Issue Description

As a result of the abuses of the child welfare system, we at HSLDA are working to reform the child welfare laws in the states. We support legislation which would protect families by forcing social workers to abide by the same laws regular law enforcement officials must obey. HSLDA attorneys also work constantly to represent our member families who are undergoing social services investigations for exercising their right to homeschool.

Issue Background

In recent years there has been an unprecedented rise in the number of homeschool families that have been investigated by social workers, many for completely false allegations anonymously phoned in from a disgruntled relative or neighbor. Unfortunately there are inadequate safeguards in place to protect innocent families from this traumatic, and many times unnecessary, intrusion into their home. In an effort to remedy this problem HSLDA lobbied Congress in 2001 to include a variety of safeguards in CAPTA, the Federal legislation that provides much of the funding for social services departments. While Congress did not include all of our suggested reforms, two of the most important - social worker training in family rights and mandatory disclosure of allegations - were included in the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003.