Illinois HB 2827 adopts elements of CRHE’s Make Homeschool Safe Act model legislation

The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the only national nonprofit founded and run by homeschooled adults advocating for homeschooled children, strongly supports Illinois HB 2827, a bill that would promote child safety and education access.

If passed, HB 2827, also known as the Homeschool Act, would:

• Ensure every school-age child in Illinois is accounted for. Requires parents to notify their local school district of their intent to homeschool their child each year.
• Ensure every child has a record of their academic progress. Requires homeschooling parents to maintain a portfolio of student work to show that the child is receiving an education at least on par with public school standards.
• Ensure every child learns from educated instructors. Requires parents to have a high school diploma or equivalent in order to homeschool
• Protect children from convicted sex offenders. Bans those convicted of sexual abuse crimes from homeschooling.
• Streamline the process for homeschooled children to take part in public school activities. Requires homeschooled children taking part in public school activities to submit immunization records the same way that public school students do, while keeping current legal exemptions to immunization in place

HB 2827 draws from the Make Homeschool Safe Act, a first-of-its-kind piece of model legislation published by CRHE in 2024. The Make Homeschool Safe Act contains a range of provisions that promote child safety, education, and resource access in the homeschool community.

“Every child has the right to be safe, to learn, and to access resources. HB 2827 would protect those rights for children who are homeschooled in Illinois,” said CRHE Executive Director Angela Grimberg. “We are grateful for this opportunity to work with Illinois lawmakers and the homeschool community to help bring HB 2827 to fruition. And we urge everyone who cares about children’s rights, both in Illinois and nationwide, to join us in supporting this bill.” 

Child advocacy group calls for stronger legal protections for homeschooled children

[Washington, DC]: On December 22, 2024, Kayden Gavarrete, a 7-year-old boy homeschooled in Indianapolis, Indiana, was found dead under suspicious circumstances. We at the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the only national nonprofit founded and run by homeschooled adults advocating for homeschooled children, mourn the loss of Kayden’s life.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Kayden allegedly suffered systemic abuse and was severely malnourished when his body was found. Kayden’s father also reportedly told detectives that his son had not seen a doctor in a year or two. His father and his father’s girlfriend both face multiple charges related to Kayden’s death. They had begun to homeschool Kayden at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, several months before he died. This is a developing story, and we will continue to monitor it.

Kayden’s story is devastating, but it also follows an unfortunately familiar pattern. At CRHE, we maintain Homeschooling’s Invisible Children, the world’s only database of extreme child abuse and neglect cases in homeschool settings. In the nearly 500 cases in our database, 49% of them, including Kayden’s, involve depriving children of food. Lax homeschool laws nationwide that have little or no provisions to ensure that children are safe and educated ultimately enable this kind of prolonged, intentional abuse. Sadly, since 2000, at least 220 abused and neglected homeschooled children have lost their lives.

Every child who is homeschooled deserves to be cared for and safe at home. At CRHE, we remain committed to protecting children like Kayden. We continue to conduct research, develop resources, and advocate for policies that prioritize homeschooled children’s wellbeing and education. To that end, we urge Indiana lawmakers to implement the Make Homeschool Safe Act, which contains measures that protect homeschooled children from abuse and neglect. It’s time to give children like Kayden the protection they deserve.

Child advocacy group opposes Utah’s proposed child safety rollbacks

[Washington, DC]: The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the only national nonprofit advocating for homeschooled children, strongly opposes Utah HB 0209, a bill that would allow convicted child abusers to homeschool.

Currently, parents who homeschool in Utah must give their local school district an affidavit with four pieces of information:

• The school district where they live
• A statement claiming their child will be homeschooled
• A statement claiming parental responsibility for educating their homeschooled child
• A statement claiming that they have not been convicted of certain violent crimes against children

If passed, HB 0209 would remove the requirement for parents to attest to criminal background history, thereby allowing convicted abusers to homeschool without any restrictions.

“HB 0209 blatantly disregards child safety,” said CRHE executive director Angela Grimberg. “If you have been convicted of a crime that would prevent you from teaching children in a public school, then you should not be allowed to homeschool children, either. Homeschooled children deserve to learn from educators who have been vetted for safety. We urge Utah lawmakers to protect children from convicted abusers by voting no on HB 0209.”

