CCA Statement in Support of HB 5468: The Need for a Homeschooling Safety Framework in Connecticut

The Center for Children’s Advocacy (CCA), a statewide legal rights organization dedicated to individual and systemic advocacy on behalf of low-income and vulnerable children, strongly supports the Connecticut legislature’s Education Committee’s raised bill, 5468, the first comprehensive effort by Connecticut lawmakers in many years to create a safety net for children who are removed or not enrolled in public school for the stated purpose of homeschooling. The bill proposes an articulation of the rights and obligations of parents and school districts in ensuring, as required by state law, that school age children are either enrolled in school or elsewhere receiving “equivalent instruction.” Connecticut has long grappled with its minority status as one of 12 states that does not have a uniform framework for regulating the withdrawal of a child from school for the stated purpose of homeschooling. Connecticut’s lack of uniform framework has persisted despite the long-recognized right of states to regulate homeschooling withdrawals and despite the state’s compulsory education laws and the requirement that districts ensure that school-age children are enrolled or elsewhere receiving “equivalent instruction.” Consequently, practice over the many years has defaulted into a widespread, pervasive lack of follow up when a child is permanently withdrawn from school. For better, and sometimes for much worse, a parent can withdraw a child with a slip of paper stating that the child will be homeschooled, whether they will be or not.

Long ago statutory guidance from the State Department of Education urging superintendents to ensure parents file a “notice of intent” to homeschool and ensure district officials conduct at least annual “portfolio” reviews to ensure the child is actually receiving equivalent instruction was never codified, leaving school districts to their own devices to determine their obligations and liabilities with regard to withdrawn children. Today, no district follows the 1994 Circular Letter issued by the State Department of Education. 

Similarly, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has little direction in how to fulfill their unique obligations to ensure the safety of children in the context of a child who is already the subject of an abuse/neglect case who is then removed from school during the pendency of the DCF case. Though many case workers attempt to follow up on information that a child has been withdrawn from school, if known, the activities they engage in vary, as state law does not clearly inform the protocols for caseworkers to follow and parents may refuse to provide DCF with information about or access to their withdrawn child.

The vagary of current state law and the obligations of school districts and DCF is highly problematic. Statutes and regulations influence determinations of obligation and liability, therefore every potentially responsible entity should prefer their obligations to be articulated in statute rather than remain inchoate, particularly when dealing with urgent and compelling rights such as a parent’s right to direct the educational upbringing of their children, the state’s right to ensure the education of its citizens, and the child welfare agency’s responsibility to ensure investigation and disposition of child abuse and neglect cases.  

Life and death consequences of Connecticut’s lack of explicit statutory directives persist

In 2026 we are talking about these issues again because last year a 32 year old man fought for his own survival after allegedly being held hostage in a small room in a Waterbury home for the many years after he was withdrawn from school as a young child. And young Mimi Torres, reportedly removed from school by her parent perhaps two years after DCF had closed her family’s case, was later found to have died from child abuse and starvation. She too had allegedly been removed from school with the simple correspondence that she would be “homeschooled”.

A balancing of rights and obligations is required—the state and parents both have legally cognizable rights in these cases

he rights at stake here are indeed profound. CCA respects and supports the rights of families to direct the educational upbringing of their children and choose homeschooling as an alternative to public school instruction. 

But no one is advocating for getting rid of the right to homeschool, nor should they, nor can they as this is arguably a right derived from the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children. What the bill proposes is what most other states have long already done: a clarification of the responsibilities of local and state agencies towards children removed from school and a balancing of rights and interests. 

For many years, Connecticut has been unable (or unwilling) to resolve these urgent concerns and fairly balance the interests of parents, the state, and children, in part because many of the children who need protection are not visible and the depth of the urgent concern is hard to appreciate. The children who need the safety net are not at the Capitol advocating for their rights and protesting and testifying. But we know some of them — Mr. S., Mimi, and William –the child described by the Office of the Child Advocate’s 2025 report on homeschooling who was found by police living in a locked room in an abandoned building where his family was staying. William’s mother admitted she withdrew William from school to hide evidence of abuse. After his discovery, doctors treated him for multiple blunt force injuries and severe malnourishment.  

We know children like S, William, and Mimi may never testify at the legislature. They may never write their representatives. Some children may not even be OK today. But they need our help and this bill is an honorable effort to provide that aid. 

We know the issue is difficult, but Connecticut is not trailblazing or violating parents’ rights in addressing these concerns. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, (and other states!), all have homeschooling frameworks.  While CCA is confident that many Connecticut families lovingly educate their children, there is no doubt that other adults have exploited Connecticut’s lack of action in this area to hide an abused or neglected child from public view and the scrutiny of mandated reporters.

CCA is a statewide legal rights organization for the most vulnerable children in our community. We will speak up for these children. They have rights, too. We are grateful for this legislature’s effort to help them.