Lord, woman! You need to get cracking immediately!! Get yourself lawyered up!! TODAY!!!Face it: Life sucks. People suck. The state of California and its Board of Education suck. And life is unfair. Now, onto what you
really need to focus on...
Call a local women's advocacy group in your area for advice. They may know or be able to point you in the right direction as to what you need to do next, and who you need to contact... Tell your story to anyone who will listen, but don't waste your time too much. The first people you will probably deal with may be volunteers, and may or may not have the info you need or be in a position to help you, but they will be in a better position to get you to the people who can.
Your area may have a legal advocacy hotline that you can call for advice. These are typically staffed by law school students, but they have lists of attorneys who can sometimes advise you over the phone, or be able to give free or low-cost assistance. These people will know more about "the process" in your local area, and you will be better armed with expectations beforehand, not to mention being in a better position to focus your efforts constructively.
Contact your local school district about homeschooling requirements and what you need to do to start that process ASAP. Never mind that these are the same people that are trying to get your son sent to Devereux-Cleo Wallace. You probably will not be talking to the same exact people. Take notes of your phone call, make sure you note who you are talking to. Get that ball rolling.
I can not over stress the importance of this.Find a homeschooling program that you can live with, and order it. Some programs have parents in your local area that you can talk to about their experiences with said program. If you can present evidence at the hearing that
you are dealing proactively with the situation, you will be able to delay and hopefully stymie the efforts of the school district and county health care agency to override your parental rights. If the hearing is before the materials arrive, print out some stuff from the respective homeschooling website(s) and bring it with you. At the very least, you may be able to buy some time. You need to disprove or, at the very least, throw some serious doubt on their position of "we know what this child needs, the parent is misguided and irresponsible for disagreeing with us, give us the authority to place the child regardless of what the parent thinks is best."
Solidify your evidence. Get your statement onto ISACCorp's site. Have hard copies of your photos ready for the hearing. Get a statement from your child's physician if you can.
Basically you need to deal with this both proactively and defensively. Your primary approach should be on the offensive, more or less in order:- Your son does NOT do well with highly structured and controlling formats, and it is clear -- now -- that home schooling will be in his best interests.
- You have come to the conclusion that home schooling is the best option based on his past behavior in the local school district, coupled with events that transpired when he was placed at Yellowstone.
- Here are the steps you have taken thus far to undertake that course]You feel that -- as your son's mother -- you are in a better position than the local school district to access what is in the best interests of your son, especially given their past decisions (?) and lack of oversight during your son's stay at Yellowstone. Here is where you pull out the statement from your kid's doctor, the photos, the statement you submitted to ISACCorp that you felt compelled to make given your outrage over the injustices he suffered there.
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DO NOTE THIS: As horrible and unbelievable as it may seem, the folks presiding over this hearing will be a lot less interested in the incompetence of the school board and what transpired at Yellowstone, than they are in seeing what you are currently doing and planning to do in the future with regard to what is in the best interests of your son.
