Rancitis. We live in a Democracy but the system is not set up to protect the individual. It’s all a farce.

My family has been trying to get serious allegations investigated of systemic victimization, misconduct, neglect, bullying and corruption aimed at my children for over 6 years.

http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/education/.

As individuals we have no rights or protection! No Politician apparently has the power to investigate individual complaints. No complaint handling system has the resources, funding, jurisdiction or responsibility to deal with individual complaints.

The complaint handling systems are set up to protect the system and the reputation of those in it that are abusing their power and the worse thing is that so many people know what is being done both within the system and outside the system and everybody turns a blind eye.

Until we fix up the problem of turning a blind eye within the system it will not flow outside the system and into society.

I think that the problem is ‘the culture’ and the processes set up by the system to cover up their misconduct and mismanagement. The system has been set up so that they treat people and regard people as a group and as such the system justifies not affording us our rights as individuals. Unless of course, we become criminals!

If you go climb a mountain, sail around the world, abseil down a gorge and find you need rescuing you should pay for the rescue or have insurance cover to fund it. It seems rather selfish to expect someone to wear the risk and expense to get you out especially when you are motivated by the prospect of fame and fortune. It seems even more selfish to step over the failed and fallen in the pursuit of your own mission.

Jolanda: Yes I have read through your post. What a trauma. It is truly a case of an individual trying to access a network that has its tentacles into other networks.

I read your daughter’s tooth story. Nice story maybe even another level of meaning there.

Also an early primary schooler who is at secondary–school level is something worth investing in and encouraging.

I recall my own daughter. Teachers wanted to hold her back in pre-school. A January baby turning five in first year. We knew that she’d be fine as she was very advanced. Always reading, hanging with the older girls. We disagreed with teachers who wanted to hold her back. The orthodoxy of the day was to hold them back to so they would fit in better with people of their level.

I was held back because I have two minor disabilities. The thinking was I would be better able to cope. My disabilities have nothing to do with my intellect, but most people equate it to “slowness”. So school totally bored me. Bored, bored, bored and ended up a trouble maker. I hated,with a vengeance, school and books. I hung with the “misfits”. My best mate for a while was an Indigenous fellow.

So with that in mind I wasn’t going to have my eldest held back. So the Education Department sent someone out to assess my daughter . They agreed that she hadn’t developed enough for school. I said, ‘”Give an example.” They said. “For instance, we asked her what do you do with your ears? She answered: “Open them”. “She is still confusing her eyes with her ears,” they protested. My wife and I looked at each other and laughed. I brought my four year-old in and my wife asked her, "What do you do with your eyes?"

"Open them".

"What do you do with your ears?"

"Open them."

"Why do you open your ears?"

"Because Daddy is always telling me to."

My daughter went on to become the youngest PHD in Australia.

One thing to say to Jolanda's protagonists. “Open your ears!”

Jolanda: I would not compare my daughter’s situation to your nightmare, but can relate because of recent events and other experiences. I mention it because the education mob supported us. They gave some credence to the parent’s knowledge and admitted their own inadequacies and ignorance.

The inadequacies in your case are being covered to, I think, protect the system and for political reasons.

In Jolanda’s case internal govt. emails offered the ultimate insult. “The other issue to bear in mind is that some members of staff have reportedly felt concerns about risk of harm to XXXXX’s children arising from her behaviour and their involvement in the complaints.” That is a personal attack and, I think, a malicious attempt to discredit you and shift blame.

Also I can relate to the keeping up of appearances.

“Re Further response to Ms. ………. ‘Looks fine. We, I believe, have demonstrated a genuine attempt to cooperate with the demands of Ms. …...’” Note the word: “demonstrated”. So long as one has “demonstrated a genuine attempt” rather than actually doing your job and finding a solution is a bit like hoping in a race car and going brrrrm, brrrm to demonstrate your driving abilty.

Jolanda says: “They could only investigate a small percentage of the thousands of complaints that they received and that they had many complainants like my families but that they did not have the resources to investigate them.”

Rancitas says: “’Many complaints,’” sounds like there is something wrong there. How many others are there getting a raw deal for “the greater good.”.

In the case of the eight witnesses, if one of them had had the individuality to not rely on someone else or the police or whatever, the rest may have jumped in.
In Yolanda case, if the network did not ressist her right to dissent or the individual right of people in the network to assist, then this could have been nipped in the butt right at the very start.

Public interest can only be served by putting the family first before its interests. True happiness to you and yours.

Thank you Rancitis. It really helps to know that others see the injustices and the failures that my children and family are having to deal with. I really appreciate your support.

The scary thing is that this is the process that the system uses to deal with any complaint that could negatively impact on the reputation of the Government and especially if it is due to failures of the Government and/or their policies. This is why the abuse of Aboriginal children has never been addressed and this is why there is so much abuse and neglect of children. Nobody is required to care enough to do the right thing, their first priority is to protect the reputation of the Government.

I have told the Department of Education that until my family is afforded procedural fairness and the matter properly and fairly dealt with and my children are protected I will continue to fight for our human right to be heard and to be treated fairly and I will do whatever I have to do. These are children that they are systemically neglecting and targeting. It is just so wrong and the fact that so many people in positions of power know about it and do nothing shows a "serious systemic failure" in the protection of children and that means that the system is failing in its duty of care.

It's just so wrong and unfair.

I am glad things worked out for your daughter.

Jolanda. Jus' to clear something up. I have three daughters. One died during pregnancy, the next one is the one I referred to in my post and the youngest is the one fighting mental illness. Best wishes.