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Two years ago, I wrote about the sad state of homeschool child protection policies. “Despite a decade of personal pleading, professional advocacy, and political lobbying by homeschool alumni,” I wrote in 2023, homeschool organizations continue to refuse to “adopt the most basic of child protection measures: child protection policies.” While most didn’t have them, the few that did put basically no effort into them. They just copied and pasted the same handful of links provided to them by the right-wing Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)—but links to information are not a child protection policy.
As I have explained elsewhere, a good child protection policy “should both exhibit four qualities as well as entail at least five elements.” According to Jeanette Harder’s book Let the Children Come: Preparing Faith Communities to End Child Abuse and Neglect, the four qualities every child protection policy should exhibit are: visible, agreed to, comprehensive, and implemented. And according to Boz Tchividjian and Shira Berkovits’ book The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries, the five elements every child protection policy should entail are: foundational principles, protective measures, rules and procedures for responding to policy violations and abuse allegations, survivor support, and mechanisms for implementing the policy. These are the metrics people should use when assessing whether a policy is adequate and comprehensive.
Of course, it’s been a few years since I last investigated and wrote about homeschoolers’ policies (or lack thereof). It is possible these organizations made progress on their child protection efforts. So, I did some research again. And guess what? They have made virtually no progress!
For my research this time, I surveyed the websites of all 38 Christian homeschool organizations that are publicly listed members of the National Alliance of Christian Home Education Leadership, known simply as “The Alliance.”[1] The Alliance, which I have written about previously, is a national nonprofit and multifaceted support group for statewide homeschool organizations that adhere to evangelical beliefs and practices. In other words, these are the most powerful and consequential homeschool organizations in the nation. Collectively, they represent over 250,000 homeschooling families. They are the ones calling the shots and dictating the agenda of the evangelical homeschooling movement.
Here is what I found:
- Out of all 38 homeschool organizations, only one (Homeschoolers of Maine) has what I would consider a child protection policy. So, 37 out of the 38 Christian homeschool organizations do not have policies to protect the children they serve and profit from.
- The only organization that has an actual child protection policy, Homeschoolers of Maine, does not have an adequate and comprehensive policy. The policy is missing: (1) rules and procedures for responding to policy violations and abuse allegations (for example, it says, “One-on-one contact and interaction is to be avoided at all times,” but it does not say what to do if one-on-one contact does occur), (2) survivor support (there’s absolutely none), and (3) mechanisms for implementing the policy (for example, there’s no process for following up on any concerns or allegations and no process for annual review of the policy).
- The only organization that has an actual child protection policy, Homeschoolers of Maine, does not prominently feature a link to the policy on their home page. Child protection policies should always be posted and easily accessible on organizations’ websites and physical buildings.
- Seven of the 38 organizations have website pages dedicated to the topic of child protection, all of which are identical to one another (word for word, so they clearly copied each other’s homework!).[2] These pages simply contain links to information provided by HSLDA. While 6 of the 7 organizations call these informational pages “child protection policies,” they are missing: protective measures, rules and procedures for responses, survivor support, mechanisms for implementing and updating, and—most important—they are not binding on anyone in the organization.[3] Since they are missing most of the necessary elements of child protection policies, I do not consider them to qualify as such.
- While the 6 organizations with informational website pages on child protection mislabel the information as “child protection policies,” to their credit they do prominently feature links to the information on their home pages.
- Thirty of the 38 organizations have neither child protection policies nor website pages dedicated to the topic of child protection. Searches on these 30 organizations’ websites all turn up zero results for the query “child protection.”
- That means 79% of the most powerful and consequential Christian state homeschool organizations in the nation offer zero protection for, or information on protecting, children from abuse.
It is, of course, possible that an organization has a policy but does not post it online. So, to verify the accuracy of my research, I emailed or messaged all 37 organizations without policies and asked them to confirm. After several days, I received responses from 3 organizations, an email error message from 1 organization, and no responses from the remaining 33 organizations. So, I sent a follow-up email. After several more days, I received 3 more responses, leaving 30 organizations silent on my query.
Here is the form email I sent the organizations with neither child protection policies nor informational web pages:
Hi there! My name is Ryan Stollar and I am a homeschool alumnus conducting a survey of all member organizations of the National Alliance of Christian Home Education Leadership. I am wanting to know how many of the organizations have child protection policies. I looked on your organization’s website and neither saw nor could find one. Could you confirm for me that you do not have one? (If you do, could you please email me a copy or a link to a copy?) Thank you!
And here is the form email I sent the organizations that have either a child protection policy or a web page with information on child protection:
Hi there! My name is Ryan Stollar and I am a homeschool alumnus conducting a survey of all member organizations of the National Alliance of Christian Home Education Leadership. I am wanting to know how many of the organizations have child protection policies. I looked on your organization’s website and I saw you have a page with information and links on child protection (insert link here). Could you confirm for me that the link I just gave is the extent of your child protection policy? (If you have a longer, more comprehensive version, could you please email me a copy or a link to a copy?) Thank you!
