Category Archives: International Home Education

State takes custody of 7-year-old over homeschooling: Now human rights organizations reviewing ’state-napping’

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State takes custody of 7-year-old over homeschooling

Now human rights organizations reviewing ‘state-napping’

Posted: February 27, 2010
11:05 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily


Annie and Dominic Johansson

Social workers have been visiting a Swedish couple whose son was “abducted” by government agents last year because he was being homeschooled, but that’s not necessarily a good sign, and now two major rights organizations are exploring options to reunite the family.

The Home School Legal Defense Association and members of the Alliance Defense Fund have been advising Christer and Annie Johansson on the “state-napping” of their son, Dominic, 7, from an airliner as the family was preparing to move to India last year.

“HSLDA and the Alliance Defense Fund are jointly advising the family and exploring all available avenues to help reunite Dominic with his family,” the HSLDA  said in a published statement.

“Swedish social workers have recently visited Christer and Annie and inquired about their current ability to take care of Dominic. According to a Swedish lawyer who spoke with HSLDA anonymously, these visits do not necessarily indicate the possible return of Dominic to his parents. Rather, this attorney said, Swedish social services intends to force the parents into ‘complete subjugation and compliance with the system.'”

WND reported late last year when the Administrative Court of Stockholm affirmed the state custody of Dominic, who was taken from the airliner by uniformed police officers on the orders of social workers even though there was no allegation of any crime on the part of the family nor was there any warrant.

At the time, Michael Donnelly, director of international affairs for the HSLDA, called the court decision “deeply disturbing.”

“The hostility against homeschooling and for parent’s rights is contrary to everything expected from a Western nation,” he said.

The HSLDA confirms the family’s options are being reviewed.

The parents are allowed to see their son for 60 minutes every fifth week.

“At times referred to as a ‘social utopia,’ Sweden is completely antagonistic toward homeschoolers and, in reality, anyone who deviates from what the Swedish government defines as ‘normal.’ The government’s quest for conformity produces troubling side effects: the criminalization of actions – such as a parent’s decision regarding the best form of education for his child – that ought to be the hallmarks of a free, democratic society,” the HSLDA said.

“Taking children from their parents over minor differences in approaches to medical care (e.g. choosing not to vaccinate or delaying minor dental treatments) and for homeschooling is completely at odds with the basic human rights which all Western democracies should reflect,” the HSLDA said.

The organization is offering a webpage of information on how to support the family and linking to a petition advocating the return of Dominic to his parents.

On the petition’s forum page, a Canadian wrote, “I am appalled that this happened in a country as open, modern and inclusive as Sweden! I cannot understand it.”

An Australian called it “an abuse of power at the expense of a child.”

From Florida came the comment, “This is frightening!!!! … Please reverse this tragedy.”

The attack on homeschoolers appears to be part of a trend in some Western nations, including Germany. WND reported only a few weeks ago when a German family was granted asylum in the United States because of the persecution members would face if returned to their home country.

The case in Sweden developed when the boy, from Gotland, was forcibly taken into custody minutes before he and his parents were due to take off to start a new life in India, Annie’s home country.

In an online statement at the time, Johannson said, “While we may do things differently than most Swedes, we have not broken any laws and we have not harmed our son. We decided as a family that we wanted to move to India where we could be near my wife’s family. But the government has taken over my family, and now we are living in a nightmare. I fear for the life of my wife under this torture and for the well-being of my son who has only been allowed to see his parents for a few hours since he was taken. The government is alienating my son from me, and I am powerless to do anything.”

“What you have here is a socialist country trying to create a cookie cutter kid,” said Roger Kiska, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney based in Europe. “This kind of thing happens too often where social workers take a child and then just keep him.”

Read more here:  http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=125602

Keep an eye on the HSLDA website:

http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Sweden/200912220.asp

For those in Australia and New Zealand:

Please use the emails and website addresses for the Swedish people to email and send letters to.

