I’m a teacher which likely impacts my perspective here but I think a lot of this could be prevented with at minimum an adjustment to homeschooling (I am personally against homeschooling but I recognize there are special situations). Schools are where things like this are most likely to get caught because their teacher and the other school staff see this child on a consistent basis and develop a reliable and consistent relationship with the child so they can look for, understand, and point out red flags. It is hard for strangers in Target to do the same unless it’s egregious which it generally isn’t because parents know to hide that usually. We are seeing how these children as they develop behaviourally, socially, we see how they are dressed when sent to school, the food that’s sent, we see how involved the parents are one way or another. We aren’t just seeing them on a bad day when things are off we are seeing the patterns. This consistency of a protective adult is not present with homeschooling.

I think there should be more required opportunities for children to be around other adults in a safe environment who can see patterns and step in. This could be through more homeschool intervention or it could be through more social programs for children that are provided by organizations or governments so parents don’t have to pay.

It’s tricky because you can’t and it’s not always best to force these things on children and parents but those who want to hide their treatment of their kids can because of how we currently do things. It’s a tricky line to walk.