Private sector institutions are providing education for the mentally retarded, the autistic, the deaf and blind, and those with orthopedic impairments as well. Some of these institutions decline government support, but many do not. Catholic church organizations alone operate nearly 200 schools throughout the United States specializing in educating disabled children. According to Tom Bushnell, president and director of the National Challenged Homeschoolers Associated Network, some 30,000 American children with disabilities are homeschooled. It s you against the world.
Parents get tired of fighting.
And, says Bushnell, parents sometimes worry that the adversarial relationship with the public schools will affect the quality of care the schools give their child. A report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is now helping to tell it. Starr Commonwealth, an Albion-based organization with six Michigan sites, has been serving children and families since 1913 as a private sector alternative for violent, troubled, and dispossessed children. The Home s mission is deeply rooted in an emphasis on the dignity of each individual that arises out of explicit ethical standards. Our Lady of Providence Center in Northville admits mild, moderate, and severe cases of developmentally disabled girls over the age of 10 and women under 40 in its residential program and school.