When tragedy strikes, the knee-jerk reaction, “We have to make sure this never happens again!” often finds momentary relief in the “power of the pen.” There is an old legal maxim that hard cases make bad law, and in this way, lead to questionable policy responses.
In recent months and years, there has been one particular kind of tragedy that has inspired or validated a growing number of proposed legislative “solutions.” That tragedy is child abuse and child death. Perhaps you have seen a recent headline like this one from the Hanford Sentinel: “Legislators want homeschooling oversight after death of 9-year-old girl allegedly abused in a South Jersey home.”
Lawmakers respond quickly, proposing new oversight of homeschooling families in the name of preventing abuse.
Of course, we can all agree that child abuse is a crime of the cruelest caliber and should be justly prosecuted. The disagreement is over where to place the blame. Some legislators blame the autonomy of homeschooling, reasoning that if there had been more oversight, the abuse would have been noticed or prevented. That conclusion is not supported by the statistical evidence.
Are Children Safer under More Oversight?
The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) found that “Regression analysis of 18 years of data from all the U.S. states found no relationship between the degree of state control or regulation of homeschooling and the frequency of homeschool abuse” (“The Relationship Between the Degree of State Regulation of Homeschooling and the Abuse of Homeschool Children [Students]”).
NHERI also surveyed 9,369 adults and found that those who had been homeschooled were significantly less likely to report sexual abuse as minors (Gen2 Survey). (Read more in “Homeschooling Parents: Guilty Until Proven Innocent.”)
Which Children Are at Highest Risk?
NHERI cites the 2016 U.S. Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, which found that “children known to the child protective services (CPS) system today are at a high risk of fatalities” (“Child Abuse of Public School, Private School, and Homeschool Students: Evidence, Philosophy, and Reason, Revised”).
The True Problem: Child Protective Agencies
This last piece of statistical evidence reveals an understated reality. Oftentimes, in these stories of abuse that involve homeschooling, the children were already known to their state’s child protective services but were left in the care of their abusers until it was too late.
In case after case, the state already had the information it needed to protect the child, but it neglected to do so. Why, then, is this abuse the fault of homeschooling?
Connecticut
In Connecticut, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigated six reports about one child over nearly a decade. DCF’s lawyers insisted for months that its internal review of the case was still a draft, though it had been completed a year earlier. The victim’s attorney, Joel Faxon, says there were “many failures to intervene and protect him” on the part of DCF. (Read more in “It’s Not Just Homeschooling in the Crosshairs, It’s Freedom Itself.”)
Connecticut then passed HB 5468, now Public Act 26-37, which bars homeschooling by parents under DCF investigation, regardless of the investigation’s credibility, relying on the same agency to run the check.
New York
In New York, Child Protective Services received at least eight reports on a family between 2020 and 2024, before the children were withdrawn from school. CPS found evidence of inadequate guardianship and educational neglect three times, yet never asked a family court to intervene, and left four children with their mother. Tragically, according to police, those four children were killed by their mother and grandmother.
In response, Senator Patricia Fahy introduced S. 10714, which would require families who begin homeschooling a child who missed at least a fifth of the school year to prove to their school district, within sixty days, that instruction is happening. Its companion, Raylee’s Law (S. 10715), would go further and bar a child from being withdrawn from public school to homeschool while an abuse or neglect investigation is pending. (Read more in “Parents Punished for Parenting” at the Liberty Sentinel.)
West Virginia
In West Virginia, Raylee Browning was pulled from public school in Nicholas County after numerous reports regarding her safety were made to Child Protective Services by teachers and school administrators. Her father then moved to Fayette County and began homeschooling her. According to testimony during the adults’ trial, CPS didn’t respond to the referral. Raylee died in December 2018 at age eight. Her father, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend’s sister were convicted of child neglect causing death and sentenced in 2022. Editorial: WV Legislature failed children on last night
The agency’s struggles are no secret. A state social services official told lawmakers that the preferred caseload for a CPS worker is twelve to fifteen, while most CPS workers in West Virginia carry twenty to thirty. WV House Republicans chose to protect child abusers over children while doing nothing to improve CPS
The legislative response, however, has focused on homeschooling. The 2026 version of Raylee’s Law would temporarily pause a parent or guardian’s request to homeschool if a teacher has made a child abuse or neglect allegation against them, with CPS given ten days to complete an investigation. During committee debate, one delegate questioned how the bill’s language would have actually prevented what happened to Raylee. The bill passed the House 94 to 1 at 11:57 p.m. on the session’s final night, but the Senate had just adjourned and could not take it up before midnight. For the fourth consecutive year, Raylee’s Law failed to pass. Supporters are expected to try again in 2027. W.Va. lawmakers push through child abuse bill, “Raylee’s Law,” overriding Senate President
Michigan
In Michigan, two adoptive couples had previously faced child abuse charges, which were dismissed against one couple and reduced against the other, before Attorney General Dana Nessel reopened the case in 2023. The state had paid one couple more than $560,000 for fostering, and one of the accused was a former employee of the state’s child welfare agency. Nessel herself called it “a failure in our systems.”
Nessel then said that “the homeschooling environment allowed abuse to go unnoticed” and that “implementing monitoring mechanisms is crucial.” The state superintendent asked lawmakers to require registration of every schooled child, including homeschoolers. No bill has been introduced. (Read more in “What Is the Make Homeschool Safe Act?”)
Illinois
In Illinois, a boy identified as L.J. was pulled from school in 2021 when his mother and her boyfriend chose to homeschool him rather than have him repeat third grade. Following a hotline call in January 2022, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) found the couple neglectful, and two more calls that year, including a report that the boy appeared malnourished, were closed for lack of evidence. It was on L.J.’s eleventh birthday, in December 2022, that child welfare workers finally took him away. “No Schoolers”: How Illinois’ Hands-Off Approach to Homeschooling Leaves Children at Risk
Following a 2024 investigation built around his story, Representative Terra Costa Howard called for action and later sponsored HB 2827, a version of the Make Homeschool Safe Act. The homeschool community organized against the bill, setting records at the statehouse, and it never made it out of the Illinois House. Illinois lawmaker calls for strengthening protection for homeschooled children Bad Bill Officially Dead In Illinois
What Should Legislators Do Instead?
As spring legislative sessions approach, expect more bills built on the same reasoning. Legislators are right to ask, “What can be done to ensure this never happens again?” The available research does not show that regulating homeschooling is the answer. The cases above point elsewhere: agencies that substantiated harm and did not act, investigations that fell apart, and reviews that remain unfinished. States should act on the findings they already have, prosecute abusers, and publish reviews when agencies fail.
Regulating homeschooling punishes families who did nothing wrong and leaves the failed system in place. May we pray for the communities who are hurting, and may legislators have the wisdom to administer accountability to child protective agencies when a child is in harm’s way.
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