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 don't see the problem.

It would he easy for a home-schooled child to be abused wouldn't it?

Makes no sense !

what would show up on a dbs that they would then use to stop a family home educating?
so then they would force a child back to school because what, abuse only happens in school hours ??

I'm not sure a DBS check will do what they hope. Unless they intend to check all household members?

As for home-ed in general, I'm really torn. As a parent, I know some great home-ed families however as a social worker, I only see home ed as a cover for nefarious actions (travellers pulled out of school to manage the home, child marriages/ sending children abroad, abusive homes to keep the children away from prying eyes) these families are obviously not actually doing home ed, but using home ed as a way of removing children from visible society. I was a social worker before I was a parent, so it took quite a while for me to realise they weren't all like that! (I'm actually really pro alternative provision now).

@Grimed I have a relative who homeschools their kids, they have never been in the school system, they have also been removed from mainstream healthcare and aren't registered with a GP/dentist, the youngest was born via freebirthing and their birth wasn't registered for a few years and only was registered because they wanted a passport to travel.
I'm sure the kids are generally fine (from what we've seen - we don't see them much) but their parents have removed them from society due to their beliefs.
Lots of people who opt out do so for very valid reasons but it does mean that a layer of people who can spot problems with those who have them, is removed and that's not just abuse or neglect but also people struggling to manage through no fault of their own. I'm not sure DBS is the right thing but I understand the need for not leaving people completely unchecked.

Also home educators aren’t invisible? We have yearly contact and have to submit a report to the LA with examples of work to show the education provided is acceptable plus each time we see the gp or do an online consult one question is what are the education arrangements for the child

It's a horrible infringement on the right to a private family life, and a sticking plaster solution that will do nothing to protect children who are being abused.

Are they going to suggest DBS checking all mothers going on maternity leave next? After all, they're going to be alone with their children.

Do they mean to DBS check the parents or to DBS check any of the tutors they're using? Either in person or online?

If tutors, I don't think that's a bad idea at all and I would have assumed they would be frugal to apply for one anyway, especially if conducting in-person sessions.

Quite, and isn't a DBS check just a form filling exercise, rather than a regular check by someone in person in authority?

Hmm. I can see what the intention is, but I am not sure DBS checks will achieve anything. Let's face it, they are not even that effective at stopping dangerous people accessing children through their jobs or voluntary work. They are only really meaningful on the day they are issued and even then, only if someone has actually been caught and convicted for a prior crime. I would hope that if a child is living with someone with a known criminal background who then withdraws them from school, then they would already be on social sevices' radar. And if an abusive parent with no previous convictions decides to home school, a DBS isn't going to reveal anything is it?
I may be cynical but this smacks of "Look everyone!We're doing something! (But not actually spending any money or tackling the real issues...)" In fact this might not only be cheap, it could actually generate income - will the parents have to pay for their own checks?!

I cannot find a source for that idea and even if she thinks it's a good idea, she's just a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. I don't think she's actually in position to do anything like that.

Recalling at the things people claimed random members of the government wanted to do to home ed families during the Badman years (the worst for me was when someone was putting around a blog dressed as a news source claiming home educated girls were going to be required to undergo vaginal exams which was obvious bogus but it was treated as real and caused some distress to some families who trusted what other home educators were saying), I'd take this kinda thing with a barrel of salt. I don't think it really makes sense with how the DBS system works.

Should their be more checks of home education families? I can see the argument for it, if only in comparison to other countries that give far better support for home educated families, but I don't think the UK is going to put the resources into that. I think they're going to just use registers - if that, though it would mean the every few years discussion on them as a way to tick box concern would be gone for them.

Not a DBS check, that just shows the people who have a conviction.

Some kind of checking system, yes, to make sure the kids are actually ok.

I know four families that home ed. Three are doing a fantastic job. One I have huge concerns about (and I have put in a safeguarding concern to the local social services) for emotional abuse. That one the kids are very isolated, don't socialise and aren't in contact with any other kind of service, whether a drama or sports class or a GP.

What's the problem? I've been DBS checked for a variety of things - it's just a precaution.

Have you been dbs checked for doing something in your own home with your own family? No? That's the problem.

Yes, there is more risk of abuse in homeschooled children. Homeschooling keeps them away from peers and professionals who safeguard them. I usually dislike this phrase but in this instance, nothing to hide?

all DBS checks show is that you haven't been caught yet.

Sure, it's not ideal, but better than nothing.
Because potential abusers would have no interest in isolating children stom schools or other forms of social contact.

Homeschooling keeps them away from peers and professionals who safeguard them

So, how about babies and toddlers with a sahp, are we dbs-ing them too?

An advanced DBS shows a lot more than convictions.

Op your arguments about the limitations of dbs are true, that they only show up something if you've been caught but that's true of school staff too. I don't suppose you're suggesting that those dbs checks should be scrapped because of this limitation?

Yes we also have to submit a yearly report. If they aren't happy with that I have know parents be asked for more evidence or a home visit.

I agree that some people use home ed as a way of making their children invisible, but the fact that a child can be invisible is the problem, not home educating parents. Because these people aren't home educators. They are abusers.

DBS is a pretty useless tool for this. What will a DBS show that crosses the line for them? What response will that trigger? If the parent is a known abuser or radicalist then surely they would be known by authorities anyway. And if it's for other reasons like to do housework, child arranged marriages etc then they wouldn't show up on a DBS.

Far from sufficient for actually protecting children but better than nothing, I suppose.

Often, abuse at home is noticed at school, far more often than it's noticed in a medical setting. Children not being in school makes any abuse at home far more likely to go unnoticed.

I think it’s setting a dangerous precedent of gov intrusion and we should all be extremely concerned if this goes through. People who think it’s no big deal have clearly not thought it through. Why on earth would we hand over even more power to the shambles that is our government? It’s another foot on a scary slippery slope.

The UK government have got a cheek to do this. It was their covid lockdowns that closed schools for months, making it easier for abuse at home to go unnoticed.

I'll also add that the UK government appears to be going to war on home schooling, and I can't quite work out why. A couple of possibilities:

1. They want every child to be indoctrinated with woke values and behaviours, and the easiest place to do that is in the classroom.


2. As part of the plan to give everyone a digital ID, they're going to force vaccinations on every child using a no-jab-no-school strategy. And to do this they need to make home schooling almost impossible.


3. For whatever reason they want to target communities and demographics that have low levels of school attendance and correspondingly low levels of educational attainment.

But any crime that would show on a DBS AND make you a danger to children would see your children removed or being watched very closely anyway.