Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:
Alecia Faith Pennington grew up in a homeschooling Christian household. As you might expect, her parents don’t like government regulations. We know that freedom can be abused, but I’ve never seen it go this far.
Alecia’s mother Lisa, who runs a website called The Pennington Point, never obtained a birth certificate for her daughter. (She was born at home.) Furthermore, there’s no social security number for Alecia… or school records (since she never attended public school).
Because of that the young woman cannot attend school, get a driver's license, or even prove she is an American citizen.
But hey, at least God knows she exists. Right?
A DNA test would resolve the issue except for the fact that would be like committing science and you know that just won't work for them.
ReplyDeleteSo these people don't pay taxes or they have never claimed her on their taxes? Gotta have a SSN for that, right? And I believe most states have required curriculum for home schooling but sounds like het parents did their own thing. This seems to verge on a type of neglect.
ReplyDeleteYou are right: without an SSN, they could not have claimed her on their tax return, thus raising the question: did they ever file a federal income tax return?
DeleteHome births are fine with me. Sometimes they happen even without planning – and many of our parents were born the same way. She can always file for an SSN: I filed for mine when I got my first job as a teenager.
But her parents' refusal to help her obtain any necessary documents, especially her birth certificate, strikes me as a sinister form of child abuse. No wonder her grandparents are helping her escape their clutches. It defies common sense to think that an attorney would refuse to obtain proper paperwork for any of his children – and by being an attorney, he is by definition participating in 'the system' that he claims to rebel against. I think that this story isn't quite over yet.
Just imagine having a conversation with this young woman. It would be p-r-e-t-t-y l-i-m-i-t-e-d. Parents who raise their children in such tight cocoons are guilty of child abuse; they might as well have kept her caged in a dark room.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Somebody is imagining shit alright. You.
DeleteThe girl on the video sounds like a more than normal teenage girl. The family has a nice website and a facebook page. You can see their nice house, the father is an attorney and an accountant and several of the other children have driver's licenses. On the facebook page is also the father's response to his daughter's video.
Your unfounded comments based on your ignorant prejudices do nothing for your credibility.
Anonymous7:38 AM
DeleteWhy do several of their other children have licenses and not this girl. Something is not right. For all I know she may be the man's sex slave & a kidnapped child.
Those homeschooled people can be very nasty and abusive. Remember the family who had all sons and one daughter--all homeschooled--and the father and brothers ALL took turns with the girl.
http://wtkr.com/2014/05/12/six-brothers-parents-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-girl/
7:38, would you hire this girl? Trust her with your things or children? She's as good as Tarzan or a kid raised by Wolves.
DeleteWho cares if they have a nice house and a nice website. The mother seems very distraught that her adult daughter left home. It's also very interesting that it was the grandparents (the mom's parents) who helped Alecia escape. I say "escape" because that's what it sounds like she did. I read through the comments at Gryphen's link and it seems like the parents are a couple of crazy fundamentalist control freaks.
DeleteI think mommy sells essential oil medical quackery in a MLM scheme. The FDA didn't like some of the claims about the essential oils treating EBOLA among other things.
Deletehttp://thepenningtonpoint.com/blog/lisas-blog/
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2014/ucm416023.htm
@7:38 - Why the foul mouth? Are you a Palin, or just a Palin Wannabe?
DeleteBeaglemom imagines anything is true if it is presented by John Stewart, Malia Litman, or IM.
DeleteOh, look. Beaglemom has her own personal troll, chasing after her like a love-sick puppy.
DeleteHer situation is kind of like Trig's; we can see him, hear him, but there really is no documented proof about him.
ReplyDeleteLemme guess, she's not vaccinated, either.
ReplyDeleteGeez, and just think, she didn't die.
DeleteYet....
Delete7:40 - or get anyone violently or deathly ill?
DeleteUntil recently she never left her house.
DeleteWell, at least she can't ever vote or become POTUS. This is actually LOL funny. Parents so paranoid of the federal government they have set it up so that their daughter will have no chance to live a normal life. She can't even get a bank account or job without proper identification.
ReplyDeleteNo job, no bank account. Also no healthcare and no welfare.
DeleteWonder how she is going to live?
She can't get married so can't be dependent on and live off her husband, like I'm sure her good Christian fundamentalist parents brought her up to do.
In California she can get a driver's license as an undocumented alien.
@mlaiuppa
DeleteTo do so wouldn't she have to prove she was an illegal alien? Not trying to cause an argument, just trying to understand the law.
