The O'Dell Case
Patricia and
Ray O'Dell's four home schooled children, Elizabeth (8), Angela (11), Samantha
(14) and Andrew (15), are still being held hostage by Vermont Social
Rehabilitative Services (SRS) on the bogus charge of 'educational neglect'. These children continue to be subjected
to forced separation from their parents, forced public schooling, forced
immunizations, verbal and physical abuse in the foster homes (I have photos to
prove it), and a multitude of other violations of their civil, constitutional
and God-given rights as American citizens.
Before SRS intervention, and after
their Fair Haven home burned to the ground three days after Christmas in
December 2000, this family lived quite comfortably on their own in hotels (with
room service, cable TV, shower and toilet facilities, continental breakfast,
etc.), with family members or camping in the lush green forests of Vermont
during the warmer months. During
this time, the family worked to prepare their new home on Hunter Brook Road in South
Newfane, Vermont, where they had purchased, outright, a one acre lot and a used
mobile home which they planned to install.
Local officials, with the blessings of the SRS and Vermont Department of
Education, harassed the O'Dell family continuously to the point of driving them
off their own property and out of state.
The O'Dell children were seized by SRS,
with the brute force of the state police, on Friday, September 13, 2002, at the
home of Patricia O'Dell's ill mother.
Since the seizure, the children have been forced to live apart from
their parents, family members and friends and have been denied the affections
and support of these same people.
During supervised visits (which only take place once or twice a week at
the whim of the social worker, Athena Bolger), the O'Dell's are not allowed to
cry, hug each other, comfort each other or share information. This family is taunted, scolded,
provoked and belittled by whomever is assigned to sit
in the room at the time of these visits, making it a very stressful experience
for both parents and children.
The children were denied any contact
with their parents on their mother's birthday in September, and on Thanksgiving
day. As it
stands now, SRS is planning to deny these children any contact with their parents
on Christmas day as well. Patricia
and Ray O'Dell are loving parents to their children; I can attest to that. They have struggled for years to make a
better life for themselves and to not become a burden on the taxpayers by
accepting welfare programs. They
live on very little income but they own their S. Newfane property
outright. They chose to home school
their children because the public schools failed to give their children an
education and actually held them back (there is documentation to prove this) in
their learning.
The O'Dells are being treated unfairly and unjustly. The state of Vermont has simply
confiscated their children because the O'Dells chose
to home school them. Their choice
to home school meant the local school lost thousands of dollars in funding and
the school was not happy about that.
It was the decision of the Fair Haven Elementary principal, Gloria
Moulton, to 'go after' the O'Dell family two months after their home burned and
to make their life a living hell.
Ms. Moulton's decision (and many threats) worked its way through the
channels of the DOE's bureaucratic behemoth via
Natalie Casco (Home Study Consultant) where it was decided the O'Dell family
would be denied their constitutional right to home school. Once Casco labeled the case 'educational
neglect' (a term which she herself could not define on Ruth Dwyer's Hard Look
broadcast on ABC 22 TV news on Thursday, November 14, 2002) the case was then
handed over to SRS.
Patricia and Ray had a hearing
scheduled for Thursday, December 5, 2002, to determine whether their children
would be returned to them. Because
of the incompetence of the public defender assigned to the case, a continuance
was issued and the hearing postponed.
The children are devastated because they thought they were coming
home. Senator Mark Shepard (R) of
Bennington has been lending a hand and moral support to the O'Dells
but the game playing by Athena Bolger and other SRS members continues.
For more information on how you may
help this family, please contact Cindy Wade, a
friend of the family and author of this piece.
December 2002
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