HomeSchooler.org.uk

The son of a member of the Badman Review Action Group has very kindly given me permission to reproduce his correspondence with the Children's Commissioner...

***********************First Letter***********************

Dear Children's Commissioner,

I and my brother are electively home educated. My Dad has told me
that should the Badman recommendations become law, I may have to see
and speak to employees of the Local Authority. My brother and I do not
want to do this and we do not want strangers to have the right of
entrance to our house. A recent poll of home educated children found
that 77% of them felt the same way. Could you confirm whether or not we have
the right not to meet or speak with local officials and whether, if we don't
want them in our house, we have to have them in anyway. I understand that Human
Rights legislation protects children from this sort of thing.

Yours sincerely,

LM

***********************Follow Up***********************

Dear Children's Commissioner,

I wrote to you last night saying that Mr Badman's review would let
inspectors come into my house, take me away from my parents and
question me. This will happen even when nothing is wrong. My
brother and I don't want this to happen. This morning we have been looking at
the UNHCR website. Article 16 says that: 'No child shall be subjected to
arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or
correspondence.' And Article 12 says that children have the right to express
their views freely in all matters affecting themselves and that 'the views of
the child be given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the
child.'

Under Articles 12 and 16, my brother and I hereby state that we do
not want strangers breaking into our house, taking us away and
interrogating us. We believe that since our mum and dad are not
suspected of abuse, such interference would be arbitrary and
unlawful.

Will the Children's Commissioner uphold the UNHCR and support our
case?

Yours sincerely

LM

***********************The Children's Commissioner replied***********************

Dear L,

Thank you for your email of 4 July.

We think that for most children who are home educated, it is the right choice
for them and their families; that they are cared for, safe and receive as good
an education as they would elsewhere.

Sadly, this is not the case for all children. Our job is to promote the views
and best interests of children and to make every effort to ensure that all
children are supported to achieve their very best and to always be protected. We
have supported the review of home education as a way of working with families to
ensure that we have a system that meets our shared aspirations for children and
young people.

The Government is now consulting on the monitoring for children educated at
home, which include ideas on keeping children safe and also looking at the
quality of education children receive. The consultation closed on 19 October.
Your views are important so do make sure you have your views heard. This can be
found at
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultationDetails&consul\
tationId=1643&external=no&menu=1

We will also responding to this consultation, seeking to ensure that the views
of children are reflected in the Government's consideration of these issues, and
we would be very pleased to receive your comments.

Yours sincerely,

Ross Hendry

Director of Policy

***********************And the response to this***********************

Dear Director of Policy,

I asked you whether you would support me if I said I did not want strangers
taking me and my brother away from my parents. Do you agree with me or not? I
do not mind if you will not support me: I just need to know whether you are on
my side, and from your reply, I guess you are not. Article 12 of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child says that I have a right to be heard. Article 16
says that my home and privacy shall not be subject to arbitrary interference.
As someone who has a right to be heard let me tell the Children's Commissioner
that I consider somebody coming into my house without my permission or my
parents' permission to be arbitrary interference of the most obtrusive kind. If
the police or anyone else has any suspicion that I or my parents are doing
something wrong then they can get a warrant and break entry. Otherwise, they
are arbitrarily interfering. If you won't support my brother and me, that is
fine. But if you don't support us, you have no right at at all to say you
represent the rights of children. Next time, I would appreciate an answer that
was personal and which actually dealt with my question. You have taken a long
time on this occasion to give me nothing more than a pretty meaningless sound
bite.

With best wishes,

LM