I am having a hard time right now understanding why schools are so against parent advocates.
I feel like in a lot of ways, I am unique and have a lot to offer in the special education planning process. I do not have children with special needs for whom I am advocating. I have no bankable interests in special education aside from my desire to help. I was trained for what I do purely based on the fact that I wanted to help be a voice for those individuals who cannot speak for themselves.
A little background: I came into education advocacy by chance. Long story short, I was selected to be part of a special training through the Georgia Advocacy Office six years ago. Soon after graduation I found out that I was pregnant with my first child. Even when I was going through the training, I spent a lot of time wondering why I was exposing myself to the nasty Downtown Atlanta germs once a week (yes, I'm a tad on the OCD side) and to be perfectly honest, once I quit my "day job" and had that notch in my belt of having completed the training I didn't really give it much additional thought. Life, diapers, and a seemingly endless flow of pregnancy and nursing followed.
Then about a year ago, a friend of mine expressed that she was having problems with the school with regards to her child who experiences Autism. I told her I would find someone to help her.
As it turns out, I was that "someone".
Two dozen meetings, 10 active cases, and three Professional Ethics Complaints later, being an education advocate for children with special needs has become my secondary purpose in life. My first is, of course, managing the zoo that is my day to day life of being a mom to three very young kids.
I always try to make one thing clear. I am an advocate for CHILDREN. So when a school tries to block me from participating or gives me unfounded rationale as to why I am not an integral part of the decision making team, I have a hard time not getting my feathers ruffled.
I have recently been faced with "practices" intended to keep me, as an advocate, out of the decision making group. I am irritated with the fact that schools lead parents to believe that practice equates policy, thus scaring them away from fighting for what they know is right for their children.
As an advocate for the child, I believe that it is my responsibility to make sure that I am looking at all sides of the situation to ensure that the child's rights are being protected and that decisions are being made that are going to be in his/her best interest. This sometimes means that I may disagree with the parent; sometimes I may disagree with the school. Sometimes, they may be saying the same things in two different ways and I need to figure out what the core issues are so that we can make sure we are staying on topic and making progress . I thought this was the entire point in being an advocate for the child. I am not on the side of the School or the Parents. I am there as the child's voice.
In a time when our schools are strapped for resources, funding, time, etc., I am struggling to understand why advocates are the "bad guys" who take things off track. Perhaps I am naive, but I think that looking at advocates as a benefit rather than as a burden offers the potential for a lot more good than harm. If we can eliminate the need for long, unnecessary, and often contentious meetings by looking at the situation from an external perspective, then why shouldn't we, the advocates, be involved in the process without putting up additional barriers to communication?
At the end of the day, it's the children who are suffering because of these ridiculous "practices" and they are the ones we should be protecting.
Just my Wordy thoughts for this Wednesday evening.
Love, hugs, and blessings,
The Mama
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