Home-schooling visits call after ‘horrific’ abuse case
HOME-SCHOOLED children are at risk of becoming “invisible” to local authorities, politicians have warned, following the “horrific” case of a young Welsh girl locked away from the world and abused .
Calls have been made for children taught at home to receive visits to make sure basic health and education needs are being met.
In a series of hearings covering several months, Swansea Crown Court heard how a husband and wife kept their young daughter locked away from the world in their west Wales home and subjected her to years of rapes and sexual abuse.
During her time at home – in a normal-looking house on a quiet street – she was subject to years of abuse by her parents, much of which was photographed by the pair.
The child was never allowed out to play, never sent to school, and had no friends.
When officers raided the couple’s home they found sex toys, pornographic magazines, and newspaper cutting about young girls, along with home schooling books they had used to teach their daughter.
On the mother’s phone officers found 76 indecent images of the
couple’s daughter being raped by her father, and sexually assaulted by her mother.
The name of the abusers and the specific location of their property cannot be reported to protect the identity of the child, who is now in foster care, but the man is in his 50s and the woman in her 20s.
The court heard the man had effectively sexually groomed his younger wife after spotting and exploiting her vulnerabilities.
Renewed calls for actions have now been made, proposing both inspections of home-schooled children and a stronger legal foundation underpinning a compulsory register for children who are educated at home.
The NSPCC argued such a compulsory register was essential to make sure children receive the safeguarding and support from local authorities.
The Welsh Government’s current plans only propose a voluntary register.
Concerns were first raised following the death of a home-educated 11-year-old called Dylan Seabridge in 2011.
Dylan, died suddenly of scurvy – an “easily preventable disease” – caused by a chronic vitamin C deficiency.
During an inquest into his death, the court heard that Dylan had failed to attend development checks with a childcare team in 2006. Attempts by health care workers to rearrange the appointment were declined by his parents.
Although Dylan was registered as a patient at Newport doctors surgery, there was no record of him being seen as a patient or any appointments being made for him.
Yesterday Mid and West Wales AM Helen Mary Jones said checks should be made by local authorities to ensure home-educated children are receiving basic medical and educational needs. She said: “Parents have an absolute right to homeschool their children and you can get great outcomes, but I do think that children should be in regular contact with healthcare experts.
“Children in schools would receive these checks anyway and advice can be given to make sure the basic needs of a child are met.
“The whole point of homeschooling is not to enforce what is being taught, but children have a right to be able to read, write and have basic mathematical skills.
“While parents have a role of responsibility for their children the whole community have responsibility for those children too.” Conservative AM Angela Burns said she had dealt with families where children “run feral”, and called for a balance to be struck between “empowering” parents and protecting children.
The Carmarthen West and South Pembroke AM said: “Thankfully, these extreme cases are rare but I have dealt with other families where kids run feral, schooling is minimal and ‘outsiders’ are not welcome.
“I have also dealt with cases where families have chosen to home school their child because the child has been bullied or has special needs not met in a state school setting.
“We do have to examine this issue very carefully and the Welsh Government should involve the responsible home schooling community and local authorities to see how we can strike the right balance between empowering parents and children by enabling choice and protecting children who can easily be marginalised and left without protection.
“There is a world of difference between loving parents, home schooling their child for any number of valid reasons and neglectful parents looking for an off-grid lifestyle where the child is left to its own devices at best or seriously neglected and abused leading to harm and even death.”
In January Welsh Government education Secretary Kirsty Williams said councils will have to create a database to identify children not on a school register.
However, the database will not force parents to register their child, and will instead invite parents to submit their details.
Figures show there are around 2,000 electively home educated children in Wales, although figures could be higher as parents do not have to register them.
NSPCC Cymru said keeping children from school had been used to cover abuse in a “minority of cases”.
A NSPCC spokesman said: “Every family has a right to educate their child as they choose, but children being home schooled should receive the same protection wherever they are taught.
“We know that in a minority of cases keeping children at home has been used as a cover to abuse children out of sight of the authorities. We are concerned by the ease at which a child can become invisible to their local authority and hence denied the basic support and protection available to other children.
“It is therefore vital that councils are able to identify home schooled children in their area and ensure they receive the education, safeguarding and support they need. A compulsory register would help to ensure this is the case for every single home-educated child.”
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “Earlier this year the Education Secretary announced plans to consult on regulations that will require local authorities to establish a database to identify children not on a school register.”
“The safeguarding of children in Wales has been strengthened through the introduction of legislation and the establishment of regional and national safeguarding boards.
“We are also reviewing and updating national protection procedures to examine how social services and education practitioners can work together and share information to ensure children who are homeschooled get the support they need.”