Food Deprivation

Teachers are trained to notice and report children who are constantly hungry, and free lunch programs provide needed sustenance for children who might otherwise go without food. It would be difficult for children attending public school to be literally starved to death by their parents, but the same is not true for homeschooled children.

Children homeschooled by abusive parents have died of starvation or been found so malnourished that their growth is permanently and significantly stunted. Some parents put locks or alarms on their refrigerator or kitchen cupboards. When it comes to access to food, abused homeschooled children are at the mercy of their parents.

Food deprivation played a role in each of the following cases in the HIC database: