Homeschooled girl gets court-ordered to attend public school

[rambone]

A divorce court battle has resulted in the government forcing a 11-year-old girl to be forced into public schools.

The disturbing part is the court's reasoning. They are worried that the girl has too rigidly adopted her mother's faith-based teachings, as well as a concern for how the girl's beliefs will impact others.


NH court orders home-schooled child into government-run school

Homeschooled Christian Girl Court-Ordered to Public School

 

[misconfig]

This makes me ANNNNGRY

 

[Benny]

The court is essentially saying that the evidence shows that, socially and academically, this girl is doing great, but her religious beliefs are a bit too sincerely held and must be sifted, tested by, and mixed among other worldviews

Are you ****ing kidding me?

I must have missed the memo...When did Church and State merge back together?

 

[Lucas156]

Rambone you're just a conspiracy theorist nut job. This type of stuff never really happens.

 

[PistolBob]

Looks like it is time to take the girl and move to another state.

 

[Plinker]

Looks like it is time to take the girl and move to another state.

No, it looks like a time for another Supreme Court case.

 

[88GT]

This came across the homeschool list yesterday. All of them were focusing on the dad and his motivation. None of them realized that the girl's religion was just his excuse.

The court's decision is a completely different matter though, and none of them could see the larger picture of the injustice of the government dictating what was an acceptable level of religion. They were just all to incensed that the homeschooling aspect was **** on.

 

[sbcman]

I read about this case in one of our hslda emails. http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/nh/201103160.asp

I'm not sure how prevalent homeschooling parents divorce, but I would guess it to be a fairly low event. Nevertheless, this decision has opened the door for it to be used in future cases like this, and thus force more kids into public school.

 

[sbcman]

This came across the homeschool list yesterday. All of them were focusing on the dad and his motivation. None of them realized that the girl's religion was just his excuse.

The court's decision is a completely different matter though, and none of them could see the larger picture of the injustice of the government dictating what was an acceptable level of religion. They were just all to incensed that the homeschooling aspect was **** on.

Excellent point.

 

[Plinker]

From the Yahoo! news story:

But he/she also found that the girl's Christian beliefs could influence others.

What?! This is a VERY strange and disturbing case. Since when has this become a crime? The courts don't seem to worry that someone's 'astrological' beliefs or 'atheistic' beliefs could influence others.

I'm seriously pissed about this...

 

[Wild Deuce]

Pardon the threadjack but, if you are really upset about this and want to do something meaningful. Please take a look at this post. If we don't start standing up now, pretty soon we will all be facing court decisions similar to this one. Only then the courts will have UN backing.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[spec4]

The parents divorced in 1999 and she is 10, so she was born in 2001. The divorce must have been very amicable is they were reproducing over a year later. That aside, I'm surprised at NH, isn't their motto "Live Free or Die"?

 

[dross]

Hold it a second. This isn't about homeschooling or religion, this is about a dispute between parents about how their child is raised. In that context, religion and and many other factors are relevent.

 

[Plinker]

Hold it a second. This isn't about homeschooling or religion, this is about a dispute between parents about how their child is raised. In that context, religion and and many other factors are relevent.

Please see my post on previous page and the new stories to read the opinions of the counselor and court.

 

[dross]

Please see my post on previous page and the new stories to read the opinions of the counselor and court.

What previous page? This is a one page thread, so far, at least on my browser. I read the news stories in the OP.

 

[mrjarrell]

Hold it a second. This isn't about homeschooling or religion, this is about a dispute between parents about how their child is raised. In that context, religion and and many other factors are relevent.

Correct. I read about this the other day at the Classically Liberal blog, (who had posted on the case last year). This is about parental rights, not religion. Only the tale tellers are making it out to be such a case. The father doesn't object to his daughter being taken to church by his ex, it was never even brought up. This is about the fathers rights to have a say in how his daughter is being brought up. Can't help but wonder how many folks would be on the other side if this lady were of another religious persuasion or even an atheist? The courts upheld the fathers position in this case, not some anti-religious position or pro-state position. While I think the girl might be better off in a private school than in a government school, at the end of the day this was a custodial dispute. Nothing more.

 

[88GT]

Correct. I read about this the other day at the Classically Liberal blog, (who had posted on the case last year). This is about parental rights, not religion. Only the tale tellers are making it out to be such a case. The father doesn't object to his daughter being taken to church by his ex, it was never even brought up. This is about the fathers rights to have a say in how his daughter is being brought up. Can't help but wonder how many folks would be on the other side if this lady were of another religious persuasion or even an atheist? The courts upheld the fathers position in this case, not some anti-religious position or pro-state position. While I think the girl might be better off in a private school than in a government school, at the end of the day this was a custodial dispute. Nothing more.

And abortion is just a custodial issue about whether or not the unborn can see the light of day, right?

 

[Plinker]

I'm not complaining that the higher court intervened between two divorced parents who can't agree on how to raise a child. The problem I have is that the lower court and 'fact finding' had a lot of anti-Christian rhetoric that seemed to affect their judgement:

NH Court Upholds Order to Send Homeschooled Girl to Public School, Christian News, The Christian Post

In a 2009 hearing, Judge Lucinda V. Sadler ruled that the daughter be enrolled in public school after the fact-finding group Guardian ad Litem found that the religious nature of her education limited her exposure to other views.

GAL found that the daughter's strong alignment with the mother's beliefs "limited" her opportunity to experience situations that are socially challenging, and that Amanda "would be best served by exposure to different points of view."

Voydatch testified that she urged the GAL investigator to review some homeschooling literature. However, Voydatch said the investigator refused, stating "it's all Christian-based. I don't want to hear it."

Sadler responded to these claims in her brief, saying that she did not consider the merits of Voydatch's beliefs in her ruling.
But she stated, "[A] child requires academic, social, cultural, and physical interaction with a variety of experiences, people, concepts, and surroundings in order to grow to an adult who can make intelligent decisions about how to achieve a productive and satisfying life."

The quotes stated above are why my big beefs are about. I don't necessarily disagree with the higher court's (NH Supreme Court) ruling, stating that is settling a dispute between two quarreling parents.

 

[Bill of Rights]

Several years ago, a judge in Indy issued a ruling that divorcing parents could not talk about nor teach their child about their religious beliefs because the belief they both continued to hold and which they both agreed she should continue to be raised in was not "mainstream".

Where was the outrage I'm seeing in this thread then?

Oh, by the way... The judge, who then sat on the Superior Court, now sits on the IN Court of Appeals.

 

[Fletch]

Several years ago, a judge in Indy issued a ruling that divorcing parents could not talk about nor teach their child about their religious beliefs because the belief they both continued to hold and which they both agreed she should continue to be raised in was not "mainstream".

Where was the outrage I'm seeing in this thread then?

Probably on another forum.