DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) – Dayton 24/7 Now investigated what the state is doing to protect home-schooled children.

This comes after a 10-year-old Dayton boy died from what police called extreme abuse, rape, and torture. His father, who home-schooled him, is charged in the case.

Takoda Collins’ death in December of 2019 angered many who say warning signs were ignored.

“It never should have happened to begin with,” said Takoda’s grandmother Kelly Sandoval.

Takoda’s father, Almutahan McLean, pulled him out of Dayton Public Schools in May of 2018 after teachers called Children Services 17 times to report abuse concerns.

Due to state confidentiality laws, Children Services could not say whether a case was ever opened or not.

“No kid should have to go through what he went through and the laws do need to be changed everywhere,” said Sandoval.

Montgomery County and the state are now investigating how Children Services handled those abuse reports.

Takoda’s former teachers are also asking for changes to protect home-schooled children where abuse was previously reported.

“What's important is that Children Services follows the facts and if Children Services has a lot of complaints coming in then obviously the red flags have to go up very, very quickly,” said Governor Mike DeWine.

DeWine said the exact changes needed will be determined once the state’s investigation is done. He said he will release everything it found to the public.

“If you have a child who's not being seen every day by teachers then no one from the outside is seeing that child and so it's important for Children Services to dig down, have a lot more home visits and see exactly what is going on,” he said.

Currently in Ohio, there are two ways a home-schooled child can be somewhat monitored: either through an annual portfolio review or a standardized test by the local school district.

Rachel Coleman, Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, found loopholes, though.

“The issue is that currently the standardized test can be administered by a parent if the superintendent approves of that and the portfolio review the law doesn't specifically state that it has to be done in the presence of the child,” she said.

Dayton Public Schools said Takoda’s father followed protocol but wouldn’t elaborate.

Data linking home schooling and abuse cases is not kept by the state.

However, in 2014, a study of child torture by pediatricians found that 47% of school-aged victims studied were removed from school to be home-schooled. Typically, it was after the closure of a past child welfare report.

“When they attended public schools their parents were aware there were certain limits they couldn't cross,” said Coleman.

Takoda’s case was not the first time a case like this has come up in Ohio.

In 2013, “Teddy’s Law” was introduced by former State Senator Capri Cafaro out of the Youngstown-area.

It was named after Teddy Foltz, a home-schooled 14-year-old who was killed by his mother’s boyfriend.

“They basically moved Children Services jurisdictions and two, because Teddy was then going to be home-schooled he was out of reach of mandated reporters,” said Cafaro.

Cafaro’s bill was not passed after receiving backlash from organizations that felt laws shouldn’t apply to all families and should isolate risk factors.

The last version would have given school districts limited access to Children Services’ database to see if adult sin the home had pending investigations and allowed districts and Children Services to delay or pull a child from home schooling.

“Ultimately job and family services that has jurisdiction over that database essentially told me that they couldn't do it. Hence, no Teddy's Law,” said Cafaro.

Takoda’s extended family said they will be pushing for change once again.

Until then, Sandoval said she prays any other children in Takoda’s situation will get help before it’s too late.

“You find a chance to get out, get out and find a police officer and tell the police, tell a teacher,” she said.