Utah is one of just three states with laws that bar from homeschooling parents convicted of child abuse, sexual offenses, or other crimes that would disqualify them from employment as a school teacher. In a 2024 report for Homeschooling’s Invisible Children, the world’s only dataset of extreme abuse and neglect cases in homeschool settings, CRHE researchers found a number of cases in which caregivers who had been convicted of crimes against children were allowed to homeschool.

In July 2024, Gavin Peterson, a 12-year-old homeschooled child in West Haven, died from the effectives of chronic, systematic abuse allegedly committed by his family. Despite multiple reports of abuse to social services from school employees, Gavin was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in 2023.

“Gavin Peterson’s death should have been a wake-up call for Utah legislators to strengthen protections for homeschooled children, not destroy them,” said Grimberg. “We at CRHE ask Utah residents to join us in rejecting this bill and supporting homeschooled children’s right to safety.”

[Richmond, Virginia]: During the 2025 legislative session, Virginia Senator Stella Pekarsky introduced SB 1031, which would have closed the educational neglect loophole in the state’s religious-exemption statute for homeschooling. On January 30, 2025, the Virginia Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee voted to pass SB 1031 by indefinitely. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the nation’s only advocacy group for homeschooled children, fully supported Pekarsky’s efforts and remains committed to ending this loophole.

“While this may not be the outcome we envisioned, this moment marks major progress in the fight for homeschooled children’s rights,” said CRHE board chair Carmen Longoria-Green. “SB 1031 garnered significant support in the Senate education committee. Before the bill was passed by, nine senators voted to end this loophole. That’s a stark contrast to when Del. Thomas Rust proposed a study on the religious-exemption statute in 2014. This progress is evidence of the real-world impact of CRHE’s work over the past decade.”

Virginia’s religious-exemption statute legalizes educational neglect in homeschooling, and Virginia is the only state in the country with such a law. Under the religious-exemption statute, a parent or guardian can refuse to teach their child anything at all — even to read — and that conduct is completely legal. Pekarsky, a former homeschooling mother, responded to the horrific cases of educational neglect authorized by this statute and introduced SB 1031 to close this one-of-a-kind loophole.

“We thank Sen. Pekarsky for her efforts to raise awareness of the massive loophole in Virginia law by introducing SB 1031,” said Longoria-Green. “We hope that her concerns are heard by other lawmakers invested in improving the current and future welfare of Virginia’s children. The fight is not over.”

If you are a homeschooled adult or homeschooling parent with connections to Virginia and are interested in supporting CRHE’s efforts to close the religious-exemption loophole, please join CRHE’s mailing list.

The Coalition for Responsible Home Education, the only national nonprofit advocating for homeschooled children, rejects the Jan. 23, 2025 proposed changes to Virginia SB 1031, which would have significantly and disastrously altered the assessment requirements in the state’s homeschool statute, Va. Code § 22.1-254.1. 

On Thursday, January 23, 2025, a substitute was offered for SB 1031, which would have altered the homeschool assessment requirements. CRHE acted immediately against this proposal and notified the bill’s sponsor that it would have to withdraw its support for the bill unless the changes to the assessment requirements were removed. The proposal has now been withdrawn, and the bill’s former language has been restored.

CRHE has been supporting Sen. Pekarsky, a former homeschooling mom and SB 1031’s sponsor, to remedy the current loophole in Virginia’s religious-exemption statute. That loophole makes it completely legal for parents homeschooling under that statute not to teach their children at all. The proposed alterations to the assessment provision were not proposed by Sen. Pekarsky – but by a senator acting without her knowledge and without the input of key stakeholders, including CRHE. As explained in her statement, Sen. Pekarsky immediately understood the dangers posed by the proposed alterations to the assessment requirements and acted swiftly to have the proposed alterations withdrawn. CRHE and Sen. Pekarsky remain in alignment with our shared goals to protect homeschooled kids.

