Last week, a 32-year-old man bravely escaped the Waterbury home where his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, allegedly imprisoned and tortured him for decades. The torture began in 2005, when Sullivan withdrew the victim from public school to homeschool him after a social services inquiry. Instead of receiving an education, however, the victim was subjected to a systematic program of intense abuse while held captive in the confines of his home. The fact that the victim was homeschooled is not incidental. Because of lax homeschool laws, abusive caregivers can exploit those legal loopholes to isolate and abuse children, all under the facade of “homeschooling.” The Coalition for Responsible Home Education maintains a database that tracks severe incidents of abuse and neglect in homeschool settings. To date, the database contains nearly 500 cases resulting in over 200 fatalities; this number is necessarily under-inclusive, because the database contains only cases verifiable through the public record. One of the most pronounced trends among these cases is caregivers pulling their children from school in response to school officials reporting signs of abuse. In all 50 states, it is legal for a caregiver to start homeschooling even if they are the recent, or active, subject of a social services investigation. Since 2000, at least 31 homeschooled children have died from abuse after being withdrawn from school after the school reported abuse. Among these deaths is another tragic case in Connecticut. Matthew Tirado died from chronic maltreatment after his mother, who had been the subject of many social services reports, removed him from school to homeschool him and his sister. An investigation from Connecticut’s Office of the Child Advocate found that gaps in Connecticut’s homeschool laws allowed Matthew’s abuse to escalate without notice, ultimately resulting in his death. In many states, once caregivers withdraw children from school, the children’s interaction with mandated reporters for child abuse effectively ends. Twenty-nine states do not require home educators to supply any evidence of student academic progress. Twelve states, including Connecticut, do not even require home educators to notify their school district that they are homeschooling. As ProPublica recently found in Illinois, this creates a truancy loophole that can lead to children falling off the radar entirely. Our database contains cases of children being dead for years while still being legally “homeschooled” in no-notification states like Connecticut. For the children whose parents are homeschooling responsibly, this lack of regulation does not pose a risk. However, for children vulnerable to both maltreatment and educational neglect, loss of contact with the outside world can prove devastating. This session, Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill that would close these loopholes, requiring home educators to submit an annual notice of intent that they are homeschooling and retain basic educational records. These baseline measures introduce much-needed safeguards for children in vulnerable situations.  Homeschooling is a compelling educational option for some children, but without adequate oversight, it can become a haven for abuse. Lawmakers in Connecticut need to act to protect every child’s right to receive a good education in a safe home. Jonah Stewart is the executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the only organization in the country founded and run by homeschooled adults that advocates for protections for homeschooled children. CRHE’s model legislation, the , reflects CRHE’s data-driven research, the input of educational and legal experts, and the lived experiences of homeschooled children. ...read more read less