PALE,

Not sure what you meant by "They had a "duty to inform Jolanda if your correct they could that they could not ask for costs their was an act to establish that fact."

In NSW where I live and work, the disclosure obligations of lawyers are covered by the Legal Profession Act which does require that they make disclosures about likely costs and the costs implications of any particular result of proceedings. Such disclosures do not need to be very precise for the simple reason that costs, particularly in legal proceedings, can vary wildly depending on complications, the actions of other parties, or the difficulties in obtaining the necessary evidence. As to other duties and obligations of lawyers, if you really want to know, go read up about them at any good library or ask for a copy from your state law society.

Jolanda,

Your reference to the DET and the promises they did not follow are too obscure to comment intelligently upon. What is the DET (Department of Education?), what did they promise and how was that relevant to case and your final costs position? What was your dispute atually about? PALE seems to think it was some kind of child abuse case but I gather from what you say it was about some the treatment of your children by the education department. Please tell us your story in a fuller sense so we can understand what your problem is.

Ironically, this is a classic problem lawyers face, when their client's only give them the information they think is relevant.

The ADT awarded us some documents and one was a chart that allowed us to be able to calculate how the SSU re-calculated the scores that the Selection Committee awarded the children. This chart proves that the scores were re-calculated incorrectly and incorrect scores and misrepresentations of facts were used. The process was manipulated and flawed.

It is also a fact that despite serious formal allegations being made against certain members of the Selective Schools Unit (SSU) these people continued (and continue) to process my children’s applications and even form part of the voting panels in relation to outcomes for my children.

"The SSU said in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that extremely bright students benefit greatly from learning together. And that "One of the myths is that the bright kids will make it in any environment, when the research shows these are the very kids who will drop out and get clinically depressed and have all sorts of difficulties if they aren't in a group with their intellectual and emotional peers.”

I can prove bias, victimisation, manipulation, bullying, educational neglect and psychological abuse aimed at my children and spanning over 7 years. I can even prove that there is a conspiracy to cover the matter up and that the Department has repeatedly breached their Policies and Codes of Conduct in the handling of my children and the complaints.

One Solicitor said to me that although we would have no problem proving negligence that the Department has a bottomless pit of money and because this involves ‘psychological abuse’and is difficult to put a price on the Department would just drag it on and on until it destroyed us and that any money that we would get in damages wouldn’t cover the costs. When I said that I wanted these people removed from their positions of power as they continued to target my children he got angry at me and called me a bad mother. It appears that there are those who believe that children should just accept what is being done to them and say and do nothing.

Kalin1. We are limited in how much we can write here. I was not limited in what I provided the Solicitors. Trust me I gave them all the information. I even drafted documents for them in case they were too busy to work it out. They just didn't bother honoring their contract and representing me. They just took my money.

In the year 2000 I made some public complaints about the Education of gifted children. The Department of Education (DET) was not impressed and since then they have been targeting my children, bullying them and manipulating with their test scores and documents so as to discredit us and so as to deny my children access to Selective Schools. The schools that they 'needed' in order to meet their identified intellectual needs. It’s pay back.

The Department has conspired to cover this matter up and I have clear evidence that shows this. The Ombudsman has refused to investigate the matter despite it involving the welfare and well-being of children.

My youngest daughter sat for Selective placement for last year. She was identified highly gifted even by the DET’s psychologist. Despite formal requests that certain members of the Department not be permitted to handle her application or have anything to do with her case and despite a letter from the Department telling us that she had voluntarily removed herself from the process, documents produced under FOI clearly show that she was in total control of my daughters application. She even had email communications with the appeals panel members including the parent representative! She was unsuccessful even on appeal.

The Department will not investigate my family’s complaints even if they are about fresh instances of bias and manipulation because they say that they refer to the same type of allegations as before and they have been investigated. Problem is that these allegations have never been investigated.

What makes me really mad is that they don’t even have the decency to ensure that my children are protected and that they do not continue to be dealt with the same way?

Jolanda, if you are truly concerned about the mental wellbeing of your children, why dont you apply to the private school system, seeking bursary assistance? If your children truly are gifted, then most private schools would be keen to snap them up and help you financially (high-performing children prop up their stats and help them to market to other parents).

The other thing to take into account is that very rarely is there only one high achiver in a particular year at a state school, so unless it is a very small school, then they are unlikely to be on their own entirely. You can also seek to work with teachers to gain access to extension work, special tutoring etc. Most teachers are delighted to have a chance to work with an advanced student - you will always come across some that are just too lazy or too challenged by it, but then that's your job as a parent to step in and help provide additional guidance for your kids. Its usually only for a year in primary school, and only for one or two subjects a year at high school. particularly once I got to the higher levels at high school my teachers (although not all of them) used to basically let me do my own thing. The science teachers (physics and chem) were particularly good, and english teachers not bad either. Open your eyes to other solutions to your concerns. I am not saying that you shouldnt challenge the system, but just that the solution that you are fixated on may not be the only one to get the same results that you are after.

Countrygirl. It is a myth that just because you are gifted that private schools will give you a full scholarship.

I don’t know why you would think that I wouldn’t do everything in my power to protect my children’s mental health and well-being! Why do you think that we fight this? Do you think that my children would be happier and better cope if we turned a blind eye and/or told them to just accept their treatment and cop it sweet?

The Education System is run by the state labor government so it doesn’t matter what school my children are at. There has been evidence of other external tests being tampered with.

Two of my children are doing their HSC next year; one is in a Catholic School and one in a public school. They are very concerned and worried that they are going to be marked down for their UAI and their test results/papers tampered with. This fear interferes with their concentration; they worry when doing the tests. They keep second-guessing themselves. It causes havoc with their mind and creates distress and they suffer extreme stress and anxiety waiting for results. They just despair as so many times the results have caused them humiliation and distress and every time when they have challenged the mark there has been something wrong but nobody will do anything to fix it.

Changing schools cannot fix this problem. The only ways to fix this problem is to properly and fairly investigate the complaints so as to clear my families name and remove those responsible from their positions of power so that the children can be safe and be protected.

Thanks for your take on negligence and wrong-doing. I guess this creates a way for the Government to always protect themselves from having to answer and be held accountable. Who is going to actually acknowledge that they did something on purpose if they can get away with it? They call everything negligence so that the only thing you can do is sue, then they further discredit you for suing.

Jolanda,

It still isn't clear to me what about your case is supposed to be so special that you ought to have been entitled to costs. You haven't explained what promises were made by the DET which were not kept that would entitle you to a costs order.

You also say

"I can prove bias, victimisation, manipulation, bullying, educational neglect and psychological abuse aimed at my children... "

"The Department has conspired to cover this matter up and I have clear evidence that shows this"

Please read your own posts again. They sound rather'fantastic.' As a matter of practicality more than law, when you start with such improbable allegations, it takes a compelling case to convince a court of their truth.

I understand this started after you complained about the poor treatment of gifted children. You said the department then targeted and bullied your children. Please explain from the beginning, what it is the department did to your children - "targeting and bullying" is a little too vague to form the basis of legal action.