“CRHE emphatically rejects assessment requirements that rely solely on standardized testing,” said CRHE board chair Carmen Longoria-Green. “CRHE’s model legislation, the Make Homeschool Safe Act, represents the gold standard for homeschool legislation based upon the real-world experiences of formerly homeschooled adults. The model statute embraces holistic assessment requirements so that students have a variety of methods to demonstrate their academic progress. CRHE does not endorse alterations to existing homeschool laws that run contrary to the policy positions adopted in the Make Homeschool Safe Act.”

There is significant misinformation circulating about SB 1031 and the Jan. 23 proposal to alter the assessment provisions. Opponents to SB 1031, who want the religious-exemption loophole to remain in place, are using this confusion to their advantage. The language of SB 1031 has been restored to its original purpose: removing the religious-exemption loophole that legalizes extreme educational neglect. 

“We at CRHE ask all Virginia residents to join us in supporting Sen. Pekarsky’s efforts to remove this loophole,” said Longoria-Green. “This is a vital opportunity to make homeschool safe for every child in Virginia.”

About: The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) is the only organization in the country founded and run by homeschooled adults that advocates for laws and policies that protect homeschooled children. CRHE exists to ensure that homeschooling is an educational tool used to lovingly prepare children for an open future.

Child advocacy group led by homeschooled adults offers insights on the abuse of homeschooled children, calls for legal reform to promote child safety

[Washington, DC] A new report developed by a child advocacy group reveals eye-opening insights into extreme cases of child abuse within homeschooling families. 

The Homeschooling’s Invisible Children (HIC) 2024 report examines three key dimensions of abuse and homeschooling: red flags surrounding homeschooling, patterns in abuse, and outcomes for victims as well as how abuse came to light. Developed by the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the report contains insights based on the nearly 500 cases of severe child abuse and neglect on public record and documented in the HIC database.

“While many families homeschool responsibly, abuse and neglect do occur in homeschooling environments,” said Dr. Jonah Stewart, CRHE research and operations director and the report’s lead author. “The data we have collected illuminate how abusive caregivers are able to use homeschooling to conceal and escalate their abuse.” 

Among the report’s key findings are the following:

• Withdrawal from school to homeschool under suspicious circumstances is a red flag for abuse. Concerning data from several states show that withdrawal from school to homeschool under certain circumstances is a red flag for abuse and neglect. The new report paints a national picture of this trend; CRHE researchers have identified almost 60 cases (n=59) in which families withdrew their children from school soon after a social services investigation closed, or in direct response to school officials making a report to social services. Since 2000, at least 31 homeschooled children have died from abuse after being withdrawn from school under these suspicious circumstances. 
• Perpetrators with prior convictions of crimes against children have been permitted to homeschool – with devastating outcomes for homeschooled children. CRHE researchers have identified a number of cases in which caregivers who had been convicted of crimes against children were permitted to homeschool. These cases include that of Trinity Love Jones, a homeschooled child who died after systematic abuse perpetrated by her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, who both had prior convictions for violent crimes against minors. Despite these convictions, they were allowed to withdraw her from school to homeschool her about a year prior to her death.
• 61% of HIC database cases come to light too late, most often when the victim is dead or dying, or when the victim flees or is abandoned (n=70). These cases also involve abuse being reported after the fact (or child abuse not being reported directly), or abuse coming to light under circumstances irrelevant to the victim. 

“The insights found within this new report are horrifying, but they are not surprising,” said Angela Grimberg, CRHE executive director. “These tragedies are the inevitable outcomes of decades of deregulation that have left homeschooled children with minimal legal protections from abuse and neglect. Each of these children’s stories represents a policy failure.”

Homeschool laws nationwide have few measures to ensure children’s safety. Among these laws’ most egregious failures are the following:

• All 50 states allow families that were recently subject of a social services investigation to withdraw their children from school to homeschool them.
• 47 states do not prevent caregivers convicted of crimes against children from homeschooling. 
• 18 states only require parents to notify their school districts that they are homeschooling without imposing any accountability to ensure children are educated or alive. 
• 11 states do not require parents to make any notification to officials, effectively nullifying compulsory education law by creating “truancy loopholes.” 
• Only one state enforces the requirement that all homeschooled children be consistently assessed for academic progress. 
• No state requires all homeschooled children to come into contact with a trained mandatory reporter for child abuse. 

