Recognizing and Preventing Abuse and Neglect of Homeschooled Children

Homeschooling can be an effective form of education but our research has shown that a lack of oversight can lead to devastating consequences for some homeschooled children. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) seeks to redress this problem by conducting novel research in order to inform child-centered, evidence-based policy and practices for families and professionals. In this presentation we will introduce our Homeschooling’s Invisible Children (HIC) database, of child abuse and fatality cases in homeschool settings. This database has documented over 180 child fatalities in homeschool settings, including 158 between 2000 and 2019, which exceeds what we would expect given federal data on child fatality rates. In this workshop, we will present both quantitative and qualitative findings, paying particular attention to what our data teach us about the unique risks of abuse homeschooled children face. We will survey the types of abuse enabled by homeschool environments (like torture, starvation, and imprisonment), and the red flags associated with them. Lastly, we will conclude with a wider discussion of both potential policy solutions, and best practices for child-advocacy practitioners.