Court: Judge had right to keep mother from home-schooling

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that a juvenile court judge had the right to order a mother not to home-school her young daughter, based on the recommendation of child welfare officials and the mother’s history of abusive child discipline tactics.

The mother, listed only as “Angel B.” in the opinion, had appealed the Lancaster County Juvenile Court’s order last summer keeping her from home-schooling her 6-year-old daughter and requiring her to enroll the girl in a school approved by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services until further notice.

In 2012, Angel’s 13-year-old daughter was removed from the home after officials say the girl was forced to sleep in a tent outside in 55-degree weather as punishment for back talk and failing to do her homework. Child welfare workers said the mother allowed the girl’s uncle to force the girl into the tent, which he zip-tied shut. When the girl escaped the tent, the mother and uncle doused the girl with water from a hose.

State officials found that behavior posed a risk of harm to both the teen and her younger sister. Since then, case workers reported, the mother has continued to defend her disciplinary tactics and once locked the younger girl in her bedroom as a form of discipline.

The younger daughter remains in Angel’s physical custody, but the state retains legal custody of the girl.

The high court has previously ruled that parents have a fundamental, constitutional right to raise their children, including making educational decisions for them, Nebraska Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Stephan wrote for the court.

But because the state has legal custody of the younger girl, it has the authority and responsibility under Nebraska law for making fundamental decisions about the child’s welfare - including choices regarding education, the high court said Friday.

“In a juvenile abuse and neglect case such as this, a court must balance these sometimes competing interests so as to achieve a result that is in the best interests of the child,” Stephan wrote. “In other words, a parent’s right to determine the educational needs of an adjudicated child is not absolute.”

Neither the mother’s attorney nor the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office immediately returned phone messages Friday seeking comment.