Jennifer Harrison started homeschooling her kids in 2019, after New York passed legislation eliminating religious exemptions for vaccines. All students of public or private schools are now required to comply with the CDC-recommended vaccine schedule.

(There is a provision for a medical exemption, but it is very difficult to obtain.)

Twenty-six thousand students who had been under religious exemption for vaccinations were impacted almost overnight.* “People were blindsided by it,” Jennifer said.

Several moms who were a part of a Facebook group began discussing the law and seeking solutions for their families. “We all needed to work together and figure out what we were going to do to support our children in terms of education,” Jennifer said. “In doing that, something really beautiful happened.”

Veteran homeschool moms in the group saw a need to help and educate moms navigating the process for the first time. One mom organized a homeschooling informational meeting in Long Island, which Jennifer attended.

Jennifer left the meeting equipped with all the information she needed about following New York homeschool law. She also learned about HSLDA through the community.

But when Jennifer decided to move to Florida with her two sons, ages 13 and 6, she encountered a problem. As a courtesy, she notified her school district of their plans to relocate several months before their move.

“Hey, just letting you know that I don't need to supply you with the fourth quarterly report or the end-of-year assessment because I'm going to be relocating,” Jennifer recalls telling them. “Their response was, no, you still need to supply that information to us.”

Officials also wanted her to come to the district and unenroll her children from the school—a school they were never actually enrolled in. Jennifer refused, citing New York homeschool law that confirmed that she owed the school district no further notices, reports, or assessments as she would no longer be a resident.

But the district continued reaching out to her, even while she was unpacking in her new Florida home. “I was getting calls one to two times per week from them and emails from them demanding the paperwork, and wanting to know what my plan was—wanting to know where I moved,” she said.

That’s when she contacted HSLDA and notified her school district that she had reached out to HSLDA’s legal counsel.

Soon after, she was shocked to discover that the district reported her to CPS for educational neglect, claiming there was no communication on her end—despite the email she had sent.

“It stirred up a lot of heavy emotions for me,” she said. “And I started to question myself. Did I do something wrong? Should I have just given the information that they asked for?”

A New York CPS investigator later asked if she could organize a video call to see Jennifer’s home in Florida and interview her children. Jennifer responded that she was uncomfortable with that idea, and then got in touch with HSLDA Senior Counsel Tj Schmidt.

“It reminded me of previous traumas, and I was worried about my children being reminded of that as well,” she said.

“We try to go over all the options that a parent has when they are contacted by CPS,” Schmidt said. “Our goal is to inform a family of their rights and assist them in resolving any legitimate concerns CPS may have about possible abuse or neglect.”

Jennifer considered all her options, including the possibility of declining to do the video interview which would likely lead to a Florida investigation. In the end, Jennifer decided to do the interviews as the fastest way to put this situation behind her family.

The social worker asked Jennifer’s children a range of questions, none of which pertained to school. At one point, she asked the oldest son which towns were nearby. Her son didn’t know the answer, since they were still new to the area.

Another part of the call involved Jennifer proving that her family in fact lived in Florida. “I had to turn the camera around to show her the sand in my yard and Spanish moss hanging off the trees, because they don't have that in New York,” she recalled.

After the call, the case worker said they would probably need to transfer the case to Florida CPS. In response, Schmidt sent a letter informing them they had no jurisdiction over Jennifer and that their case was unfounded. He urged them to close it.

Forty-five days later, Jennifer was relieved to learn the case was closed and deemed unfounded.

“I am pleased that we were able to help resolve this CPS investigation for our member family—an investigation that never should have happened in the first place,” Schmidt said.

Since then, Jennifer has been homeschooling her children free from the burden of an open CPS case. She enjoys the flexibility homeschooling offers and the ability to emphasize her boys’ strengths. And she wants parents to be aware of and confident in their rights to homeschool their children.

“People worked really hard to get legislation in place to protect families and not let school districts bully them into handing over their right to self-direct education for their children,” she said. 

HSLDA’s litigation team is looking into ways to put a stop to New York schools using CPS investigators to harass homeschoolers in this way.

* This article has been updated to reflect the accurate number of students impacted by this change.

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