By Madeleine Collins

When young Charley Armstrong looks over at his tired mum, his cheeky grin always makes her smile.
Charley looks like a typical 11 year old, except for one crucial difference – Charley has Angelman’s syndrome, a form of Autism, and has an intellectual age of eight months. He is unable to talk and is just learning how to walk and feed himself.
Charley’s skills are developing as a result of 18 months at Anglicare’s Kingsdene Special School in North Parramatta.
In the special education class at his previous school, the other children simply tolerated Charley. Now he has friends, and is becoming more independent.
But until last month his parents were worried that by Christmas, their son’s development would stop.  Anglicare is operating at a loss and had told parents it could no longer afford to spend $1 million a year – or $37,000 per child – to run the school. Without an injection of government funding to cover all running costs, which the charity said was highly unlikely, it would have to close at the end of term four.
So parents started agitating the government to do something. They protested that if Kingsdene closed, families were at risk of breaking down. The severity of their children’s disabilities was such that special support outside the family was needed, but nothing like it was available.
It was claimed the learning environment of the boarding school meant their children had the right to achieve basic living skills, which an inadequate round-robin of disability carers could never provide.
But angst soon turned to frustration. They were told by the Department of Education that Kingsdene already received the State’s maximum level of funding for a non-government school. The Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) said established policy was that children with disabilities are better off living at home with their families. Sydney’s Standing Committee sympathised, but did not have the money to spare.
By June time was running out; the school staff were actively looking for other jobs. Another month, and for Anglicare it would be the point of no return.
But now there is talk of a miracle occurring.
The powerful combination of impassioned parents who refused to give up, a strong dose of prayer and a steady stream of media attention are being cited as the reasons for last month’s decision of the government to save the school by providing a hefty funding boost.
At an emergency meeting last month between department heads and Anglicare, the Commonwealth agreed to provide an additional $350,000 per year, an increase of 127 per cent. The State matched it, upping its funding by 61 per cent plus a one-off boost of $160,000. The decision was conditional that Anglicare contribute $220,000 per year.
The move comes after criticism of the NSW Government’s disability support for families. The case of Daniela Dawes, who was given a good behaviour bond for killing her autistic son, revealed what parents said they already knew – the court found it was the dismal level of support that drove a mother to kill.
An investigation by the NSW Ombudsman released in April criticised DADHC for inadequate or non-existent services for families, and said it failed to provide proper support to stop these families breaking down.
A DADHC spokeswoman denied the department was influenced by political pressure in relation to the school.
Anglicare said the decision is ‘mind-blowing’. “This has just been a miraculous outcome,” said Chief Operating Officer Peter Gardiner. “It is a testimony to the sovereignty of our great God and to the passion of the parents who have worked so hard to win the hearts and minds of politicians.
“It’s a really good run on the board for parents of children with disabilities right across NSW to appreciate that governments are at last…starting to recognise the real costs involved in providing adequate services. This funding commitment marks a dramatic rethink by government.”
However, he warned that unless the public donates money to cover the charity’s contribution, some of its other welfare services may close. “The money’s not there,” Mr Gardiner admitted. “There is a high probability that cuts in other program activity may have to take place.”
NSW Community Services Minister Carmel Tebbutt said the government secured the future of the school on the strength of lobbying by parents. “The parents of the students at Kingsdene advocated strongly for the school to remain open. That has now happened,” Ms Tebbutt said.
Kingsdene is the only five-day-a-week boarding school of its kind in the country. There is no government school like it.
“None of the parents have sent our children to Kingsdene for the debating program or for the after school tennis,” said the overjoyed chairwoman of the school council, Mary Lou Carter, who led the campaign. “It’s a matter of there being no other option. We have sent our children here for them to learn to live – if they can butter some bread; if they can be timed to go to the toilet.”
Charley Armstrong’s mother, Bernadette Maloney, said she is still coming to terms with the news. “I still find it too good to be true. It means now whatever potential [Charley] has, he has a much better chance of achieving it. Kingsdene was going to be his only chance.”