Re: Allow my severely disabled son to stay in his school

[Warriormum1]

Please could you sign my petition at:

www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/glasgow-city-council-allow-my-severely-disabled-son-to-stay-in-his-school-2

My son Aaron Cleary is a severely disabled eight year old boy with a limited life expectancy. He cannot walk, talk, or even eat, and he has complex medical, physical and educational needs. Aaron currently goes to the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments, also known as The Craighalbert Centre. This is a specialist school which caters specifically for children like Aaron, and my son is happy and settled there. In order to get my son into this school I had to endure a year and a half long battle with Glasgow City Council, and a two week long court case which resulted in a court order being put in place, requiring Glasgow City Council to send my son to the Craighalbert Centre. At the time of the court case, the school was only able to offer Aaron a two year placement because at that point they only schooled children up to the age of seven. For this reason the court order was made for a two year placement at the school. Since then the Craighalbert Centre has changed its policy and is now able to offer my son a place in the school for the rest of his Primary Education. Aaron loves his school. His needs are being met very well there, he is familiar with the staff, and all his friends are there.
Unfortunately, Aaron's Educational Psychologist , Claire McGhee, who works for Glasgow City Council, is doing everything in her power to get Aaron out of the Craighalbert Centre, despite the fact that he is happy and settled there, and the fact that she, herself has admitted that his needs are being met there. Because of her actions, I have been forced to put in a Placing Request to Glasgow City Council, to request that Aaron be allowed to stay in his school. This is currently in the hands of John Butcher, Head of Inclusion at Glasgow City Council. If my Placing Request is refused, I will have to take legal action and go to a tribunal to try to keep my son in his school. This will result in a tremendous amount of unnecessary upheaval for my family, myself, and most importantly my son. If Aaron is removed from the Craighalbert Centre, he will be taken out of a school which is catering specifically for his needs, where all of his friends are and where he is very happy, settled and is making good progress. Please could you sign this petition and share it with your friends on Facebook, and any forums and groups are a member of, to help Aaron to get the education and support he needs and deserves. Just go to change.org, and if you put Glasgow City Council into the search box, you will find my petition.

Thank you so much

I will sign and share tomorrow when I'm at a computer. How else could I help? Could I write a letter to Glasgow city council to complain, and I could encourage friends to do the same?

Claire is my daughters Ed Phy too! She took over from Marianne Paul who was lovely. I hope you don't mind me asking but why is she so against your DS staying at Craighalbert? Where does she want him to go? This sounds so silly moving him when he's settled! I'll sign your petition too. Hope you can get it sorted without going to court again xx

Are you already in touch with the Govan Law Centre? - as they are the best lawyers to advise you on placing requests. Your next port of call will be an ASNT Tribunal if your placing request is refused as they now hear these cases not the Sheriff Court as was the case in the past. When did you make the placing request and have you received a formal refusal? You cannot appeal to the Tribunal until your placing request is formally refused so it is important you pursue them to do this (if that's what they intend to do). PM me if you need more information as I was involved in a similar case with GCC. I understand you would like them to back down now but they may not even consider this without a Tribunal so it's best to prepare for all outcomes. I don't want to raise false hopes but if the court ruled in your favour in the past, I think they may struggle to argue that they can now magically meet his needs - and a Tribunal may be less willing to put a child through the stress of a move just to suit an LEA and not the child.

ps best not to put personal names in your posts

Thanks for that. I think he reason they are determined to get my son out of the Craighalbert Centre is because of money, but I'm not sure. I have asked for a direct reason but I have not been given one. The Educational Psychologist has admitted that the Craighalbert Centre is meeting his needs, and that he is happy there, but she still insists that he should be moved back into a Glasgow City Council school.

At the time of the court case the Craighalbert Centre was only able to offer my son a two year placement because they only schooled children up to the age of seven. Since then they have changed their policy and are now able to offer schooling for the whole of his Primary School Education, she is able to stay in the school. For this reason, the Educational Psychologist said that his placement was up and I had to look into Glasgow City Council schools. I checked with my lawyer, and he said that the court order would not expire, even though it was made for a two year placement, but the Council strongly resisted putting him in the school in the first place so they are desperate to get him out.

The money argument does not even stand up because my partner and I transport him to school so that the Council do not have to provide a taxi or an escort for him, which is saving the Council about £26000 per year. All they pay for is petrol and the cost of running the car which costs them about £5000. Even if they were to put him in a mini bus with escorts and transport him to a local school it would cost them more than that. The whole thing is crazy.

I am aware of Govan Law Centre, its a great place, and I wish more people knew about it. I have been given advice by a lawyer there and I also pursuing this through the legal channels.

The reason I have set up this petition is because I want to raise some awareness about the fights parents like us have to go through in order to get the best help for our children.

