(no subject)

[velvetpage]

Okay, scenario is as follows. An American woman marries a Canadian man and moves here illegally. She has a nine-year-old daughter, no ex appears to have any say in this child, and the child is also American. The school board (my employer) has denied the girl the right to attend school because, as an illegal alien, no one will be paying her fees. They want Mom to pay the fees ($9000 approximately) so she can go to school. Mom can't afford it, Stepdad can't even afford to sponsor his new wife properly or adopt the child let alone pay the fees, and the child has been homeschooled for two years as a result. She is not learning, probably because Mom doesn't know what she's doing and doesn't know how to find out. Oh, and the girl is special-needs, too, which means the education that's right for her would probably cost a lot more than the province would pay for to begin with.

[Poll #419060]

Comments

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Ok, a few thoughts.

One, here, at least, we let immigrant students attend school no matter what their status. School and health care (as in emergency care) is a right. Period. Children especially shouldn't suffer because of stupid legal bullshit.

Secondly, for all those talking bout the mother going back -- how many people reading this can just pack up and move to another country on a whim, and then pack up and move AGAIN? It's not easy. And the stepfather IS a citizen, this is his chosen family. It's not like an immigrant family with no ties to the country just up and went to Canada looking for a free education. These were people in love and I've seen it happen more than once, it's a whirlwind, and you get married and used to each other and get settled and then realize what a bind you put yourself in, especially when it comes to the daunting (and often expensive) legal immigration process.

My friend is married to an Englishman right now, and they have a baby together, and he isn't legal here -- even with a wife, child, and stepchildren. He has a life here, and he can't even go to the UK to visit his family because he would have to stay, which would require getting a new life there, and giving up his wife and child and stepchildren until they have enough to move all of them over there. Were they foolish? Yes. But it's just technical bullshit standing in the way.

The mother's 'home' is Canada now, with her husband and daughter. Going 'home' means saving up money to travel, get a place to live, furniture, a job, a legal mailing address to enroll her child in school, and so on.

(BTW I have lived in other countries and am a bit informed about the stupid hoops that decent people have to go through to get legal -- yet the criminals can slip through so easily. Ug.)

Is education compulsory in Canada? It is here, which is probably why any child can get one.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

To answer your last question first, I think the legal loophole the board is using is that every Canadian citizen must attend school.

I mostly agree with you on the other stuff, with one reservation. I know a few things about immigration myself, because my dad is a port-of-entry officer at Pearson Airport. The waiting list for legal immigration to Canada can take several months. Many of the people on it have similar ties to this country - my cousin's then-fiancée was denied entry for months on technicalities before my dad helped her sort through the red tape. My cousin had already moved back to Canada, and she had a written job offer here, but it still took ages.

This woman has jumped the queue. If my students tried to do something they knew was wrong and then get the benefits of it later, I'd insist they went back and did it right, the way everyone else had to. We have standards; they're long, but they're not unreasonable, and this woman would probably qualify without much trouble. Why should she get away with it? Are the rules there for everyone except her?

That said, the girl should have been in school. Getting her caught up will take a lot more resources than just having her up with her class from the get-go. And if the special needs cause problems with the catch-up, this could seriously screw up the rest of her life.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I think when people jump the queue like that, they should be able to stay put but be unable to work or collect any sort of benefits during that time. AND put them all the way on the back, from the time they were discovered, not from the time they SHOULD have been on the line. Maybe even fine them, make the fine prohibitively high (taken out of tax refunds? Something?) so that it encourages people to do it legitimately.

But the basics like education and at least emergency medical care? That should be the case.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

No one is denied basic medical care in Canada. That one's not an issue. More than basic care, though - that's probably a big issue for this family. Every trip to the doctor's requires a health card that gets swiped. I doubt this family has seen a doctor the entire time they've been here unless it was an emergency.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I didn't even try to get care once when I was in England (eventually illegally). Didn't want to risk it. Didn't COMPLAIN, mind you, but didn't get any. I blame myself of course for not being legal, and only later on paying for insurance, privately.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I agree with putting her back at the back of the line, etc. I'm guessing the bureaucracy of that would be seriously problematic to administer, though.

[iamradar.livejournal.com]

This woman has jumped the queue. If my students tried to do something they knew was wrong and then get the benefits of it later, I'd insist they went back and did it right, the way everyone else had to. We have standards; they're long, but they're not unreasonable, and this woman would probably qualify without much trouble. Why should she get away with it? Are the rules there for everyone except her?

This woman should have realized this from the start and instead of getting in over her head trying to home school the girl (of which she knew she was unqualified to do going into it) she should have taken the interests of her daughter into account and gone back to do things right. Is it sad that her daughter is going to wind up behind because of the actions of her parents? Sure. But the blame does not lie in policy or in the school board. It belongs to the parents needing to have done the right thing in the first place and as you put it 'not jumped the queue'.

To use a very simple description of accountability and responsibility: Bed, made, lie.

