Recognizing and Preventing
Child Sexual Abuse
in Homeschool Environments
Overview
While homeschooling itself is not a known risk factor for abuse, our analysis shows that risk and protective factors for CSEA can vary depending on school type.
Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) is a rampant problem in the United States and across the globe. In 2022 alone, child welfare agencies in the United States reported investigating over 59,000 cases of child sexual abuse — but the true prevalence is far higher. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that about 1 in 4 girls, and 1 in 20 boys, will experience child sexual abuse. Somewhere between 1.8 and 4.2 million children are currently homeschooled in the United States and, while many children benefit from the flexibility of home education, CSEA does occur in homeschool settings.
Rates of abuse are likely similar, but risk factors and patterns in abuse are different for homeschooled children and children attending school.
Research into homeschool and abuse focuses on comparing the frequency of abuse and neglect in homeschool versus conventional school environments, generally finding that school status has little effect on rates of abuse and neglect.
When it comes to CSA, the picture is nuanced. Across several studies sampling different populations, homeschool alumni self-reported lower rates of sexual abuse compared to national averages. However, a recent representative study found that, controlling for other factors, school status did not have a significant effect on rates of reported sexual abuse.
While homeschooled children are not likely at greater risk for CSEA, both our findings and wider research suggest that risk and protective factors for abuse and neglect vary depending on a child’s schooling. For example, children in schools are more vulnerable to sexual abuse at the hands of adults working in schools, and a federal report estimated that 1 in 10 children will experience adult sexual misconduct over their schooling. On the other hand, our research finds that homeschooling can be associated with different risk factors. Below is a brief overview of these risk factors and patterns in abuse, which are explored more fully in following sections.
Social isolation
Social isolation is a known risk factor for both perpetration and victimization, and our work has shown that homeschooled children are vulnerable to social isolation. While children experiencing abuse and neglect at home can find reprieve at school, abused homeschooled children are not guaranteed any form of social interaction outside their homes.
In the severe cases recorded in our database, abusive caregivers deliberately seek out isolation to hide and magnify abuse. Among cases in our database, withdrawal from school to homeschool is an index for intentional social isolation, as the overwhelming pattern is already abusive caregivers withdrawing children from school to homeschool and proceeding to escalate about. Withdrawal from school is significantly associated with higher rates of social service interaction, systematic abuse, and fatality. This holds true for CSEA cases: for example, over half of fatal CSEA cases feature withdrawal from school compared to about one-third of total CSEA cases.
Our database suggests that the social isolation of abusive homeschool environments creates condition for chronic polyvictimization (that is, children experience multiple forms of abuse in addition to CSEA) and various forms of sexual exploitation. In 95.7% of HIC cases involving CSEA, we have evidence that abuse extended beyond the incident that brought it to light, suggesting repeated and often chronic abuse, and for over 60% of CSEA cases, we have evidence documenting additional forms of abuse coinciding with CSEA. Additionally, we have documented evidence of perpetrators using homeschool as a cover to hide sex trafficking and child marriage.
Educational neglect & sexual miseducation
We know that comprehensive sexual education is an important protective factor against CSEA. Although comprehensive sexual education is far from a reality in schools across the United States, no state ensures that homeschooled children receive any sexual education. In fact, only two states universally and reliably require home educators to submit evidence of educational progress on the whole.
In the isolation of abusive homeschooling environments, evidence from our database shows caregivers not only denying sexual education, but deliberately miseducating children to groom them for sexual abuse. Especially in high-control, or highly ideological families and communities, deliberate sexual miseducation can thrive in isolation, leading to victims to assume that sexual relationships with adults are normal or expected. Educational neglect, particularly as it relates to sexual education, is therefore a prominent pattern in abuse in our database, and a potential risk factor for CSEA.