Emergent Thought

Guide No. 1 — in progress

The Child Welfare System, in Plain Language

This guide follows the sequence a parent actually lives — from the first knock on the door to the worst-case outcome and what remains possible after it. It is organized around your experience, not the agency's procedure.

Every claim is cited in the margin to the Missouri Child Welfare Manual or to state statute. The goal is understanding the process — knowing what the system is doing, why, and what your options are at each step.

  1. PT. 1

    What CPS is — and why every citizen should know

    Where the agency's authority comes from, what it can and cannot do, and why the manual it follows matters to you before anything ever happens.

  2. PT. 2

    The knock on the door: being visited by CPS

    What an investigation actually is, what the worker must tell you, what you're allowed to ask, and what happens next — step by step.

  3. PT. 3

    When children are removed

    The legal clock that starts the moment a child leaves the home: hearings, deadlines, services, and what each court date is actually deciding.

  4. PT. 4

    Termination of parental rights — and what comes after

    What TPR means, how the process works, the appeal window, and the pathways that may still exist afterward.

The guide opens with a fill-in-the-blank “My Case at a Glance” page: your dates, your worker's name, and your computed statutory deadlines — so the clock is never a mystery.

// Front matter, Guide No. 1

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Guide No. 2 — new

Homeschooling in Missouri: the law, the log, and the paper trail

Missouri doesn't license homeschools, approve curriculum, or require testing. What it requires is records — and the parents who understand that requirement sleep better than the ones who don't. This guide is organized around the parent's year, not the statute's outline.

  1. PT. 1

    Deciding and starting

    What legally makes your home a “home school,” the courtesy notice if you're withdrawing a child from public school, and the optional §167.042 declaration of enrollment — including why many families choose not to file it.

  2. PT. 2

    The hours: what counts and how to count

    1,000 hours of instruction per school year (July 1–June 30). At least 600 in reading, language arts, math, social studies, and science or related courses — and at least 400 of those 600 at your regular home school location.

  3. PT. 3

    The records: log, portfolio, evaluations

    The three things the statute names: a plan book, diary, or other written record of subjects and activities; a portfolio of samples of your student's work; and a record of evaluations of academic progress.

  4. PT. 4

    If anyone ever asks

    What your records are legally for. Who can actually review home school enforcement, what producing your daily log accomplishes, and how to respond to a question about your homeschool without panic.

Under Missouri law, producing a daily log showing your course of instruction meets the requirements is a defense to prosecution under the compulsory attendance statute and to an educational-neglect charge. The log is not busywork — it is your shield. Keep it current.

RSMo §167.012 — read the statute

Free tool: the Missouri hours log

Because the record-keeping is the compliance, I built a free program for Missouri parents to log instruction hours by subject — tracking your 1,000-hour total, the 600 core hours, and the 400 at-home hours against the July–June school year, so your daily log builds itself.

Download the hours tracker (free)

A desktop app for logging Missouri homeschool instruction hours by subject — tracking your 1,000-hour total, the 600 core hours, and the 400 at-home hours against the July–June school year.

Get it on GitHub →

Hosted on GitHub Releases — download the latest build for your computer. Free and open.

On the workbench

The same method — primary sources, plain language, cited margins — applied to the next systems parents get handed:

  1. NEXT

    Your teen behind the wheel

    Missouri's graduated driver license steps, supervised-driving requirements, and the rules that put responsibility on the parent — translated from the Missouri Driver Guide and statute.

  2. SCOPING

    Family court & benefits basics

    The hearings, deadlines, and paperwork of the systems that decide custody and support — mapped for the person walking in without a lawyer.

These are overviews for now; full guides follow the child welfare guide. The email list hears first.