Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. — Patrick Henry
This week, the governor of Connecticut signed a bill (H.B. 5468) imposing serious restrictions on home education. Connecticut had long been one of the best states for homeschooling freedom, but with the stroke of a pen it has become one of the worst. If you can reach this HSLDA site, the front page is a good summary of the immediate problem.
Bottom line: There are other new requirements that are objectionable on their own, but the greatest threat involves the Department of Children and Families (DCF). I've lived through enough years of fighting for parental and child rights to get chills down my spine and knots in my stomach at the mere mention of such organizations. Their "better safe than sorry" excuse has been responsible for tearing even very young children from loving, stable homes, and separating nursing infants from their mothers—for days, weeks, or even months, while the system wheels grind slowly. So it's no wonder I get queasy at the thought of handing them the authority to take away a family's right to home education.
H.B. 5468 would ... require that families seeking to withdraw their student to homeschool be checked against the DCF registry. The registry includes not just confirmed abuse, but a wide range of “neglect” findings, some of which are minor, disputed, or entirely unrelated to a parent’s ability to educate their child. The bill also bars homeschooling for any family that shares a household with someone who has an open DCF case—even if the case has not been substantiated.
This expansion sweeps in an enormous number of families. Research cited by the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform shows that 25% of all Connecticut children, 34% of Hispanic children, and 42% of Black children will, at some point in their lives, live in a household with an open DCF case—overwhelmingly because of reports later found to be false or unsubstantiated.
Connecticut’s definition of “neglect” is broad and subjective. A parent can be placed on the DCF registry if a caseworker has “reasonable cause to believe” a child was neglected—a standard well below even the preponderance of evidence threshold used in civil court.
Our litigation counsel has reviewed the bill and concluded that it raises serious constitutional concerns under both the Due Process Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
This isn't just about homeschooling. These weapons have been used in issues related to breastfeeding, to COVID vaccine compliance and a variety of other health issues, to nutritional choices, even to controlling a child's access to television. And parents will submit to almost anything to get their children back. This law puts families at the mercy of disgruntled neighbors—and vindictive ex-spouses. There is no "bail" for these families, no right to a speedy trial, no protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and certainly no right to be considered innocent unless proven guilty.
For too long we've taken our hard-won homeschooling freedoms for granted—all our freedoms, for that matter. What just happened in Connecticut is a grim reminder of how easily the most basic of human rights can be taken away under conditions of complacency.
The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance. — John Philpot Curran, 1790
