To think that having to have a DBS check to home educate is unfair.

[Grimed]

Baroness Garden is intending all homeschool parents to be DBS checked. I don't think this is fair. What makes Homeschool parents more likely to be abusive? Surely regular checks from the local LA should be enough? If the education system is failing so many children perhaps that is what's needs examining not parents. What's next? All pregnant women get DBS checked?

I'm not going to pretend I've read all these comments, but from the page and a half I have read, geez you guys are so ignorant!
If they want to come at home ed parents like this, they'll come for all you school parents next; they'll want you to have a DBS check to make sure you're fine to have your child during school holidays, and don't forget the home visits for all your kids in the 5 yrs before school. Then they'll probably expect you to do a DBS check at your first midwife appointment, and if you don't pass, then abortion or the child will be taken from you at birth.
Oh and don't ever think you'll be able to take your child out of school because they are battered by bullies and teachers, school's the best place for kids right? 😹😹

The whole "we don't need safeguarding because It Never Happens" line reminds me exactly of the line so frequently spewed by TRA.

Funny how often Things That Never Happen, actually do happen.

It's essentially discrimination against a minority of the population. There would be a universal uproar if they said they were bringing in a register and home checks for West Asian or black families, simply because of crime rates or a potential for terrorism. 🙄 That would be disgusting and a very good reason to be appalled, so why are more people not appalled by this discrimination?

I wouldn't be arsed about being DBS checked to be honest, I am for my job anyway and don't assume I'm interesting enough for the government to have a desire to collate my data for anything nefarious.

There's no correlation between those making an active choice to home school their children (which is a great choice for some families for sure, loads of positives) and people who are still subject to structural, societal and casual racism. This comment is ignorant though as they aren't checks as such, but there are schemes which target certain groups already.

That would be disgusting and a very good reason to be appalled, so why are more people not appalled by this discrimination?

You seem to be confusing context based safeguarding with racial profiling.

Makes no sense....so I parents can have children, raise them, teach them to walk, talk, read, eat, ride bikes have fun....but as soon as it comes to educating them at home they'd need a DBS check....WTAF???!!! What about the thousands and thousands of kids who have been assaulted in schools...some by teachers who have had DBS checks???? They count for nothing! The gov need to get the schools sorted and help with their funding etc before trying to push Home Ed kids into a system that cannot cope already. Oh and they need to stop trying to make home ed parents feel like criminals and making tge general public think they are weird! Home ed families rock and its about time people realised this is a parental right! Kids don't have to go to school to learn. They can still get qualifications, degrees and achieve what they want in life. There are millions of kids who have already and will continue to thrive like that. School is a choice😊

So you would be happy to have to have a DBS check for no reason other than you have children?
It is a huge waste of resources and will cause delays for people who actually need DBS checks for work.
But why should home ed families be targeted with this? All parents should be DBS checked if they are going to do this. As there are so many parents who send their kids to school who abuse and neglect their children. I know of plenty that do.
It starts the process of giving them so much more control over everyone's lives and gives the LAs more reason to overstep the mark, there are plenty that do already without this. When will they stop at what they control and decide on your behalf?
Also who will decide what crimes that show on DBS checks will deem you unsuitable to home educate? And if you are deemed unsuitable to home educate your own children, then should you be parenting at all?
I feel this would be a huge waste of time. Also who would foot the bill for these DBS checks? If they expect parents to pay then this is again unfair, we pay for everything for our children's education already with no funding to help with these costs, we pay for resources, tutors, exams. Everything that is provided in schools we pay out of pocket for.

Can you demonstrate one case of home educated (or purportedly home ed) children who were abused without foreknowledge of social services, et. al?

Can you demonstrate one case of home educated (or purportedly home ed) children who were abused without foreknowledge of social services, et. al?

Yes. Me. It happened to me personally.

Please see: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4556359-to-think-that-having-to-have-a-dbs-check-to-home-educate-is-unfair?page=13 (halfway down)

Would you say the same about all parents, then? That is, if we DBS all parents/carers, and we keep a handful from harm, is it then worth millions of people being required to have DBS checks?

Apologies, I have read your post above...I should've added "in the media" or some such thing. The stories about kids being killed, etc. are being used in the House of Lords as justification for this portion of the bill. Now, in many cases, it wouldn't have mattered because the parents didn't have a criminal record (lots of people are shit parents, but don't otherwise break the law).

I've also personally met at least half a dozen other survivors whose parent or guardian deregistered them from school, either deliberately so that abuse wouldn't be noticed, or because they were neglectful and couldn't be arsed.

That's just from the survivor peer support groups I've personally been a member of.

Again: the vast, vast majority of abuse and neglect never comes to the attention of the police or social services. A lot of abuse that is flagged to police or SS isn't considered serious enough for authorities to take action on. And only a tiny number of police/SS cases ever get in the press.

The only reason I was taken seriously by police at all was because of the sexual component. I literally had a police officer say it was fine for my mum's boyfriend to knock me around "because he's a parent figure and it's his choice how to discipline you, we wouldn't get involved in situations like that because parents have the right to decide how to discipline their children." Neglect is especially impossible to prove, especially in older children and teenagers.

I should've added "in the media" or some such thing.

Why does it need to be in the media? Abuse practically never gets in the media unless it results in murder, or cases like the Turpins in California.

99.9% of abuse gets no media attention.

@JemimaPuddlegoose

It sounds like a very similar pattern of neglect as children who are denied medical care, because the parents don't want their abuse to be picked up. It doesn't appear in the media either, unless its a very extreme case. And then people won't accept it as evidence of a widespread problem, because its an isolated and extreme case.

Came here expecting ignorance, hatred and bigotry.

I see I wasn’t disappointed. The education and ‘safeguarding’ lobby have done an excellent job stigmatising our community.

Unfortunately it’s human nature to treat people who do things differently with suspicion and hostility.

Home educated children are seen by health visitors, Dr's, dentists and have access to see the school nurse if need be. Most home educated children also go to things such as scouts, brownies, guides, Gymnastics, St John's Ambulance, Air Cadets, etc etc. Lots also pay for private tutors, for different subjects such as music, foreign languages etc. All of these are with leaders/tutors who have been DBS checked.
If you think that just because we home educate we need DBS checks done I suggest you give your heads a wobble! Most of us wish we had never sent our kids to school in the first place, schools have failed our children and set them back so much, it is heart breaking. We, the parents/carers of the majority of home educators just want the best for our children and who knows our children better than anyone? Yes that's right us.

Again, children who are denied medical care are not seen by anyone, and no one thinks you need DB checks just because you home educate.

Purple you may do, as many others do. But some do not. Some keep their children away from authorities and claim to be homeschooling. That's rather the point is it not? The total lack of checks.

Yep

100% 😊

Personally I wouldn't care, no. You know plenty of people who abuse and neglect their children? Aye sure you do. I'm not sure what people are taking it so personally, I don't think anyone is suggesting that everyone who home schools does so as a cover for abuse, are they? Again I'm not concerned about overstretched LAs overstepping boundaries, what are you worried about? I think that paranoia when really they're not that arsed is more in line with a lot of people's stereotypes on those who home educate rather than assume they're abusive.

Exactly. There is no logic in this at all

Came here expecting ignorance, hatred and bigotry.

Can you point to specific posts that you feel are bigoted and hateful?

The safeguarding lobby

After all the TRA stuff and especially the controversy over the Family Sex Show, I think we have good reason to be suspicious of the anti-safeguarding "This Never Happens tm" lobby.

Perhaps we should start having the police call round and inspect everyone with a garage in case it contains stolen goods...