Sounds like another illegal, deport her!
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be the teabagger response?
BTW I had an at home birth and it was quite easy to get a birth certificate, but I suppose you do have to do it in the first 18 yrs or so.
But when nutcases act like nutcases their children suffer.
When her mother dies she'll have no witness to testify to her birth.
DeletePlus, her parents saddled her with a strange spelling of "Alicia," so if she were ever able to venture out into the real world, she'd have to spell it and spell it and spell it to numerous people throughout the rest of her life.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, since she can't travel beyond her own "shanks mare" or public transportation, can't hold a job, or myriad other adult activities, she can live with "Alecia" without incident.
You're assuming the parents spelled it that way on purpose.
DeleteI'm assuming they just can't spell.
At least they didn't name her Bristle or Willing or Pecker.
DeleteThis bullshit. When the courthouse burned, lots of people didn't have a birth certificate. Your mother signed an affidavit and you were issued a new birth certificate. When neither parent was alive, people used entries in family bibles, siblings affidavits, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf you listen to the video you will hear her say that her parents refuse to help, or sign anything.
DeleteWithout their help I don't know what her options are at this point.
Those people also had other records to go off of. And while I have the copy of my BC, my local court house did burn and they have a copy of my copy.
DeleteYou mean when the Wasilla church burned ..... ?
Deleteanon 5:38 is right.
ReplyDeletebut let's just say that Alecia's family has never paid taxes or done any other civic duty. (I don't know if that's the case, but let's just go hypothetical right now.) do they deserve their citizenship?
Actually, they are tax evaders, among other illegal activities, and they should be thrown in jail, if they can't pay the gov. what they owe.
Delete6:53
DeleteAnd you know this how?
They're tax evaders or child moleters: http://wtkr.com/2014/05/12/six-brothers-parents-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-girl/ , hiding behind their "beliefs."
DeleteI say this as sure as $carah and the teabaggers know "EVERYTHING" about the president and others who do not think like them, especially in their "abstinance" ways.
Alecia's parents are already citizens, in this country we do not put the crimes of a parent on the child( one of the very reasons the founding fathers broke away from Great Britain).
DeleteThank you @ anon at 10:40 am for giving us the rest of the story.
DeleteFine. She's a citizen by virtue of being born to two citizens. But she can't prove she was born to them. Not without some very expensive DNA testing and consent by both parents for DNA samples.
DeleteEven if she does prove she is their daughter, she cannot prove her age or date of birth. She also cannot prove where she was born, regardless of being a citizen by virtue of her parents.
You can still use bible entries, even for Social Security. My mother was born in Rumania. No birth certificate, but she did have an entry in Grandma's bible. Social Security accepted the bible as documentation/evidence, and she was given her retirement.
ReplyDeleteThis is more common than you might think - an off the grid person. One's age determines eligibility for some benefits. The affadavits would be backed up by school records and church records if they existed/
ReplyDeleteNo school records.
DeleteNo church records.
Probably not even an entry in the family bible.
Okay, had to wait until my sister the atty got up, but she thinks an immigration atty could help this girl. Or the Dream Act, which the GOP refuses to let through.
ReplyDeleteOr she could travel to Florida, swim out, and then stand on the sand proclaiming she is Cuban and get an automatic in.
There are two sides, sometimes even more, to a story.
ReplyDeleteThis page has the father's response.
https://www.facebook.com/thepenningtonpoint
Their website seems like the typical website of a mom.
You are correct. There are always two sides, but you don't know the "strings" that will be attached if she contacts them. Her older siblings still live at home. Generally speaking Fundamental Christians who homeschool and eschew things like birth certificates believe in patriarchy and that children, even adult children, must stay under their parents' control. Daughters especially have no options. They may not date and must marry whomever their father picks for them. He sounds reasonable and loving, but there has to be a reason she left home and won't let them help her get her driver's license. I have spent several years studying the Christian Fundamentalists and have been surprised at the control they exercise over their children. People (usually women) who have left the fold are ostracized and their parents feel that they have failed. The women whom I have read about and followed had to completely separate from their parents to have an independent life. I have been surprised by the limitations imposed on these grown, adult women by their parents. If that is her situation and the price of having them help is submitting to the patriarchy, I understand her unwillingness.
Delete7:45
DeleteAs I said, there are always two sides and sometimes more. It seems some in-laws may be involved also.
But I would like to commend you on your civil, thoughtful, response. Not something you see much of here, unfortunately.