Just my .02. :-p

[neosis.livejournal.com]

I can't put the blame on the school board, they may not be legally allowed to aid and abet known illegal aliens. As I understand the girl was born in the U.S. and the parents haven't taken any of the reasonable steps to make sure she can get an education (adoption or application for legal immigrant status or Canadian citizenship). Frankly, it sounds like the mother is risking deportation, I expect the only reason she and her child haven't been deported is her marriage.

If the daughter weren't special needs this wouldn't be too big of an issue, the school board could have let her slip through the cracks into the school system with very little trouble, however, since she is special needs they couldn't do that.

I think the fault lies with the mother for prematurely sneaking into the country, she may have been in love, but she's jeopardized her child's welfare by knowingly disobeying the rules.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I agree about the school board; when they found out about this, they should have immediately informed Immigration Canada to get the matter resolved somehow. The process for special ed is very, very heavy on the paperwork, and this child would not have gotten past it. Slipping her in the back door, as has been done in other, similar cases, wouldn't work here.

I find it interesting that they've now got so much publicity, Immigration is going to be hard-pressed to follow their own rules regarding this family. You're right, also, that she's risking deportation.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

Basically, it should never have come to this. When a parent decides to uproot a child and switch countries, they should certainly arrange for what will happen on arrival. Entering a foreign country knowing that your child with a learning disability won't get formal schooling borders on neglect.

The child is here, the damage is done, she should be in school pronto if she hopes to start catching up. In this case, I say just put her in school and get her learning! I don't care if she's a citizen of the moon, she has a right to learn. Yes, it's not fair that she jumped the line, and I think that should be dealt with, but don't make an 8 year old pay the penalty.

My other problem is this: how can our country knowingly harbour a child for two years and not ensure she's being educated? I'm sure if the parent had been neglecting her primary needs or abusing her, the authorities would have stepped in (I hope). This child is supposed to be getting an education, why couldn't an authority somewhere step in and say "This is not ok, your child needs to be in school" right at the beginning. That way, if going back was the only option, a six year old just starting school would be back in the States within a matter of months, no learning damage done. Letting this drag on for two years is everyone's fault.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

The fact is, just about anything could have happened to this girl and we would have no way of knowing. She was off the radar; there were no teachers watching for signs of abuse. I doubt anyone would have stepped in, because no one knew about her.

It is neglect on the part of the school board to not ensure that she was on someone's radar. It is neglect on the part of the parents that they did not ensure she would be educated. Basically, it's wrong all round.

[anidada.livejournal.com]

All children have the right to be educated. In our country, we have public education -- and it should be free for all, regardless of their status. What her mom and stepdad have done or not done is irrelevant, she shouldn't have to suffer. It's the school board that's the problem, IMO. Just because someone is here illegally doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed basic services -- I feel the same way about health care, for that matter. I don't care what their story is, they're human beings, and this is Canada -- we should treat people better, regardless.

I'll leave my opinion of the mom and stepdad out of this, however.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I agree, but I can also see the problem from the school board's point of view. Spec ed. is expensive. There is extra funding available once the child is officially identified, but it comes from the same source as the original funding, so if she's not getting that, she's not getting the extra either. Our board is chronically short of cash, and they're constantly trying to cut back on special ed. because the funding formula doesn't allow for as much spec. ed. help as Hamilton needs to begin with. Add a spec. ed. kid who is not getting funding - I understand why they balked.

But to let the situation go for two years? That was irresponsible. They should have had the girl in school while they talked to the province and got Immigration involved.

[anidada.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it doesn't take two years to notify the authorities (though it might take the authorities two years to move on it!) -- and it doesn't sound like they were delaying that notification for the sake of the child, or anyone else, so they've got no excuse, IMO.

I know that funding is tricky business, but I still think that at the very least they could've had her in school part-time. It's possible to homeschool a child with special needs, it's not possible to do so if you don't have any resources to back it up (regardless of the parents' background and abilities) -- so if they could even have offered some help in that regard, without having her as a regular student (which is what happens in some regions with homeschool kids of any stripe), the cost might've been lessened, and she wouldn't lose two years of education. As it is, who knows if she can make that up?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

From the account in the Spec, I would estimate she's as far behind as the most needy of my students. She's going to need special class placement for a while if she's really going to catch up. She's unlikely to get that, though, because the waiting lists are incredibly long for those placements, and she's not on any lists. Her best bet is to get into a school with a caring LRT, and accept some of the help the family has been offered - such as free tutoring from a retired teacher. With any luck, her issues are more attentional than academic and she'll catch up somewhat before middle school next year.

[anidada.livejournal.com]

It looks like (from what I read today) that local folks have put up the money for her to go to school, and that the head of a local private tutoring company's going to help her get up to speed at no charge. That's very cool -- but I hope that this serves as a cautionary tale and that the situation improves for the other kids who are no doubt in a similar position.