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SUMMER 2017
HOMESCHOOL IOWA 17
LEGISLATIVEWATCH:
NICHE & HSLDA Advocate at a June 5 Hearing
for a Reasoned Response to Recent Tragedies
I
n response to recent distressing high-profile cases, in which
two teenage girls died tragically due to alleged neglect, the
Iowa Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee con-
vened a six-hour hearing on June 5th. The committee received
testimony froma number of witnesses, including Department of
Human Services (DHS) officials, law enforcement officers, coun-
ty attorneys, child welfare program workers, and Home School
Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) attorney, Scott Woodruff.
NICHE President Tom Krueger, NICHE Legislative Liaison Bill
Gustoff, and NICHE Administrative Assistant Julie Naberhaus at-
tended the standing-room-only hearing and spoke to legislators
before and afterwards.
At the heart of this investigative effort were concerns about
the causes that led to the girls’ tragic deaths. Both teens were
former foster children who had been adopted under the over-
sight of DHS, and their parents received monthly adoption
subsidy checks. The parents of both teens had been subjects
of prior abuse reports to social services. Both of the girls had
been withdrawn from public school by their adoptive parents
– allegedly to receive instruction at home.
The Homeschool Angle
Several of the legislative committee members at the hearing
believed that increasing homeschooling regulations would help
prevent such deaths.
HSLDA Attorney Scott Woodruff disagreed.
His alternative proposal was based upon the federal Commis-
sion to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF).
According to the commission’s 2016 report chronicling over two
years of nationwide study, lives can be saved by developing a
policy firmly grounded on statistically valid risk factors.
Focus on Risk Factors
The primary risk factor that overshadows all others is a prior
report of abuse or neglect that merited investigation.
Based on this simple principle, Woodruff proposed that any
family reported a second time for abuse or neglect be subjected
to a more muscular response—both in ascertaining the facts of
the case and in offering help.
He stressed that this policy should apply to any family.
This distinction is crucial. If we want to protect children, we
need to develop effective child welfare policies based upon
proven risk factors rather than applying random measures like
mass government monitoring of all families whose children do
not attend traditional school.
Countering the Criticism
Some have attempted to use these teenage girls’ dreadfully
tragic deaths to justify attempts to restrict homeschool freedom.
During the last legislative session, Senator Matt McCoy intro-
duced Senate File 138, which called for every public school district
to carry out visits to every Iowa homeschool family home once
per quarter. The legislation directed that mandatory reporters
were to observe every homeschooled child in order to check on
their “health and safety.”
Senator McCoy, who was one of the Government Oversight
Committee members, continued to advocate for restrictions on
homeschool liberty at the June 5th hearing.
McCoy called Iowa’s 2013 homeschool reform legislation
(which, in part, instituted Independent Private Instruction) a
“reckless, senseless, gutless bill that essentially requires no
accountability”and he repeated his commitment to seeking leg-
islation that will require some sort of “well-being check” for all
homeschool families.
“If we want to protect children,
we need to develop effective child
welfare policies based upon proven
risk factors rather than applying
randommeasures like mass
government monitoring of all
families whose children do not
attend regular school.”