I jut went to the https://www.facebook.com/thepenningtonpoint, & those kids look like inbreeds. I wouldn't put it passed the father or any of the,...all of them...
DeleteIf he is so helpful why didn't he make sure his kids had birth certificates, which are quite easy to do with home births.
DeleteI just went to the website,too, and the woman looks to old to have children that age. Something is very strange here.
Deletehttps://www.facebook.com/thepenningtonpoint
Also, those kids look like something is wrong with theire features, if you know what I mean.
This isn't a typical mom.
DeleteMaybe the woman kidnapped the kid...how many kids are kidnapped and never found. I find it very suspicious
ReplyDeleteBULLSHIT. How is it that everyone in the family has documentation but not this girl?
ReplyDeleteSomething is fishy. Maybe she is a sex slave. I wouldn't put it passed the goper/teabaggers
http://wtkr.com/2014/05/12/six-brothers-parents-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-girl/
Why do several of their other children have licenses and not this girl. Something is not right. For all I know she may be the man's sex slave & a kidnapped child.
DeleteThose homeschooled people can be very nasty and abusive. Remember the family who had all sons and one daughter--all homeschooled--and the father & brothers ALL took turns with the girl.
http://wtkr.com/2014/05/12/six-brothers-parents-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-girl/
If more parents raise their kids this way, we are going to have a bunch of folks living in the USA that are going to be pissed off and create trouble down the road, because they won't be able to access anything of importance to live!
ReplyDeleteMan oh man, America is fucked up in so, so many ways. Get ride of the Christians and Republicans throughout the country! That would be a great start!
I responded to 6:33 above by writing about the control that many Christian Fundamentalists exert over their adult children and how this girl might not wish to submit. I don't think we need to surmise that she is a sex slave, but she could indeed be the equivalent of a domestic servant as many older daughters are required to be mother's helpers with the many little children that are often born into the families. Women who have left the patriarchy refer to it as having "escaped." Here is a blog post on this subject on No Longer Quivering. These women know much more about this kind of situation than I do, but my heart goes out to the girl in any event. Of course, she loves her family, but for whatever reason she feels she must do this. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nolongerquivering/2015/02/not-quoting-quiverfull-when-homeschooling-parents-are-out-to-punish-adult-children-alecia-pennington/
ReplyDeleteHmmm... Something fishy there. I watched both videos (the one from her as well as the response from her father). Something does not add up. The older siblings do have documentation, and the father is an attorney. He offers to help her and suggests several ways. Why doesn't she accept? If she really is stuck in the situation she is, then she could accept the help - seems all that is required is for them to sign some type of affidavit. Even if she never wants to have anything to do with her family for whatever reasons, she should just do this one thing.
ReplyDelete(It does sound like she has some very compelling reasons to not have any more contact with her family, and her father sounds a bit too 'smooth' and 'soothing' to me. She could go through a go-between so she would not have to give away her location to them.
Maybe the father is lying or has put some extreme conditions on his helping her.
DeleteWell Daddy says she should get a passport that she can't get without a BC. Why would any parent not get a BC for their child except for the reason of control?
DeleteThe fathers contention that she should just get a passport instead of a birth certificate sounds weird. How can she get a passport, if she has no birth certificate or any other type of ID?
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why she ran away from home...
How dumb is the father; was he involved in the homeschooling? If so, it's proof that homeschooling should be a no-no. You need your birth certificate to get a passport. You need a SSN to get a job. You cannot function in a civilized society by pretending that government does not exist.
DeleteBeaglemom
Daddy just wants the daughter who broke away to have to follow their extreme religion to get any info.
DeleteI think mom is just as nuts as dad.
DeleteShe could sue her parents and take them to court to force them to testify.
ReplyDeleteIf she's under 18 she can sue for emancipation and they can be required to provide all the documentation she needs.
Exactly. The parents can't just refuse to sign anything. They can be forced to through subpoenas and contempt of court charges.
DeleteI empathize with this young lady, I really do. After all, she didn't choose this.
ReplyDeleteNeither did children of undocumented immigrants choose to be born or brought to the USA during their infancy or childhood. Especially the ones who were born here - how can she not identify with them? How can she wonder if there is anyone else like her out here?
The wonders of home-schooling...
Again, this doesn't sound right. I have a feeling the father and family do not want her to get their dark secrets out. Remember this:http://wtkr.com/2014/05/12/six-brothers-parents-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-girl/
ReplyDeleteAnd how about the Mormon compunds...interesting
You'd think the parents would cave and give her what she wants just to keep her quiet.
Delete