SOUTH CAROLINA
SCAIHS Families Encounter Difficulties
Since the beginning of the 1994-95 school year, three home-schooling families in South Carolina who are members of the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (SCAIHS) have encountered significant legal contacts. A family in Chapin was contacted by the department of social services. In McColl, another family was referred to family court for their daughter's failure to attend school. The third contact, in which the family was also referred to family court, resulted in HSLDA attorneys traveling to South Carolina for a hearing, as it is reported in the litigation section on page 22.
Social Service Investigation
During the last week of August, a representative of the Department of Social Services (DSS) came to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Velilla in Chapin (Lexington County). The social worker's visit was in response to a report that the Velilla children were not attending school. Mrs. Velilla informed the social worker that the family was a member of SCAIHS, but the social worker insisted upon entering the home, examining their school books, and interviewing their four children about matters that had nothing to do with the original report received by DSS. Even after receiving almost immediate verification from SCAIHS that the Velilla family was a member in good standing, DSS continued to attempt to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the Velilla family.
HSLDA attorney Dewitt Black communicated with the DSS representative on a number of occasions by letter and telephone, advising the social worker of the legal limitations of the type of investigation being conducted against the Velilla family. Mr. Black cited both the statutory law of South Carolina and the constitutional protection of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution which made the comprehensive and intrusive investigation being conducted by DSS an illegal exercise of state power. After speaking with Mr. Velilla by telephone and being assured that the family was going to defend its right to privacy and the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children, the social worker decided to terminate the investigation and to report that the allegations received by DSS were unfounded.
Truancy Charges
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Baugher, who reside in McColl (Marlboro County), received a letter from the assistant principal of their local high school advising them that their daughter had been referred to the Family Court for failure to attend school. A hearing was scheduled for September 26, 1994.
Mr. and Mrs. Baugher were fully in compliance with state law. They were members of SCAIHS and had notified the public school officials that they were conducting a home-schooling program for their daughter. Mr. Baugher contacted HSLDA attorney Dewitt Black, who in turn contacted the Marlboro County Family Court. Mr. Black furnished the Department of Youth Services with documentation proving that the Baugher family was a member in good standing with SCAIHS and that there was no basis to continue the truancy action. Once the matter was reviewed by the Solicitor's Office, which is responsible for prosecuting criminal actions in South Carolina, the truancy action was dismissed against the Baugher family.
These stories are further proof that even though home-schooling families may be in full compliance with state law, they may still find themselves defending truancy charges or fighting off intrusive investigations by overzealous social workers.
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