tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post335204694599350037..comments2024-03-20T00:30:11.702-07:00Comments on Home Education Heretic: Concealing the abuse of children by home educating themSimon Webbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-22842164793242226252013-06-30T15:13:30.936-07:002013-06-30T15:13:30.936-07:00How dare you assume home educators are abusers, my...How dare you assume home educators are abusers, my parents certainly were not! They had to leave a nice area due to my father having a serious accident. I grew up in a deprived area the poor level of education given at the schools meant that I was home educated and so is my child because it was the best thing for me and has turned out to be the best thing for my child so far. To give her a fair start she attended school and hated it because she is naturally quiet and likes to learn which she couldnt do in a classroom full of screaming and bad mannered children. We are not all born to work in Tesco or McDonalds. Some of us do prefer to choose our company and not mix with low class people that plague this country due to poor education! I went on to study and now teach privately and earn a comfortable living from home and teaching online as well as organising private classes. My child attends regular activities and we meet up with other home educators and their children and my daughter has never being abused! Socialisation is not a problem for home educators if they choose to look for activities and maybe there might be home educators who abuse children but fortunately I haven't met any and I have met a lot of home educated children in my time including the ones I grew up with! If there are people who don't send their children to school and abuse them then they aren't home educators, they are simply child abusers. As for dedicated home education; learning is like a big educational holiday with structured lessons. Many children learn much better being home educated than in a chaotic British school enivironment. Usually the ones who do well in school fit in well with working class jobs because they like to follow orders and not lead. You will find that school drops outs would have just been better off being home educated. Ones who are home educated tend to become self employed, lecturers at university etc. There is no way on earth that a child who is home educated is more likely to be abused than one who goes to school. If anything it is school who has issues with peadophile teachers, bullying and the rest. It seems people are quick to judge home educators because they simply ignore the positive aspects of home education deliberately and are jealous that there are some parents who are able to teach their children themselves and what is more hard to bear is that the majority (not MINORITY) of these home educated children end up as well rounded adults with places in university because they are not tarnished by the brush of a state school education. Parents choose to home educate because they look down on state schooling, not because they abuse. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-6473480337919756212013-05-01T00:56:16.236-07:002013-05-01T00:56:16.236-07:00"Telling people to just say no to visits does..."Telling people to just say no to visits does not contribute to the development of a solution to this kind of situation, does it?"<br /><br />Having visits may work against the detection of abuse. It seems highly unlikely that an annual visit by a stranger will reveal abuse, especially as abusers tend to be skilled manipulators, but the visits may give people with concerns a false sense of security. They may think, well I was worried about them but they passed an inspection by a professional so they are probably fine. The dangers of such false negatives and the effect they can have is a recognized issue within social work.Sharonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-26596999986077950232013-05-01T00:00:12.423-07:002013-05-01T00:00:12.423-07:00It's possible that another person who was unea...It's possible that another person who was uneasy about the situation at the house could have provided the tipping point for involvement of social services to be actually productive.<br /><br />This is how it works sometimes.<br /><br />Telling people to just say no to visits does not contribute to the development of a solution to this kind of situation, does it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-34735751979186784112013-04-30T14:14:01.264-07:002013-04-30T14:14:01.264-07:00I agree; the obsession with home educators as a ta...I agree; the obsession with home educators as a target for monitoring would seem bizarre, given that there are richer pickings in the wider community for anyone genuinely concerned about child welfare.<br /><br />However, none of this is about child welfare; it's simply about protection of the authorities' backsides, and LAs/social workers dealing with easy, tractable problems in a way that looks as though they're achieving success by hitting some targets. <br /><br />There isn't a hope in hell that they can deal with the wider problem of child abuse, but the HE subset is an easy target for them to latch onto. The rest of the kids can go to hell in a hand cart, but if the LAs can claim control of >90% of HE kids, they'll have big bragging rights - and that translates into power, glory and money.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-19200945358740670022013-04-30T12:12:16.164-07:002013-04-30T12:12:16.164-07:00"It certainly did the trick for that girl in ..."It certainly did the trick for that girl in the article, didn't it?"<br /><br />So do you think an ex-teacher visiting to check on education provision for an hour or so once a year would have recognise abuse that was missed by social workers, the psychotherapist the girl had appointments with or the secondary school teacher who visited the home regularly both before the mother was in hospital and during the month the mother was away from home? It seems unlikely to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-26382108909310228722013-04-30T11:45:53.332-07:002013-04-30T11:45:53.332-07:00'Was this when you worked for a charity as an ...'Was this when you worked for a charity as an advocate for the parents of children with special educational needs?'