who was threatening suicide and the first response is typically to call the cops right in...but when the cops show up they take the kids away...so what do you do in that situation? If the attempt is a serious one I guess you have no choice, but what if it is a simple cry for help? It's a tough call.

I don't have a problem with protective services getting involved if the child/ren is in danger. But, in my case, I know of a woman who's been involved with them for beating and neglecting her 6 kids. DFS hasn't taken her kids away and has stopped all house visits. The last time they visitted here, they told me that if there are any complaints about me (messy house, truancy {Yes. They tried that one with me too.}, or anything else), they will take my daughter away. When I tried to get my pastor (one who left the church about a year ago) involved, he never returned my calls. Needless to say, I was pretty upset.