Two weeks ago, I first told you about the 8-year-old Texas boy who, just before Christmas last year, disobeyed family rules and walked to the neighborhood dollar store without permission.
He was driven home, grounded by his parents, and learned his lesson. A few days later, a Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) investigator asked for an appointment, then came to the family’s suburban home on January 4, 2024.
She asked for “access to the living environment” and to interview all five of the homeschooled children apart from their parents. The parents declined, as was their right, and politely suggested the investigator’s time might be better spent helping children truly in need.
Almost two months went by. Then, on February 27, a Tuesday, the parents received a letter from the local county court. The letter notified them that an order “in aid of investigation” had been issued by the judge, and that the order authorized a search of the home and transport of the children to the state offices for interviews and examinations. The parents—who have been members of HSLDA for 10 years—called us immediately, late that Tuesday afternoon.
HSLDA’s litigation counsel, Peter Kamakawiwoole, along with our longtime local counsel, followed every legal avenue available to defend our member family, which you can read more about here. Suffice to say, before a week had passed, the Texas Court of Appeals ordered DFPS to stand down and gave the agency until March 19, 2024, to justify the “emergency” order.
Two days after the court of appeals asked for an explanation, DFPS asked the local county court to dismiss the case. We don’t know why the sudden change of heart—but we do know the case is over and the family’s rights have been preserved.
One of the most important sentences ever written by an appellate court about the critical issues raised by cases like this one in Texas appears in Calabretta v Floyd, a case HSLDA won in 1999. The last sentence of the opinion should be engraved on the hearts of CPS investigators everywhere: “The government’s interest in the welfare of children embraces not only protecting children from physical abuse, but also protecting children’s interest in the privacy and dignity of their homes and in the lawfully exercised authority of their parents.”
Expecting this case to last several more weeks while on appeal, I promised last week to explain in more detail in this week’s email “why cases like this one are important, not just for the family involved, but also for the rule of law and the health of a free society.”
Rather than step on the good news that the case is over, in next week’s email, we will send you an interview with our founder, Mike Farris, where he and I will discuss this Texas case in the context of decades of HSLDA working on cases like this one. If you’re not already a member, please consider joining to stand with families like this one.