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Air Date: December 22, 2014
Host: Vic Eliason
Guests: Peter Kamakawiwoole/Victoria Bak-Gogan
Peter Kamakawiwoole is a staff attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association. He joined Vic to discuss the HSLDA’s representation of a home school mother named Vanessa Wilson who was originally living in the Riverside County area of California.
At one point Vanessa noticed that her 4 year old daughter seemed a bit lethargic. She took her to the emergency room and then was sent to the hospital where she was diagnosed with new onset type 1 juvenile diabetes. After tests were run and Vanessa was trained on how to deal with the situation, the daughter was discharged back to Vanessa.
Everything was fine until April 3rd when case workers from the Riverside County Department of Social Services appeared stating that they had a report from another county saying that Vanessa was neglecting the care of her child. The case workers had no court order or the permission of a judge to make the visit.
Vanessa was very cooperative even going so far as to administer a blood glucose reading in the presence of one of the case workers. Having adult type 2 diabetes, the supervising case worker, to quote Peter, ‘thought she was an expert in diabetes care and felt the readings should be different. Without consultation from Vanessa’s medical doctors and merely going on her own personal experience, the case worker concluded that the daughter was in imminent physical danger and removed the 4 year old and Vanessa’s 7 year old son (who has no medical condition) from the home.
The 7 year old was held in custody just over 30 days and the 4 year old was kept for 50 days. Both are currently with Vanessa who has relocated to Oregon.
The second half of the program featured a case involving Victoria Bak-Gogan, a parent with a 10 year old son attending Pleasant Prairie Elementary School in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
On December 18th, Victoria’s neighbor called saying there were police officers at her house. Then she received a call from a social worker saying that she was concerned about Victoria’s son because he did not go to his holiday concert at the school. Instead he wanted to go to his Wednesday church class.
Victoria alleges her son was pulled out of class and questioned by the counselor at the school. The child was further questioned by a social worker. Victoria indicated her child was asked the following:
Why weren’t you at the holiday concert?
What church do you go to?
Do your parents force you to go to church?
How often do you go to church?
Are you forced to read your Bible?
Is your mother taking any medicine?
Do your parents hit you?
Has your mother ever taken you to a Catholic priest to be sprinkled?
Review this edition of Crosstalk for more information. To communicate with the Pleasant Prairie Elementary School or the school board members, see the contact information listed below.
More Information
Home School Legal Defense Association
540-338-5600
Pleasant Prairie Elementary School Contact Numbers:
Shane Gayle (Principal)–262-359-2104 (sgayle@kusd.edu)
Rich Bonnar (Counselor)–262-359-2104 (rbonnar@kusd.edu)
School District Superintendent–262-359-6300
Tamarra Coleman–(School Board President)–262-945-8618
Mary Snyder–(School Board Vice President)–262-945-5780
Kyle Flood–(School Board Clerk)–262-945-9771
Dan Wade–(School Board Treasurer)–262-945-1821
Carl Bryan–(School Board Member)–262-945-7647
Gary Kunich–(School Board Member)–262-945-6329
Rebecca Stevens–(School Board Member)–262-344-7903
Liberty Counsel
1-800-671-1776
