(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

[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.