Did NJ Homeschool Laws Aid A Gloucester Twp. Couple Accused Of Confining, Abusing Child?

CAMDEN, NJ — With a Gloucester Township couple accused of holding a child captive in their home for several years, Camden County's prosecutor took aim at a possible contributing factor: the state's homeschooling laws.

For seven years, Brenda Spencer and Branndon Mosley confined and abused a child inside their Blackwood home, authorities said last week. Throughout that time, the suspects trapped the victim in a dog crate, chained her inside a padlocked bathroom and subjected her to beatings and sexual assault, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

• Read more: Couple Confined Child For 7 Abusive Years Inside Gloucester Twp. Home: Officials

The victim, who is now 18, escaped from the home May 8 with help from a neighbor, who alerted law enforcement about her mother's and stepfather's abuse, officials said.

The confinement started around 2018, when Spencer removed her from the school system. During the period when she was chained inside the bathroom, she was only allowed out when other family members visited their home, according to court documents.

One year later, Spencer removed a second child from school out of fear that she would tell someone about the abuse in their home, authorities said.

Both children were allegedly homeschooled. But in the ensuing years, there's no evidence that the children received any education or that they were ever allowed outside of the house.

The suspects remain jailed in the Camden County Correctional Facility with a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday.

While detailing the allegations last week, Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay took aim at the state's homeschooling laws.

"In New Jersey, parents are only required to notify their district of their intent to homeschool," MacAulay said during a news conference at the prosecutor's office in Camden. "There are no requirements by the New Jersey Department of Education to follow up on attendance records, minimum instructional time, subjects and testing."

"Homeschooling may be the right choice for many families," she continued. "Unfortunately, it can be used by others as a means to hide abuse."

Homeschooling In New Jersey

In New Jersey, when a parent or guardian wants to begin homeschooling their children, they must inform their local board of education, according to the state education department.

Under state law, homeschooling parents must provide instruction equivalent to what their child would receive in public schools. And if they don't, they can be charged with a disorderly person's offense, subject to a $25 fine for the first offense and up to $100 each time thereafter.

Local school boards are tasked with enforcing the law. But the state requires very little of them when it comes to concrete enforcement actions.

School boards are not required or authorized to monitor homeschooling curriculum or the quality of the education the children are receiving.

"The local board of education does not have to ensure through testing or another mechanism that instruction is being appropriately delivered or achieving its desired effect, to review the quality of instruction, or to monitor the results," says the New Jersey Department of Education. "A child educated elsewhere than at school is not required to sit for a state or district standardized test."

Debates Around Homeschooling

Parents opt to homeschool their children for a variety of reasons. But the most common are dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at local schools and concerns about school environments — such as safety or negative peer pressure — according to the National Center of Education Statistics.

Several peer-reviewed studies have also revealed homeschooling leading to better outcomes than conventional education.

But occasionally, news of severe or even deadly abuse against children who were allegedly being homeschooled re-ignites debates on homeschool oversight.

One example is Raylee JoLynn Browning, a West Virginia girl who died of cardiac arrest at 8 years old in 2018. The girl's father, his partner and his partner's sister were arrested after authorities found they beat Raylee, starved her and at times forced her to go days without drinking water.

They were sentenced to 3 to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of neglect, and the West Virginia Supreme Court upheld those convictions this week.

Raylee was removed from public school after her teachers reported suspected child abuse to Child Protective Services, according to West Virginia Watch. But according to court testimony during the criminal trials, CPS didn't respond to the referral.

After Raylee's death, West Virginia legislators have spent years advocating for "Raylee's Law," which would yank children from homeschooling during active child abuse investigations. But efforts to pass the law have fallen short.

Efforts to increase the monitoring of homeschool education have fallen short in many states and have faced opposition from organizations like the Home School Legal Defense Association.

For decades, the HSLDA has advocated to "protect homeschool freedom," fighting against measures that would regulate homeschooling more strictly. The HSLDA calls itself a Christian organization but says it "want(s) every family to have the freedom to direct their children's education, no matter their background or religious affiliation," according to their website.

Scott A. Woodruff, the HSLDA's director of legal and legislative advocacy, maintained that stance in response to MacAulay's comments.

"Child abuse is a complex problem that defies simplistic knee-jerk reactions like demonizing a particular group of people," Woodruff told Patch via email. "To reduce child abuse, we must focus extra attention on the well-established risk factors for abuse. Homeschooling is not a risk factor per the Mayo Clinic, the World Health Organization, The American Psychological Association, and the federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities."

The New Jersey Homeschool Association, which also advocates for parental homeschooling freedoms, claims state oversight wouldn't protect children from abuse better than brick-and-mortar schools.

"Our hearts go out to the victims," the association told Patch in a statement. "As homeschoolers, we prioritize the health and well-being of children, and are horrified to learn of any child being mistreated, including by adults masquerading as homeschoolers. Abuse can and sometimes does happen at home, at school, and elsewhere. While this is profoundly sad, there is absolutely no evidence that school attendance lowers the risk of abuse at home."