We can also send emails to the Swedish  Consulates in Australia and New Zealand

Canberra

New Zealand contact details:

http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____21473.aspx

Australia Contact details:

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Time Magazine covers the Romeike story: How German Homeschoolers Won Asylum in the U.S.

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How German Homeschoolers Won Asylum in the U.S.

By Tristana Moore / Berlin Monday, Feb. 01, 2010

Uwe Romeike and his wife Hannelore work with their children at home in Morristown, Tenn.

Wade Payne / AP

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike are not like other asylum seekers, people fleeing war or torture in places like Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia. They’re music teachers from a village in southern Germany. And yet, in what appears to be the first case of its kind, the couple and their five children were granted asylum in the U.S. last week by an immigration judge who ruled that they had a “well-founded fear of persecution” in their home country for engaging in what has become a popular albeit somewhat controversial American practice — homeschooling their children.

The Romeikes, who are Evangelical Christians, took their three eldest children out of school in the town of Bissingen in 2006 because they were concerned about the impact the government-approved curriculum and the public-school environment would have on their social development. “Over the past 10 to 20 years, the curriculum in public schools in Germany has been more and more against Christian values, and my eldest children were having problems with violence, bullying and peer pressure. It’s important for parents to have the freedom to choose the way their children can be taught,” Uwe Romeike said in a statement provided by the couple’s attorney, Michael Donnelly of the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

But here’s the problem: in Germany it’s compulsory for children to attend school, and the Romeikes soon found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Local authorities slapped the couple with a $10,000 fine, and police even took their children to school when the Romeikes refused to send them. Fearing that they could lose custody of their kids or even be put in jail, the Romeikes fled to the U.S. in 2008, looking for a community where they could educate their kids as they saw fit.

That’s exactly what they found in Morristown, Tenn., a town of about 27,000 deep in the Bible Belt. Donnelly says the Romeikes flourished in the environment, becoming “very disciplined” teachers tackling subjects like math, history and social science with the help of textbooks and other teaching materials, all in accordance with state law. The couple also joined a local group that organizes activities and field trips for homeschooled children in the area. Once they were settled in their new community, they applied for asylum in the U.S., claiming they’d be persecuted if they were sent back to Germany…

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1958059,00.html

Homeschooling Family Granted Political Asylum

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From:  THE CONTINUING COLLAPSE January, Anno Domini 2010

Homeschooling Family Granted Political Asylum

Immigration Judge Says Germany Violating Basic Human Rights

A federal judge in Tennessee today granted political asylum to the Romeikes, a German Christian homeschooling family from Bissinggen, Germany, who fled persecution in August 2008 seeking political asylum in the United States.

As many of you may know, the German government has been aggressively persecuting Christian homeschoolers using Nazi-era laws. Moreover, the German government has used its power in  the EU to create a legal and administrative environment that has become increasingly hostile to homeschooling throughout Europe.

In his decision Judge Burman recognized that homeschooling is a fundamental human right:

“We can’t expect every country to follow our constitution,” said Judge Burman. “The world might be a better place if it did. However, the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate.”

Burman added, “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution…therefore, they are eligible for asylum…and the court will grant asylum.”

In addition to its repercussions in Germany and across Europe, Judge Burman’s decision is a blow against the elements of the educational establishment and the political left in the United States that would like to eliminate homeschooling or regulate independent homeschooling out of existence.

As a final word, The Continuing Collapse would like to point out that cases like these are not won in a vacuum. Judge Burman was obviously influenced by the now widespread perception that homeschooling is a legitimate educational alternative. That perception has been created over the years by homeschool parents, by the selfless work of homeschool leaders at the state and local level, by those who have promoted homeschooling throuugh the media (magazines, radio talk show, television, internet, etc.), and by our national organizations such as NHERI. In this particular case, HSLDA was the tip of the spear, and we should all give thanks for the tremendous job it has done in this case. The ultimate glory and thanks, of course, are due to God.