<br /><br />I was also helping to run a support group for parents who were finding it hard to cope with their babies. There was a social worker, CPN and me, as well as creche workers. We also had a psychologist working with us. Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-8652249013167056422013-04-30T11:16:52.749-07:002013-04-30T11:16:52.749-07:00That's true, but extremely unusual in this cas...That's true, but extremely unusual in this case. All parents should not be monitored as a result of this very bad case, all adopters should not - and certainly all home educators should not. You can't discriminate against and restrict the freedoms of whole groups of people just because of the actions of one person. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-81145521824010258482013-04-30T11:15:56.900-07:002013-04-30T11:15:56.900-07:00Was this when you worked for a charity as an advoc...Was this when you worked for a charity as an advocate for the parents of children with special educational needs?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-12753322739431488252013-04-30T11:15:19.052-07:002013-04-30T11:15:19.052-07:00It certainly did the trick for that girl in the ar...It certainly did the trick for that girl in the article, didn't it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-67110829972779013592013-04-30T11:07:51.870-07:002013-04-30T11:07:51.870-07:00'"Most people? I have very rarely seen ho...'"Most people? I have very rarely seen hostile feelings under these circumstances."<br /><br />............. That does not mean that they don't happen!'<br /><br />I'm sure it does happen. I am just dubious about the idea that it is 'most people'. Social workers are usually parents themselves and do not want to deprive people of their children needlessly. Most abusers are not monsters; the mother in the case I quoted today is not a monster, just a very sad and mixed up woman. We are all able to do bad and wrong things.<br />Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-66249436763549878762013-04-30T11:03:36.943-07:002013-04-30T11:03:36.943-07:00"Most people? I have very rarely seen hostile..."Most people? I have very rarely seen hostile feelings under these circumstances."<br /><br />............. That does not mean that they don't happen! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-87637441024839377702013-04-30T11:02:59.943-07:002013-04-30T11:02:59.943-07:00He carried out the research in question. Maybe he ...He carried out the research in question. Maybe he saw an alternative side of the social workers involved? Sharonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-89506091778593502062013-04-30T10:33:58.567-07:002013-04-30T10:33:58.567-07:00' So that was the 35 innocent families out of ...' So that was the 35 innocent families out of 36 who were seen by Health Visitors as part of their normal duties and marked as high risk of abusing their children. So that would be families with children.'<br /><br />The difficulty that I am having here is that none of this accords with my own experience in this field, which is pretty extensive. We are told that;<br /><br />'The very fact of suspicion that someone may abuse their child creates subconscious barriers and hostile feelings for most people who work with such families'.<br /><br />Most people? I have very rarely seen hostile feelings under these circumstances. Even where there is the suspicion that a family might harm a child, the more common emotion is one of, 'There but for the grace of God go I'. I have worked with some pretty grim clients, ones, for example, where social services were actually waiting outside the delivery team to take a baby as soon as it was born. I honestly do not recall seeing any hostility or feeling that there were any subconscious barriers between me and the families. All parents are capable of doing bad things with and to their children. Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-61783894703691560382013-04-30T10:07:54.723-07:002013-04-30T10:07:54.723-07:00The families he is talking about are those who wer...The families he is talking about are those who were screened as high risk by health visitors but who did not go on to abuse their children. So that was the 35 innocent families out of 36 who were seen by Health Visitors as part of their normal duties and marked as high risk of abusing their children. So that would be families with children.Sharonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-15529088766756056992013-04-30T09:48:52.234-07:002013-04-30T09:48:52.234-07:00'Simon wrote:
"Wait, does this mean that ...<br />'Simon wrote:<br />"Wait, does this mean that I have blood on my hands?"<br /><br />This looks like a plea of not guilty citing reductio ad absurdum. Who mentioned blood? '<br /><br />Sorry, I thought you would catch the allusion! It was suggested that I would have blood on my hands because of my support of a piece of legislation. See:<br /><br />http://daretoknowblog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/to-all-supporters-of-schedule-1.html<br /><br />I thought it was amusing that I would now not only have blood on my hands, but also be more of a problem for society than child abusers.Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-10893808686628683682013-04-30T09:41:23.212-07:002013-04-30T09:41:23.212-07:00' "The very fact of suspicion that someon...' "The very fact of suspicion that someone may abuse their child creates subconscious barriers and hostile feelings for most people who work with such families"'<br /><br />Quite meaningless unless we know what families he is talking about. Families with children? Home educating families? Families suspected of abuse? Families with problems?<br /><br />'Home visits, or any contact with Health Visitors, is not compulsory, as you know very'<br /><br />Of course not; but the fact remains that almost every baby and small child is seen by them.Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-54477106109047587672013-04-30T09:36:59.533-07:002013-04-30T09:36:59.533-07:00Simon wrote:
