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Issue #3: August 2004

CASEWORK

School Expulsion.
Our office represented a boy who had been expelled from a school in the area. On behalf of this boy we filed a disability discrimination complaint with the Human Right and Equal Opportunity Commission. We contended that the college had expelled him because of his disability and would only let him come back to school if he repeated the same grade. We attended a conciliation with our client and the Catholic Education Office and got a very successful result for our client including financial compensation and training for the Catholic School involved. He is now back in school and doing very well.

Successful return to School
NCYLC also represented a girl who had been asked to leave her high school and was transferred to another high school. She did not like her new high school and wanted to go back to the first school. Through negotiations with the girl, her parents and the school, we were able to get her back into the school on a trial basis and she has now been back for almost six months.

Suspension Appeal
We represented a girl who had received five days suspension for allegedly making threatening text messages. Both the girl and our office believed under the circumstances the text messages were not threatening and that she should not have been suspended for it. On her behalf, we appealed her suspension to the Education Director of the district where she was attending school and were successful in removing her suspension from her record. She has since transferred to another high school and is making great progress.

Appropriate Care Facility
Currently we are representing a boy who has been made a ward of the state and has been placed in an appropriate care facility. Now, the Department of Community Services are trying to force him to move somewhere else, away from family, work and his Doctor and we are trying to assist him by persuading DOCs to let him stay at his current placement. We will keep you posted on results.

School re-integration
We are currently representing a fourteen year old client with a long term anxiety disorder. He has not attended a mainstream school for over a year. Recent negotiations with the NSW Department of Education have resulted in a re-integration plan with a view to incrementally increasing his attendance at the local high school.

Bullying and special education needs.
We recently represented a year 7 student at a Newcastle school. The child has been severely bullied over the last 2 years, and also has auditory dyslexia which is a great impediment to his schooling. After a number of mediations between the parents and the school, and with the cooperation and input of the Association of Independent Schools, a coordinated approach to dealing with the child's learning difficulties has been achieved.

Care and Protection.
Over the last 2 months we have been involved in a care and protection matter in Townsville. Mum and 10 year old were traveling through Townsville when they had a car accident due to Mum's mental illness (undiagnosed Bi-polar disorder). The little girl was taken into care, and had not been returned to Mum's care even after a number of months. We have assisted Mum in having her daughter returned to the care of her sister for a 6 month period, and to her care for the following 6 months. This was a great outcome in difficult and complex circumstances.

Apprentice dispute
A great recent outcome was the case of a 16 year old hairdressing apprentice in Woollongong who had significant conflict with her employer over a worker's compensation claim and was being constantly threatened, verbally harassed and told she no longer had a job. With our help and the cooperation of the local Industry Training Centre, she has returned to work and been able to continue her apprenticeship with much improved working conditions.