When I first tried to get my son into the Craighalbert Centre the Local Authority did everything in their power to block it, and obstruct the process. They wouldn't even allow him to go there for an assessment, even though he was entitled to one, and it was only because the school changed their policy that I finally got one arranged. Then I had to home school my severely disabled child for a year and a half, until it finally went to court. In the meantime I had to face an Education Appeals Committee where the only person I had supporting me was a legal secretary. Glasgow City council brought a Senior Educational Psychologist, the headteacher of my son's previous school, one of their lawyers and the Head of Education....Yes the Head of Education for Glasgow! All this to provide evidence against me to try to block me from getting my son into the school of my choice! I had to hold my own in a room full of senior professionals, and I didn't stand a chance. They were clearly trying to intimidate me. Finally, with the help of Govan Law Centre, I was able to take them to court and had a court order made in my favour. The court case lasted for almost two weeks and was one of the most stressful things I have ever had to go through in my life. The whole process took a year and a half. Life is hard enough for families with disabled children, without having to be put through this kind of stress.

I have already put in a placing request and will be taking it to a Tribunal if it is refused, but in the meantime I have decided to make this a matter for public debate. Despite everything I went through, and how unfairly the Council treated me the last time, I shut my mouth and didn't say a word. Now they are trying to put me through the same thing all over again. But this time if they are going to do it, they can do it in front of an audience, instead of behind closed doors. Its not just about me and my family. Councils all over the country are doing this kind of thing to disabled families, and many of them just don't have the energy to fight it.

Thank you for all of your advice. I am sure you understand what I am going through if you have been through it yourself. :)

I found the Tribunal to be very parent friendly so it may not as stressful as before. The reason I mentioned pursuing them for an explicit decision/ refusal about the placing request is because we had difficulty getting even a refusal from them as they did not want us to have the right of appeal to the Tribunal - or maybe it was just incompetence that they did not answer or refuse our placing request until put under sustained pressure but either way just sitting back doing nothing benefits their case.

I think that as an appeal to the Education Appeals Committee is effectively an internal appeal to the LEA, it is not an advisable option for a case like yours - The Tribunal is independent and the onus will be on the Council to disprove your case

I know what you mean, its hard to tell whether they do these things deliberately or just out of incompetence. The first time round they refused to even give me a placing request form, and the site for downloading it was down. It wasn't until the lawyer sent me a copy, that I was able to make a placing request. Its reassuring to know that the Tribunal is more parent friendly.

The way the Tribunal is organised means that you will only have to answer questions from their lawyer - most likely at the very end after you have heard all the other evidence from all their witnesses. No one from the Education Department will be allowed to directly question/intimidate you.

signed.....wish there was more I could do

Do you have a facebook page...this would be a very good way of bringing lots of awareness to this too

I hope you are not forced to go through this torturous ordeal and that your lovely boy stays where he should be.

All strength to you ((((hugs)))) xx

Warriormum1 signed your petition. I think its disgraceful what your having to go through. Craighalbert Centre is an amazing school (i stay 5 mins from it, and have a friend whos son goes) and sounds so right for your boy. What is your facebook page called and i will share and get my friends to sign petition from there.

Warriormum managed to get on facebook, so i have shared with my friends. Hope all goes well and that Aaron gets to stay where he belongs, good luck x

Signed

I do hope your little boy will be able to stay in his current school. Ive sighned and hope many other do to! Good luck

I have signed and am furious on your behalf.

Signed.

That's a relief, it sounds like it would be easier than the court case, but even the thought of having to be questioned by a lawyer in order to keep my child in his school is ridiculous! I just don't think I should have to go through this all over again, to keep my son in a school where he's happy and getting his needs met. It upsets me that this is happening to so many families with disabled children. Thanks to everyone for your support. We nearly have 2000 signatures, and I am beginning to get some media interest, so watch this space......

Thank you, shazian for your support. It really makes a difference when it is shared on Facebook, I think most of my signatures have come through this way. If you are local, you will be aware of all the good work this school does for children like my son :)

That's a good idea about a Facebook page, it might get some more people to talk about it. And the best thing anyone can do to help Aaron right now, is to share, share, share with as many people as you can. I really appreciate your support. x

Thank you to everyone who has signed and shared my link. Change.org have now put my son's Petition on the front page of their website, if you scroll down you can see it, or you can go to:

www.change.org/keepaaroninschool

I am sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your posts but I have been constantly working on spreading the news for about four days solid, as well as taking care of a wee boy with complex medical and physical needs. Children like Aaron are literally at the mercy of the grown ups around them. They cannot fight for themselves or make any decisions for themselves, so it is imperative that we, as a society protect their best interests.

Thank you for helping me to protect the best interests of my son x

if you set up your own fb page and give us the link for it...it means we are passing onto everyone we know in our friends lists....you can then print your petition from fb and use it to support your case

Let us know and we will be right behind you with it

the more, the merrier as they say!!

Signed and shared.

I find it so sad that you have to spend so much of your time fighting this, when all the time you have with your boy is precious.

:(

I really hope GCC do see sense and agree to continue funding your ds' school and that you will not have to go to a tribunal. You do have a lot going for your case - previous success in court and the fact that he is already placed at the school. However it is important to remember that you cannot appeal to the ASNT Tribunal until you get a formal answer to your placing request so you need to know one way or the other ASAP. I am glad you are in touch with the Govan Law Centre as they are the best education lawyers in Scotland so they will keep you right - but anyway really hoping for the best outcome quickly for you and your son