For more details see:

http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/201001260.asp

Math Prodigy, 14, Invited to Cambridge

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LONDON, Jan. 7, 2010

Math Prodigy, 14, Invited to Cambridge

Arran Fernandez Would be Youngest at University since 1773, When Eventual Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger Attended

In this photo released by the Fernandez family on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, home-schooled Arran Fernandez, 14, poses with the offer he received to join Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge University in October, in London.

In this photo released by the Fernandez family on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, home-schooled Arran Fernandez, 14, poses with the offer he received to join Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge University in October, in London. (AP Photo/PA, Neil Fernandez)

A 14-year-old math prodigy has been offered a place at Britain’s prestigious Cambridge University – if he can pass just one more exam.

Arran Fernandez, who was home-schooled in southern England’s Surrey county, was offered an undergraduate place at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam College after passing the university’s entrance exam.

He now needs only to pass his physics A-level exam – a standardized test for British students – to enroll.

British media Thursday quoted the boy’s father, Neil Fernandez, as saying that Arran would be the youngest Cambridge undergraduate since William Pitt the Younger, who became prime minister, attended at the same age in 1773.

Cambridge University spokesmen were not available late Thursday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/07/world/main6069139.shtml

The Harms of Homeschooling? Where Are the Premises?

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The Harms of Homeschooling?

Where Are the Premises?

by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

Context

Data-based research has consistently revealed favorable things related to the modern homeschool movement for about 25 years. Theoretical philosophical research, on the other hand, argues conflicting things about home-educating families and students. For example, professor Robin West recently published a controversial piece entitled “The Harms of Homeschooling”[1] that will be the main subject of this article. To set the stage for this discussion, a very brief summary of research on home education is important.

Repeated studies by many researchers and data provided by United States state departments of education show that home-educated students consistently score, on average, well above the public school average on standardized academic achievement tests.[2] To date, no research has found homeschool students to be doing worse, on average, than their counterparts in state-run schools.

Multiple studies by various researchers have found the home educated to be doing well in terms of their social, emotional, and psychological development.[3] Further, the limited research on the topic to date reveals that adults who were home educated are typically doing well on all measures considered, and they appear to be happy, on average, productive, and civically engaged members of their communities. No research has controverted these two general conclusions.

Finally, regarding empirical studies, this author is not aware of any research that has involved collected data and has shown that the practice of home-based education, homeschool parents, homeschool students, or adults who were home educated are harming, on average, one another, their neighbors, their communities, or their nations.

The purpose of this article is twofold, to show that the “harms of homeschooling” that West alleges basically have no foundation in research evidence and to note that West’s proposal for the state to control homeschool parents and their children is based on a worldview that it antithetical to one held by a significant portion of Americans.

Overview of West’s Article

West, in her piece, attempts to do two things. She begins by asserting that homeschooling that is not regulated more by the state is likely to harm children in several ways. She then moves on, from a particular but unspecified worldview, to propose government law and policies to control private homeschooling so that children and youth are less likely to be harmed. Her basic thesis and most of her ideas are not new. For example, Reich[4] has argued that the state must control home-based education to make sure that the students learn basic knowledge and skills, become psychologically autonomous, are not “ethically servile,” and become decent, civil, and respectful. Similarly, Yuracko[5] argued that the state must increase its control over home education to make sure children and youth are exposed to “liberal values” (p. 10) and to “… check rampant forms of sexism in homeschooling” (p. 11).

Seven Claims

Read the “seven claims” here: http://www.nheri.org/Latest/The-Harms-of-Homeschooling-Where-Are-the-Premises.html

Read what Brian Ray says about “West’s “Harms,” Solutions, and Worldview, and the Problem” here: http://www.nheri.org/Latest/The-Harms-of-Homeschooling-Where-Are-the-Premises.html

Read Brian Ray’s “Conclusions and Cautions” here: http://www.nheri.org/Latest/The-Harms-of-Homeschooling-Where-Are-the-Premises.html