Here is a summary of the responses from the 6 organizations that engaged me:
- Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC): CHEC does not have a child protection policy on their website. When I emailed them, CHEC told me they do have a policy that is “provided to relevant parties that are working with children within our event programming.” When I asked a second time to see a copy of the policy, they never responded. After sending a follow-up email to my second request, they continued to ghost me. Because their policy is not public and I cannot verify whether their policy’s existence is factual and comprehensive or not, I consider this not having a policy. If your child protection policy isn’t accessible and verifiable, you don’t have one. That’s like hiding your company’s first aid kid. It completely defeats the purpose.
- Florida Parent-Educators Association (FPEA): A representative from FPEA confirmed their lack of policy: “No, we don’t have a child protection policy.”
- Homeschool Oklahoma (HSOK): HSOK does not have a child protection policy on their website. After emailing them, they told me they do not have one because they do “not operate programs, classes, or events in which children are placed in the care, custody, or supervision of HSOK staff or volunteers” and “do not directly serve children.” HSOK also questioned why child protection policies are “useful,” stating they are “unsure why the existence or non-existence of such a policy would be useful for assessing or implying child-safety practices.” I asked them to clarify: “Are you saying all HSOK events are parent-attended events only?” I asked them this because they promote pictures from their organization’s “Capitol Day” on their website that show children and adults together at the event. HSOK’s answer was the following: “Our events are typically aimed at either (a) parents only or (b) whole families. When they are aimed at families it is presumed that the families themselves are responsible for their children as would normally be assumed in a homeschool setting and/or outing.”
Needless to say, assuming the best of parents—the most common abusers of children—and families—the context in which most child abuse occurs—is not a best practice for child protection. Also, yes, child protection policies are necessary for organizations that work directly with children, but they are also necessary for organizations that do so indirectly. As Dr. Piroska Bisits-Bullen explains, “Any organization that comes into contact with children directly or indirectly should have a child protection policy.”
- Nevada Homeschool Network (NVN): NVN does not have a child protection policy on their website. After I emailed them several times, their founder and former president—Elissa Wahl—eventually responded. Wahl and I exchanged numerous emails over a miscommunication while I continually asked her—and she continually ignored the question—if NVN has a child protection policy. After my fourth time asking the question, Wahl only indirectly confirmed, stating, “Our organization is a 501c4 lobbying organization. We don’t do anything with kids.”[4]
- North Dakota Homeschool Association (NDHSA): NDHSA does not have a child protection policy on their website. After I emailed them several times, their Office Administrator and Editor replied with the following email: “Why would we have a child protection policy? We do not work with children nor do we implement, write, or legislate any sort of laws or policies regarding child abuse. We help families learn how to homeschool. Perhaps your question would be better posed to the public schools in which alarming numbers of children are abused every year by teachers, school employees, and other students. Please remove us from your email list.”
- Texas Home School Coalition (THSC): THSC does not have a child protection policy on their website. When I emailed them to ask if they have one, a representative from THSC told me they “forwarded [my] inquiry to the appropriate department” However, after 2.5 days, I never heard back from anyone. So, I sent a follow-up email. They never responded.
The sad state of homeschool child protection policies thus continues.
[1] The 38 organizations are: Alaska Private and Home Educators Association, Arizona Families for Home Education, Christian Association of Parent Educators New Mexico, Christian Home Educators Association of California, Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Christian Home Educators of Kentucky, Christian Home Educators of Ohio, Christian Home Educators of West Virginia, Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania, Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii, Florida Parent-Educators Association, Georgia Home Education Association, Home Educators Association of Virginia, Homeschool Alabama, Homeschool Idaho, Homeschool Iowa, Homeschool Louisiana, Homeschool New York, Homeschool Oklahoma, Homeschool Wyoming, Homeschoolers of Maine, Illinois Christian Home Educators, Indiana Association of Home Educators, Kansas Home Educators, Massachusetts Homeschool Organization of Parent Educators, Michigan Christian Homeschool Network, Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators, Mississippi Home Educators Association, Missouri Association of Teaching Christian Homes, Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association, Nevada Homeschool Network, North Carolinians for Home Education, North Dakota Home School Association, Oregon Christian Home Education Association Network, South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools, Texas Home School Coalition, The Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers in Connecticut, and Utah Christian Home School Association.
[2] The 7 organizations featuring informational web pages on child protection are: Christian Association of Parent Educators New Mexico, Home Educators Association of Virginia, Homeschool Idaho, Indiana Association of Home Educators, Michigan Christian Homeschool Network, Oregon Christian Home Education Association Network, and The Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers in Connecticut.
[3] To their credit, Homeschool Idaho is the exception here. They do not call their informational web pages on child protection a “child protection policy.”
[4] I should note that Nevada Homeschool Network denied being a member organization of the Alliance. When I pointed out that their name and logo were publicly displayed on the Alliance’s website as a member organization, Wahl told me that, “How weird!! We haven’t been members in years.”