Friday 9 October 2009

Why won't the DCSF Listen to Home Educated Children's Voices?

4 comments:

Carlotta said...

Crying.

Kelly said...

Maire, I see on your live feed that I am frequenting your blog a lot! I am not blog stalking, I promise. I just am following your situation in the UK with enormous interest, largely because I am so horrified at what is happening to you all, and also because it so mirrors what we were going through in Ontario 15 years ago. The government in Ontario took a slightly different tack. Rather than mess with the law, or create new legal hoops for us, they went after the marginalized and the poor, and attempted to take away their right to home educate through individual court cases. We were working with a very good lawyer there, and had quite a bit of success. Then we went after the Ministry and the Provincial School Attendance Counselor through the provincial ombudsman. It was a long drawn-out process which took years, as yours has, and I was in the middle of it for way too long. So your situation touches a very deep chord in me. Anyway, I find your blog a good place to jump from to the many others that are reporting on this situation. So that's why you see me here so often. (Also, I'm moving, and this is a terrific distraction.)

I will mention one thought I had. I had mentioned your parliamentary ombudsman as possible recourse for you all on the facebook group, simply because that did work well for us in Ontario, but I have since wondered if you might have grounds for a class action suit against the government. It appears they are trying to remove your rights to take complete responsibility for your children's well-being and education, and then there are all the other things--the proposed invasion of the family home, the presumption of guilt, the removal of your human right to choose the education you deem most appropriate for your kids, etc. etc. Anyway, it's just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kelly,

Nice to see you here. Maire is great, isn't she?

Thanks for your advice. Naturally, this country doesn't recognise class action but there is a new law firm in London that I am going to consult about it. They specialise in global issues and the small fellow caught in a tight spot.

I lived in Ontario for seventeen years. Might be emigrating back there if this country doesn't shape up.

Danae
http://www.threedegreesoffreedom.blogspot.com
Please stop by and say hi

Maire said...

Hi Kelly, getting Danae's comment through as email reminded me to come and answer this. I have been preoccupied with trying to critique the statistics in the new findings Bad Man has sent to the Select Committee. I thought it was you and I don't mind a bit, it was one of the reasons for the blogging, my visualized net of bright sparks of reason spanning the country and it look like the globe. I love to see you here and totally understand the distraction attraction factor, lol.

The critique will be blogged as soon as i can get Bruce to sign my bit off, need to make sure I am not saying something too silly, he is the one who really understands statistics but just from the truth and logic view point it looks very dodgy.

i haven't checked but i think our letter from the ombudsman said we had to get MPs to complain to her. I have no idea about the legal implication but am committed to contributing to a fund to fight this should it come to that.

Fortunately Danae is way ahead of me in understanding the legal bit and will help us all I'm sure if it becomes necessary.

Thanks for the complements Danae and (((hugs))) Carlotta.

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