On Sep. 24, 2014, 18-year-old Alecia Faith Pennington left her family and childhood home with the help of her grandparents. Having been raised in a staunchly Christian, homeschooled family in Texas, she was ready to set off and pursue a new life.
But she quickly realized that would not be possible. While she claims that she was born on Nov. 26, 1995, there is no actual proof of her age or identity, when it comes to the United States government.
Ms. Pennington, who says she's now 19, has launched a campaign via YouTube and Facebook called Help Me Prove It. In the video, she explains her strange circumstance: she was born at home, after which her parents neglected to file for a birth certificate or a social security number; she was homeschooled and therefore has no school records; she has never been to a hospital and is without medical records. Furthermore, her parents have refused to help her in any way.
She received a certified letter from the Texas Department of State Health Services dated Oct. 1, 2014, informing her that after a thorough search, no record of her birth could be found, according to her Facebook page. The TCSHS informed her that she should apply for a delayed birth certificate; however, she is not allowed before a judge unless she has three documents verifying her age and citizenship, which she does not have.
She appears caught in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic web one that's been dubbed "identification abuse," which a small percentage of homeschooled children and adults sometimes experience, often due to the anti-government views held by their parents.
This leaves me with nothing to prove my identity or citizenship, Alecia explains in the video. I am now 19 years old and Im unable to get a drivers license, get a job, go to college, get on a plane, get a bank account, or vote.
Pennington's plight has been the subject of much online debate and counsel.
After making the top of Reddits video page, her story has begun to gain national attention. While some commenters feel it could simply be an elaborate hoax, others are asking questions and trying to offer advice. But it seems to keep sending her in circles: you need documentation to get documentation, or you need your parents help.
And James and Lisa Pennington have refused to help, according to their daughter.
James and Lisa live in Kerrington, Texas, where they serve on the board of the Hill Country Home School Association. In 2010, they were named the 2010 Texas Home School Coalition Associations Leaders of the Year, according to the THSCA website. Lisa is also an ardent Christian, homeschooling, and parenting blogger, posting at Hip Homeschool Moms and The Pennington Point.
On The Pennington Point, Lisa shares the moment her daughter who is one of nine children left in a blog post called The Hardest Post I Ever Wrote (The post has since been blocked):
On Wednesday, September 24th my life was changed forever. My 18 year old daughter left home. She gave us no warning, no signs that it was coming. She didnt try to talk to us about it or work with us. She, with the help of my parents, just left. And with her she took pieces of my heart that had been torn to shreds.
Lisa continues to say that her relationship with her parents, who helped planned Alecias departure, abruptly ended. She also claimed her daughter had help from a godless woman who has been giving her foolish counsel and encouraging her to deceive [them] and get out.
About a month after this post was written, Lisa followed up with in a post that outlined her current feelings about the situation. In some ways, it reads as if her daughter passed away rather than left home.
What I can tell you about is how we are pulling ourselves together at home. We have been making an effort to find our new normal without her. It has been really hard and we all miss her terribly, but I have learned a lot about how to deal with grief throughout the past month, Lisa wrote on her blog. I definitely have days when I feel like I can hardly breathe and just cry for no reason. Like, hard crying. I know thats part of the process. Oh, those crazy stages of grief.
While it seems clear that the family did not want Alecia to go, do her parents have the right to withhold proof of her identity?
Apparently, this issue is not as unique as it may first appear. Homeschool Alumni Reaching Out (HARO), an advocacy organization for homeschool students, defines the type of behavior exhibited in the Pennington situation as identification abuse, where guardians destroy, deny, or hold hostage their childs identification documents, such as a birth certificate, drivers license, or social security card.
According to a Survey of Adult Alumni of the Modern Christian Homeschool Movement done by HARO in 2014, nearly 4 percent of respondents experienced some form of identification abuse.
While such abuse can happen anywhere and everywhere regardless of ones educational environment, homeschool kids (and alumni) are particularly vulnerable to this form of abuse because of certain anti-government and pro-parental rights attitudes in totalistic homeschool subcultures, Homeschoolers Anonymous states on their website.
On Wednesday, Lisa posted a video responding to her daughter's claims. The video was immediately removed. From a transcription provided by Free Jinger, Lisa allegedly said in the video:
"[T]o our knowledge there was a birth certificate filed, the midwives told us you have to file a birth certificate and as far as we know there was one filed. We do not know what information was put on it and we do not have any copies of that. We are unaware of what was filed when she was born but we have no interest in holding anything back from her and we know you can get a delayed birth certificate which would be a great option for her . . . We want every opportunity for her, we have offered over and over to help her and she has not responded or accepted that help. So whatever she needs now, we are happy to do, whatever we need to sign, we are happy to sign and let her move on with her life."
Ryan Stollar, the executive director of HARO, says in a phone interview that it is uncertain why Alecia's parents are responding with support and then withdrawing. He suspects the issue to be more complicated than meets the eye, either with the parents or the midwife. In Texas, midwives are required to register as well as file a birth certificate, so it is possible that Alecia's midwife who has reportedly refused help either did not file or was not registered, both of which are illegal.
Alecia's father, James, is an accountant and a member of the Texas Constitution Party, a known anti-government association. According to a 2007 court document, he has not filed taxes since 1996, and has been contacted by the IRS for evasion. With nine children reportedly undocumented although three adult children did eventually receive documentation it further complicates the issue, Mr. Stollar says.
Stollar says that while this happens to more children than many are aware, there are no easy, legal remedies. And the remedies that exist cost money, a luxury most children - even legal adults such as Alecia do not have.
"We could get a lawyer, so they can subpoena her parents and midwife so they can verify her birth and citizenship. But that requires money. So for many kids, there is no easy path. If they dont have a story that goes viral like Alecias or have a network around them supporting them theyre out of luck.," Stollar says.
For Alecia, Stollar suggests that her best option is to find a lawyer who will be willing to represent her pro bono. Her campaign has at least shed light on a situation that a small but sometimes desperate group of homeschooled children face. And the easiest solution, he notes, would be for Alecia's parents to cooperate.
"I have seen parents change and come around and learn to respect their adult children as being adults," Stollar said. "But Ive absolutely seen it not happen, too. Many times, what is required for parents to change is a crisis situation like the one Alecia is facing, where all hell breaks loose and the only reason the parents do change their mind is there is so much pressure put on them publicly. They are forced to acknowledge the damage they're doing to their children."