Services Provided

Home Schooling

All parents and guardians are required to educate their children, or cause them to be educated. The law as written states that parents or guardians must “bring [children] up in some lawful and honest employment”, and must see that they get instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, and other standard subjects.

The law is clear: home schooling is permitted.

However, it is also clear that home-schooling is not favored by State officials. Why this is so is anyone’s guess.

DCF, by and large, is antagonistic to home schooling. My guess is that DCF regards the schools as its first line of defense in reporting suspected child abuse or neglect. With home schooling, DCF loses teachers as a source of referrals.  See The Future of DCF.

DCF’s other main sources of referrals are neighbors, emergency rooms, and the police. But the schools remain a major source.

Aside:  I have actually spoken to older, more experienced teachers, who told me that they would never call DCF unless they were absolutely convinced of abuse or serious neglect.  The reason is that they knew, in routine cases, that the DCF cure was worse than the disease.  Those courageous teachers risked firing or even arrest; and no, I will not reveal any names.  However, that breed is probably dying out, as a new breed of public-spirited educators takes over the public schools.

I have had several cases in which DCF workers made it clear that, if the parents chose home schooling, DCF would keep a closer watch on things. They would take a longer time to close a case. The meaning is clear.

Schools themselves are obviously antagonistic to home schooling. It threatens their numbers and their funding. In some ways, it also threatens their pride.

Nevertheless, parents have a right to home-school their children. But as many parents have discovered, if DCF finds out about it, they will jump at any excuse to investigate you. DCF threats have, in a word, a “chilling effect” on home schooling.

There is a National Home Education Legal Defense website.

At present, Atty. Deborah Stevenson is the leading Connecticut spokesperson for the rights of home schoolers.

None of this implies that I personally agree with home schooling. I am a product of the public schools, from kindergarten through law school; although from a day when educators paid more attention to kids and less attention to school board lawyers. There are numerous advantages to public education. It is a decision that, by law, parents are empowered to make.

The point, again, is clear: home schooling of your children is legal.

There are persons who want to make it illegal, and Atty. Stevenson and her staff work to protect parents’ rights in that regard.

DCF frequently claims that it has no problem with home schooling. This claim is made because of the simple fact that home schooling is legal. Yet there is absolutely no doubt that DCF opposes home schooling. If you are having problems in this area, we will help; and will refer you to others if that becomes necessary.

See Case.