We've been members for 3 or so years. Their offices are near here and I've known a couple of the attorneys there (one was an elder at my old Church for awhile). We had kinda thought it unnecessary since we're in a pretty homeschool friendly area, but decided to join (after putting it off) mainly for the "just-in-case" insurance.
Well, it turned out to be the best investment I've made for sometime. My unbelieving bipolar leftist sister, who'd been living in my rental home and not paying the rent for a year (typical lib - decry the evils of capitalism while milking it for every penny), suffered a fit of rage after realizing her signature on an agreement to vacate meant she actually had to get out. In retaliation, and as she was being detained on a temporary detention order and sent to a mental hospital after a suicide attempt (?), called the town social services and accused us of illegally home-schooling, socially isolating, and beating our children. We had a head's up since my brother heard her loudly proclaiming she was going to do so as she was being taken away.
I called HSLDA and spoke with an atty there, Scott Woodruff, who advised us to make sure the house was acceptably clean, homeschool documents in order, etc. Next day, as I was walking out to my truck to go do a job, I spotted a city car prowling the neighborhood, and soon there were two social workers walking up to my door. One from the school district to check our compliance with VA law, and the other from child protective services to investigate the abuse charges.
I asked them to wait outside while I called HSLDA, and was connected to Scott again. He spoke to the school person and they were quickly satisfied and walked back to the car. The other lady refused to talk to him, so I put him on speaker phone and she soon saw the futility of her refusal, and we all had a pleasant conversation about VA law and what it required of us. We determined that a visual evaluation was the most she could ask, and agreed to have my children parade out on the front porch so she could see they were not hurt or unhealthy.
It was a frightening and humiliating ordeal for us, but without having an attorney well-versed in the applicable law on the phone right then (which HSLDA guarantees) it could have been much worse. This wicked unregenerate was attempting to retaliate for my unwillingness to continue to support her drug-addled existence by having my children taken away from their parents and home. Had she succeeded, say if one had fallen and bruised themselves they day before, they would have gone through a horrifying experience, and my family's hearts would have been crushed. I thank God for the providence of HSLDA, and would recommend it to all homeschoolers.
The case was determined (by many witnesses) to be a false charge that did not warrant investigation. I never dreamed this would happen to us, but now I know that there is nothing a pagan is above doing, especially one that is being cut-off from the family nipple at age 46. There's a lot of swine around, be careful with your pearls.
Blessings,
Brad
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