Home-schooling Prohibition Challenged at European Court of Human Rights
Alliance Defending Freedom and the Home School Legal Defence Association have asked the European Court of Human Rights to hear the case of a Swedish family heavily fined for home-schooling their daughter. Although the 13-year-old girl flourished in her home-schooling environment, local Swedish authorities fined her family the equivalent of more than $28,000.
Sweden’s courts upheld the fine but lowered it to just over $15,700--a fine still so high that the family had to flee to Finland.“Parents should have the freedom and authority to make decisions regarding their children’s education without government interference,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. “Punishing this family with exorbitant fines for doing what they and the girl’s psychologist both agreed was best for her is reprehensible. The Swedish law violates the European Convention of Human Rights, to which Sweden is obligated. Furthermore, that law shouldn’t even apply since Sweden passed it after the Himmelstrands filed their home-schooling application.” We thank Alliance Defending Freedom for this report. Source and further information: http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/8124