civil disobedience – written in a hurry to MP[so prob some errors]!

Dear xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,

i am afraid i am contacting you again about the government and their management of the home education review. As you know, I, and many other home educators, utterly dispute the majority of mr badman’s report. The statistics are unsound, and the bibliography very small and biased.

However, we are still awaiting a report from the select committee who were asked to assess this review,

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmchilsch/uc999-ii/uc99902.htm

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmchilsch/uc999-i/uc99902.htm

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmchilsch/memo/elehomed/contents.htm

and also the report on the following stake holder consultation on implementing this review
‘Home Education – registration and monitoring proposals. An eighteen week consultation with stake holders, 11 June 2009 to 19 October 2009. The Government hopes to publish a response by the end of November’
at the select committee hearing, the dcsf stated that
‘I need to say at this point that I am not able to go into very much detail about the proposals on monitoring and registration today. As you know, they are out for public consultation, which ends on 19 October. We will have to consider carefully the consultation responses before proceeding. I would like to emphasise that no firm decisions have yet been taken.’
yet they are proceeding.

I was therefore astonished to find it still in the Queens speech as a bill in hand, and horrified to find it placed within the safeguarding children part. these are children at home with their parents. unless all parents are automatically assumed guilty by the state now, this is an outrageous slur.
‘• Safeguarding the vulnerable – strengthening the powers of local authorities and others with regards to registration, inspection and intervention will mean effective systems are in place to protect those that most need it. The Bill will introduce a new home educators’ registration system and take new powers for Secretaries of State to intervene in youth offending teams that are failing and potentially putting young people and their communities at risk.’

my children are not within the most vulnerable, and do not most require protection. they are loved and cherished by their family. i cannot and will not accede to this over presumption on the governments part. I will not agree that they have authority here over my family. I would like to point out that we are very law abiding citizens, my husband is xxxxxxxxxxxx, and I am xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, so not the most likely candidates for civil disobedience. this goes too far however, and i will not agree.

there is a parliamentary group with Graham Stuart MP as chair for home education, and I would ask you to please help represent us, a minority group with so much to lose here. if you read the memorandum submitted by paula rothermel to the select committee, you will see that Mr Badman primarily wanted to see if home educating parents had munchausen by proxy, if you read that from ofsted, you will read that they recommend all home educating parents should be CRB checked before they are allowed to proceed. I am level 2 child protection trained as part of my work and, like many other professionals, highly committed to a high standard of child protection. However, I find all this astounding, child protection gone mad. there are already perfectly adequate, joined-up services which run as well as staffing levels allow for child protection in this country. forcible annual assessment of a further possible 50,000 children at an estimated cost of 34million [governments own figures] does not seem to me to be reasonable.