child with s.e.n. excluded from school

[Andyson]

A 12-yr old boy with Aspergers Syndrome was barred from attending his school. His parents were asked to remove him. For 3 months the boy was not attending any school and was clearly upset that his friends were going to school but not him. He kept asking what was wrong with him. It was not until the parents e-mailed the Dept for Children, Schools & Families (Lord Adonis) that the child was finally admitted to a school specialising in helping children with behaviour problems.
The parents yesterday received a 2-page letter from the Dept saying that the first school and Local Authority were wrong and did not follow laid down practice. The Dept is carrying our further investigations.
Can the parents sue the school and Local Authy for maladministration (?) and what would be a reasonable figure?

[daffy654]

Hi andyson i'm sorry I don't know the answer to your query but just thought you might get a more knowledgeable answer in the LAW section here on AnswerBank.
I am the mother of a 10 year old boy with asperger syndrome who was recently excluded from school(only 5 days though) and I believe it to have been unfair but am putting it behind me for the sake of my son.He doesn't need the extra stress and neither do I ! Good luck with your search for help.

[froggequene]

They could start by lodging a complaint with the Ombudsman:
http://www.lgo.org.uk/complain.htm

There are also a number of solicitors who specialise in Education & Special Needs cases - google SEN Legal, AP Law, The Children's Centre at University of Essex

[froggequene]

The Children's Legal Centre
http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/

[josie48]

I wish you luck Andyson. My son is also Asperger and was badly bullied in school when he was younger (age 9). Despite several complaints to the head the bullying carried on. One day ,my son came home with red marks on his back so we took him to A+E where an x ray showed his spine was severely bruised. We took pics and armed with a letter from the doctor we went next day to EA and told the manager if we had abused our son he would have been taken away from us so why was deemed ok for the head to ignore the bullying? A week later our son was transferred to another special school. He's never looked back and now at 22 is doing well in Uni. Dont give up and stand your ground Andyson!