sen mediation advice please

[MumuDeLulu]

awaiting tribunal re note in lieu. dd in y5 mainstream, asd & other bits
council have bought in to a service with professional mediators from a reputable SN charity
anyone here done this?
did it help at all?
sounds good to me but is it just a trick?

tia

ilikemysleep - I am sorry but I really do disagree

I doubt very much the parent in your example demanded a Statement and a private school place granted just because of their child's cognitive level. If this was the case, then the Tribunal would certainly NOT have ruled in the parents' favour. (You don't say what happened in this case)

A child can only gain an independent place because of one of two reasons (or both reasons):-

a) the LA named school cannot meet need. Or
b) the LA named school can meet need but the cost of doing that (ie by buying in extra therapy/teaching/support etc) would exceed the cost of the independent school.

Every child has the right to the appropriate education as per the Education Act 1996. If the only way for that child to have an appropriate education is in a private school, and a Tribunal has ruled that (based on one or more of the premises above) then that is the law of this land.

TOWIE is right regarding the law. Did the child get a place?

Tribunals certainly don't give them out just because parents want them. Your story is also second hand information from a relative. You weren't there and you might not know all the facts and you don't say in what capacity they were attending Tribunal. Did they have a particular view to advance? Were they qualified to comment on the evidential or legal worth of the case? Should they have been commenting?

Anyway,, that is not to say parents don't sometimes make claims without a chance of success but who would blame a parent with a very vulnerable child wanting to do their best for them.

Whatever the merits of a case, parents usually have only one agenda - the interests of their child. The same cannot be said for LAs were the interests of the child can become lost in the mix with funding issues and policies etc

The relative was working as SENCO at the private school parents wanted. They did not get a place. Of course the parents had their child's interests at heart, and of course the LA disagreed and on this occasion made their case which I believe was that given the IQ and the child's attainments the child was doing as well as could be expected in the school they were currently attending. There are various other examples I could give of scenarios but the cases are too recent and the children might be recognisable and so of course I will not. Many tribunals are entirely justified and reasonable, a few - maybe a very few - are not.

I don't doubt that there must be a handful of cases where parents are appealing for strange reasons because folk, on a general level, can be strange.

However, it is a torturous process and as it currently stands has so many unpleasant hoops to jump through that in my experience and my belief a parent would only be jumping those hoops out of FEAR of the alternative, not because their child might get by ordinarily but they are seeking extra. Going to tribunal and the months and months before that first time was the most frightening time of my life and took every fibre of my being and an enormous toll on my family. I don't believe many at all would do it for a laugh.

Tribunals may be reasonable and justified (although there mix of legal and lay gives rise to many vagueries) but I don't think anyone was questioning that.

Many woud however question that LAs are generally reasonable and justified. Not because we want deluxe provision but adequate provision.

I have a child out of school with NO provision. I'm not asking for deluxe but provision adequate to meet his needs but ANY provision would be a step forward!

No Starlight, not for a laugh and I don't doubt that in the case above the parents did not act lightly, I am sure they thought a move would make their child attain better. But I do tnk, admittedly f rom second hand evidence, that if the case was as described then the parents were wrong in the demands they made of the LA, and the LA right to defend it. Not every single tribunal is a justified thwarted parent who is absolutely right fighting an LA who is penny pinching...occasionally, it is the parent who, whilst absolutely believing that their requests are justified, are not reasonable. I say again I do NOT think this about any of the fights described here on this board, but it just can't be the case that the parent is always, always reasonable, correct and justified (even if they think they are ) and the LA is always, always breaking the law and denying children what they need. I would accept that is probably most often the case, but it usisn't inevitably the case.

Mediation is rarely used in civil cases because both parties usually (not always) have lawyers and the lawyers just pick up the phone and talk to each other and negotiate or have a round table meeting they don't need outside help, they are trained negotiators themselves.

I only had to mediate a few times and it was because the client either could not afford or really could not face going to court and was willing to compromise to avoid that and we couldn't get the other side to budge any other way.

I would prefer to see free legal advice on legal aid for every child (or their parent regardless of parent income) rather than mediation. Straightforward cases would be resolved quickly by LAs who would know there was no point messing specialist lawyers around - they would not fall for cheap or dirty tactics in the same way unrepresented parents may - and where there is a genuine disagreement lawyers can advise what extra evidence might be needed to resolve that or may stick two EPs for eg in a room to thrash out their different views. There is a higher chance only cases where there is genuine expert disagreement would get to tribunal.

Some parents do bring bonkers cases - as a Solicitor i turned down at least 1/3 cases - but this is where a lawyer would very early on give advice they had no chance of winning and nip those cases in the bud. Lawyers would set out clearly in writing advice about the strengths and weaknesses of each case and a view on the prospects of success and guide parents who have not understood the process or who have unrealistic expectations.