"Wait, does this mean that I hav...Simon wrote:<br />"Wait, does this mean that I have blood on my hands?"<br /><br />This looks like a plea of not guilty citing reductio ad absurdum. Who mentioned blood? <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-78626351968452812442013-04-30T09:27:22.965-07:002013-04-30T09:27:22.965-07:00'"The very fact of suspicion that someone...'"The very fact of suspicion that someone may abuse their child creates subconscious barriers and hostile feelings for most people who work with such families". It seems possible that such surveillance might cause more harm than good. '<br /><br />This is such a no-brainer I'm amazed it has to be pointed out anywhere, even here! And yet it does. Do the would-be authoritarians of this world never consider the possibility of unintended consequences for the people they're trying to help/ monitor/ modify the behaviour of? And for their families? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-73026216543498199142013-04-30T08:53:31.870-07:002013-04-30T08:53:31.870-07:00'The collective hypocrisy of Simon, Badman, th...'The collective hypocrisy of Simon, Badman, the LAs and others highlights a degree of moral turpitude that is ultimately as damaging to society as the abusers.'<br /><br />Wait, does this mean that I have blood on my hands? Again. I suppose it must do if my hypocrisy is comparable to the abuse of children. How cool is that; I have blood on my hands and am damaging society as much as child abusers!<br />Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-86919553705059280132013-04-30T08:27:21.869-07:002013-04-30T08:27:21.869-07:00Just say no to home visits to your LA that usually...Just say no to home visits to your LA that usually does the trick.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-65064431490953651972013-04-30T08:00:45.218-07:002013-04-30T08:00:45.218-07:00I've never understood why - in the minds of S...I've never understood why - in the minds of Simon, Badman, et al - home educators can't avoid intrusive inspection and monitoring unless "proven" to be 100% cast-iron squeaky clean, yet abuse everywhere else is tacitly accepted.<br /><br />Last time I looked at the ONS figures, nearly 8000 under-16 conceptions are known to occur each year, and you can be sure that's a good proxy for an even larger number of abuse cases that may be internal or external to home. Hardly a week goes by without some story breaking about abuse by people in positions of power over children - usually in schools or nurseries - and then we see the frequent cases of abuse by parents of children who do go to school - or would if they survived.<br /><br />This is awful enough, but then we have cases like the north Wales "care" homes scandal where, not only were children abused dreadfully, but the local authority, on receiving a damaging report on the cases, decided to pulp the report in order to hide the truth and so avoid having to pay compensation. <br /><br />The collective hypocrisy of Simon, Badman, the LAs and others highlights a degree of moral turpitude that is ultimately as damaging to society as the abusers.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-39086655949180188562013-04-30T07:29:30.066-07:002013-04-30T07:29:30.066-07:00Simon wrote,
" For those of us who were just ...Simon wrote,<br />" For those of us who were just home educating for educational reasons, visits were an irrelevance; they were certainly no bother."<br /><br />We home educated for educational reasons. Visits were not irrelevant and were a bother. Which group of people home educating for educational reasons do you mean in particular?<br /><br />Simon wrote,<br />"Yes, this is why we have Health Visitors. This group has high levels of detected abuse and neglect. The suggest is that in the case of home educated children, the abuse remains undetected."<br /><br />Home visits, or any contact with Health Visitors, is not compulsory, as you know very well since you avoided contact with them yourself. Health visitors have no more right of access today than they had in 1933. <br /><br />I'm not convinced that this type of survellance is effective either. Research has shown that for each family correctly identified as an abusive family by one screening tool, 35 innocent families were also labelled as high risk - and this was considered to be one of the best of such screening tools. There is no evidence to suggest that the family that did go on to be abusive would not have been picked up in less formal ways either. <br /><br />False labels are likely to affect how these innocent families are treated by professionals. Dr Walter Barker, director of the Child Development Programme at Bristol University, said on this issue, "The very fact of suspicion that someone may abuse their child creates subconscious barriers and hostile feelings for most people who work with such families". It seems possible that such surveillance might cause more harm than good. Sharonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-63179191602182303362013-04-30T06:48:45.401-07:002013-04-30T06:48:45.401-07:00"but the very fact that outsiders were coming..."but the very fact that outsiders were coming into the home might have had a beneficial effect on the setup."<br /><br />Outsiders did go into the home. Mr P, for example.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-3767294881936748772013-04-30T06:40:06.212-07:002013-04-30T06:40:06.212-07:00'Well said, Anne. I like that Huddersfield quo...'Well said, Anne. I like that Huddersfield quote.'<br /><br />Interesting yes, from an historical viewpoint. The relevance to modern day child abuse eludes me, but that might be due to those immutable views of mine!Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-40807432046823884832013-04-30T06:38:49.440-07:002013-04-30T06:38:49.440-07:00'Anyway, out for the rest of the day, so I sha...'Anyway, out for the rest of the day, so I shall simply accept that your views are as immutable as ever'<br /><br />Ouch!Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.com