(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Lawmakers who still think it is more important to protect “personal freedoms” for homeschooling parents than it is to protect the children being kept at home got another wake-up call this week. Fortunately — this time — the children involved in this case are still alive to speak for themselves.

An 8-year-old girl escaped a home in the South Hills area of Charleston and was found at a neighbor’s home. She was wearing handcuffs and made allegations of abuse and neglect, according to a report by WCHS. Charleston Police investigators have confirmed the girl, two teenaged boys and a 3-year-old girl were all on homeschool status with Kanawha County Schools.

Laura Southworth, mother of the two boys and grandmother of the two girls, is being charged with child abuse and unlawful restraint after officers who responded to the home found “extremely messy” conditions and learned that one of Southworth’s reasons for handcuffing the 8-year-old was that she was “stealing food.”

According to WCHS, Kanawha County Schools is now trying to figure out what history the older children have with the public school system. Southworth filed notice of intent for the three older children to be homeschooled back in November 2022.

Leaders ranging from Gov. Jim Justice to the West Virginia Association of School Administrators understand the need for better oversight of homeschooling families. To start, WCHS reports the WVASA wants yearly academic assessment and testing of homeschool children, rather than the system now in place — four times during a K-12 education, if at all.

That would mean not only a chance to check in on academic progress, but also a well-being check. Without the chance to interact with trusted adults (and mandated reporters) outside the homeschool environment, there is no arguing that some children are at incredible risk.

We already know that for Kyneddi Miller last year, the situation was deadly.

But Justice has said he does not know whether there will be enough support among lawmakers to enact any change in the existing law. It is an atrocity that so many people who claim they care about our state’s children have not jumped to immediately make homeschooling safer for them.

Perhaps next time the opportunity arises, they will.