There are parents who want to follow bizarre unevidenced therapies they have found on the internet but they are few and probably the parents in most need of good quality straight talking legal advice on day 1. Those cases should not get as far as mediation, mediation is not a replacement for advice.

I struggle to see how mediation will help.

Hi

I wanted to reply to some of the points and questions which others have raised, if that's ok.

A few general points: mediation isn't the same as getting legal advice and it isn't the same as going to tribunal. Its a different way of potentially dealing with a dispute. Mediation won't be appropriate in every situation. However, it MAY be appropriate in some situations.

A general principle of mediation (in whatever context, e.g. workplace, civil, family etc) is the premise that the parties can make decisions and potentially arrive at a resolution. The parties may need support from lawyers/advisers as part of this, and they are entirely entitled to consult lawyers at any stage.

Mediation really is an alternative to court/tribunal proceedings. Whether individuals agree with this point is up to them. All I can say is that collective decades of experience amongst mediators/lawyers in a variety of contexts shows that mediation and other types of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) can be a viable option.

Mediation isn't a universal solution, but it can be a solution in an appropriate situation. There are instances where parents and an LEA/school are in dispute, whether that's about a statement, provision or something else. This might be around the particular way in which support is being provided - that might be suitable for mediation. Its worth remembering that SEN disputes are wider than those where tribunal seems like the best option. It could be that mediation will be the appropriate route for those. Also, mediation might be more relevant earlier in the process.

Parents can go to mediation having taken legal advice. There is nothing stopping parents from doing this. Personally, as a mediator, I would ask parents if they have taken advice, and if they haven't I would point out to them that they have this right and might well want to do so first. I can't order anyone to take legal advice - but then neither can a judge/SEND Chair.

The points which AgnesdiPesto and others have made about legal aid are valid ones. The current government took the decision to restrict legal aid funding and free sources of advice (e.g. via Law Centres) have been reduced due to reduced public funding.

About funding: private practice mediators (like me) may be paid by the parties. I am a professional mediator and the code of practice of my professional body requires me to be independent and not to mediate in a situation where a conflict of interest arises. That professional independence is what protects the mediation from undue influence by either of the parties. It puts the pressure on the mediator, but that is part of our role.

From all the comments, it seems that contributors have real concerns about mediation in any sort of SEN context and a number would not agree to mediation under any circumstances. Also, there appears to be a settled view that appealing to tribunal is the only viable option as well as being the only one which parents have any regard for. These are really interesting points, and I'm thinking of feeding these back into the specialist SEN groups which I'm in contact with. It may be that there is scope for some work to be done with LEAs, parents and other interested parties.

Thanks to everyone for their comments.

I'm afraid that after my experiences I have no faith in professional bodies and their regulatory responsibilities. Our SALT has had no due regard for her, and not the OT. The SENCO and Autism Advisor hadn't even read their codes and for all of these a parent is unable to raise an issue with the bodies.

Can a parent raise an issue with a mediator to the regulatory body and have the complaint thoroughly investigated?

All mediators who are members of a professional body, as I am (ADR Group), MUST tell clients about how to make a complaint. This includes giving the details of the professional body. I would expect a professional body to carry out an appropriate investigation. I know of instances where this has happened, in the context of a family (divorce) mediation. I would expect the same to take place if a parent made a complaint in the context of an education mediation.

Well that's good if they are accountable to parents as well as their contractors.

I can think of an instance where a mediator may have been helpful actually. I asked the Autism service for 3 lines under 3 headings for their weekly visit. Date/time/name, issue observed, advice and outcome. For 2 terms they refused this information. Eventually after quoting enough of their own policies at them the summoned me to a meeting to discuss. The Head of service invited half the town.

During this meeting she attempted to humiliate me, bring up all kinds of unfounded accusations, attempt to get a retaliation and frequently brought up our recently lost tribunal with a laugh. Before the final blow which was to agree to fill in our form .

Could have been done by email.

She wanted an audience to demonstrate her power over us.

Doubt she would have done it if an outsider was there.

Hi everyone, I would like to revive this old thread as it is very relevant. Mediators are called independent, but in fact aren't they qualified lawyers whose client is the LA, not the parents. Whenyou hire a lawyer - tey are not employed by you, but they certainly serve your interests. The same with mediators - the private companies are chosen by LAs, not parents. How can they be not biased ? They serve the body tat pays for their lunch.

sorry, I see I cannot edit and correct my typos.
SEN mediation is carried out on the unknown terms and conditions (until at the beginning of a meeting parents are asked to sign some ageement that limits their rights, and it is too late to object), I just see it as not fair and as a conflict of interest?