Few things infuriate home educating parents more than the suggestion that their children are at greater risk of abuse than those who attend school. There is no evidence that this is or has in the past been so, at least in this country. Things are slightly different in America and there is a particular syndrome there which we seldom see here. This consists of couples, often outwardly devout Christians, who adopt children from abroad and then abuse them horribly, concealing their treatment by home educating them. The closest example to this sort of thing in Britain was the case of Eunice Spry. Here is a list of some of these cases;
http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/20821
Now it is undoubtedly true that home education has often been used as a cover for the activities of these people and this has made some professionals in the USA uneasy and led to calls for stricter control of home education. As far as this country is concerned, although there is little or no evidence that cruelty or abuse is more prevalent among children who are home educated, it is probably the case that mistreating children would be a lot easier to conceal if the kids were not at school. So while it has not happened frequently in the past; it is a theoretical risk that could arise in the future. It is this possibility which causes some teachers and social workers to raise eyebrows at the practice of home education and suggest that tighter controls are needed.
Let me make myself perfectly clear. There is no evidence that this has happened. The fear is that the lax nature of checks on home educated children could allow such things as this to occur in this country in the future.