CRHE recently released the Make Homeschool Safe Act, first-of-its-kind model legislation that codifies measures to support homeschooled children’s safety, education, and wellbeing. Versions of the Make Homeschool Safe Act are in development in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota.

“The findings in the HIC report clearly illustrate the urgent need for homeschool reform,” said Stewart. “The report, and HIC moreover, document extreme manifestations of broader problems. For every grisly, highly visible story of a child harmed in a homeschool environment, there are an unknown number of others grappling with the wide-ranging harms of underregulated homeschooling.” 

“Our hope is that the public and policymakers grasp this urgency and take action to make homeschool safe for children,” said Grimberg.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Homeschooled children’s advocacy group calls for change after child found dead

[Washington, DC]: Gavin Peterson, a 12-year-old homeschooled boy in West Haven, Utah, died this July from the effects of chronic, systematic abuse allegedly committed by his father, stepmother, and brother. We at the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, the nation’s only advocacy organization for homeschooled children, mourn the loss of Gavin’s life. 

Gavin’s story is a tragic example of state laws failing to protect homeschooled children. Despite multiple reports of abuse to social services from school employees, Gavin was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in August 2023. 

We know that withdrawal from school under suspicious circumstances is a red flag for child abuse. Per our Homeschooling’s Invisible Children database, since 2000, at least 31 homeschooled children have died from abuse after being withdrawn from school in the wake of a social services investigation or in direct response to school officials making a report to social services.

According to CRHE research and operations director Dr. Jonah Stewart, “When abusive families withdraw a child from school to be homeschooled, they can easily isolate them from professionals trained to recognize child abuse – or anyone else who could spot a problem and help. Not one single state – including Utah – has strong enough homeschool laws to keep children like Gavin from falling through the cracks.”

In fact, Gavin’s case is one of at least 218 fatalities documented in Homeschooling’s Invisible Children. Many of the database’s cases involve parents, guardians, and other caregivers exploiting their state’s lax homeschool laws to isolate and abuse children. And because reporting on child fatalities doesn’t always contain information on school status, this number is likely an underestimate. 

According to local media reports, Gavin loved science and Pokemon. His favorite color was blue, and he had an infectious smile. Gavin should still be here today, sharing that smile with the world.

At CRHE, we’re fiercely committed to protecting children like Gavin. We continue to conduct research, develop resources, and advocate for policies that prioritize homeschooled children’s safety, wellbeing, and education. To that end, we call on Utah lawmakers to implement the Make Homeschool Safe Act, which contains measures that protect homeschooled children from abuse and neglect. It’s time to make the changes needed to keep children like Gavin safe.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the nation’s leading homeschooled children’s advocacy nonprofit, celebrates its 10th anniversary this December with a $10,000 fundraiser.

Together, CRHE board president Carmen Longoria-Green and supporters Caleb and Hannah Lowery will match up to $10,000 in donations to CRHE from Giving Tuesday through December. 

“2023 has been a banner year for CRHE,” said Longoria-Green. “From appearing on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Amazon Prime’s Shiny Happy People to presenting at the internationally renowned Crimes Against Children conference and releasing a first-of-its-kind college and career readiness guide for homeschooled students, our team has marked our 10th year by taking our work to new heights. We wholeheartedly thank our supporters as they help us continue to build on a decade of advocacy.”

Since its founding, CRHE has worked to ensure homeschooled children’s right to a quality education in a safe home is affirmed and protected by laws, stakeholders, and society as a whole. The organization is known for its groundbreaking research project, Homeschooling’s Invisible Children, the world’s only database of severe abuse and neglect cases in homeschool settings. Beyond research, the organization’s focus areas include government relations, resource development, communications, and direct services.

“CRHE was founded in 2013 by a small group of homeschool alumni who wanted to address a problem: the use of homeschooling to isolate, abuse, and neglect children,” said CRHE executive director Angela Grimberg. “We’re proud of our advocacy for homeschooled children over the past 10 years, and we look forward to expanding this vital work in the years to come.”

###