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Chapter 4: Overall Views Of The Process
Appellants, without exception, found the process extremely stressful and upsetting. Many were concerned about the effects on their child and the impact on the family as a whole. Most wanted to put the experience behind them and try to make the best of whatever outcome had resulted.
"I think for a normal person it's quite daunting. Maybe it's just that I'm an emotional type person, but I found it all very daunting and a bit scary, and I wouldn't want to go through it again."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
"I was quite upset really because we'd always sort of spoken to the little one when we'd been dropping her brother at school, 'Oh it'll not be long now until you go to school with your brother' and it was hard telling her that she wasn't going to be able to go to the school with him and she was going to have to go somewhere else and, you know, she sort of thought she'd done something wrong."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
"… I mean that was quite nerve-wracking and emotional. It was quite stressful for [child] as well, because she had no idea what school she was going to and it was all quite worrying for her. She was getting several months at a time where she didn't know."
Successful placing request appeal
"I basically, I cried for days, I was so disappointed, I was so, it was so personal, it wasn't, it wasn't, I just felt that if I really didn't have any other choices and the whole sensitivity of having a disabled child who you have cried for years over, all the time anyway."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
"Plus, you have a child who … it's coming up to summer holidays and she doesn't know what High School she's going to, and she was becoming completely distraught about it ... and it was a very important decision and, you know, what school she goes to obviously is going to affect the rest of her life. And for her benefit, we wanted her to know what was happening to her."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
"It was also getting quite upsetting for our son, because he couldn't understand why the school didn't want him. And we were trying to explain to him that it's not that the school didn't want him."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
These experiences appeared to affect appellants' propensity to take their case any further, or to appeal again. Very few said that they would consider appealing at the Sheriff Court, despite feeling that they had been unfairly treated. An appearance at the Sheriff's Court would, they felt, be expensive and daunting. Thus the final stage of an appeal seems to become more heavily weighted against the appellant's side, since it is much more daunting and expensive for an individual to consider than for the educational authority who have their in-house legal support. Timing also meant that there was little opportunity to pursue the case any further without causing more disruption to the child's education.
"By this time, it was becoming quite unsettling as we didn't know what school our son was going to, so we decided to just send him to one of the other schools … although the placing request was turned down and the appeal was turned down - we just said, 'Oh we're not going to go through the hassle of going to the Sheriff court and all the rest of it … I went and spoke to a lawyer and the cost of it was quite expensive. The cost was £2000 I think is what he said it would cost to do it, and I said 'No. It's not worth it'."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
"… and I felt that at that point in time we'd just back down, although my husband as I say really would have rather taken it the whole way. But I felt, both financially and emotionally, I don't think we could have coped with it last year."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
"I felt it was so unfair and I actually contacted the council's ombudsman. And I think they told me to try and discuss it with the council first, but you know to be honest I ran out of steam, it did, just taking the whole stuffing out of me, I was ironing my white flag and I just thought, you know you have to go and put this [in the] past."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
Many appellants feel bitter about the time wasted and the stress they have gone through.
"And they had caused an awful lot of hurt and upset between the boys and the, stress to myself too. I did really feel quite bitter that we had to go through all this trauma … and I had all this with the boys being upset and why can't my brother come to my school … Why am I going to this strange school … they would hug each other in the morning to say bye and oh, so I felt very bitter about all of that … I felt really let down in a way by the, by the whole system."
Successful placing request appeal
"For [child] it ruined his last year of Primary School because he was left up to the very last second to find out where he was going. He didn't know which school he was going to, which spoiled it. He couldn't celebrate as much as I'm sure he would have … so he couldn't celebrate as much with his school friends to go on because he wasn't sure whether he was going to be with them or not."
Successful placing request appeal
For many placement appellants, things often work out at the last minute, despite the appeals procedure, since places become available at the school of their choice anyway. Many respondents reported that their children had obtained a place at the school of their choice just before or very shortly after the beginning of the school year.
"The headmistress phoned me Friday and she's got a place … there's a wee girl leaving."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
For others, although their children did not get places at the school of their choice, they settled into the school to which they were sent and their parents reported that they are happy.
"My child was already settling down at school and he said. 'It's a waste of time Mum, now,
I know all the boys and girls now. I'm happy and settled'."
Unsuccessful placing request appeal
For many, although things had turned out quite well in the end, they had gone through a stressful time, felt bitter at the way the system was perceived to be working against them and felt little respect for the way the system worked in their case. In the few cases where lawyers were involved, there was an additional source of dissatisfaction:
"What annoyed me with his appeal was we had to engage lawyers into it, and because we won at appeal and not at court, we had to pay our expenses."
Successful placing request appeal
All respondents, whether the appeal was successful or not, felt that the appeal had been a bleak and dispiriting experience. It was distressing for both parent and child, was expensive, time-consuming and few, when unsuccessful, were inclined willingly to undergo the further stress, tension and expense they thought would be attached to an appeal to the Sheriff's Court.
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