Jourbet syndrome: Danielle Phelps’ pleas to keep daughters Jordyn and Juliana at Croydon school

A single mum’s plea to help her two girls with severe disabilities has fallen on deaf ears, with the State Government refusing to let one of them return to school.

Danielle Phelps is fighting to keep her disabled children Jordyn, 21 (left) and Juliana, 18 (right) at Croydon Specialist Developmental School. Picture: Kiel Egging.

A single mum of two girls with severe disabilities claims the Department of Education has treated them “like animals” as she fights to re-enrol them in school.

But the department is standing firm in not allowing Danielle Phelps’ eldest daughter, Jordyn, 21, to return to Croydon Specialist Developmental School because she is too old.

Leader revealed Ms Phelps’ ongoing plight with the department last year, claiming it had requested transition meetings despite Ms Phelps, Jordyn, and younger sister Juliana, 18, being in coronavirus lockdown due to the perilous nature of the sisters’ condition.

The Bayswater North sisters have a rare genetic disorder, Joubert syndrome, which leaves them dependant on carers and unable to talk.

The effects of their condition include severe developmental delays and intellectual disabilities, and the girls also experience epilepsy, blindness, seizures, asthma attacks, hip problems, infections and commit self-harm.

Victorian legislation does not allow anyone aged over 21 years to enrol at a government school unless they are granted an exemption.

The department is assessing an application for Juliana, but Ms Phelps claims the government refused her application for Jordyn, sent in December, despite her turning 22 on February 17.

“They’re sentencing her to remain at home and for me to look after her, and I’m exhausted… I physically and mentally can’t do this much longer,” Ms Phelps said.

“We are being treated like animals, they don’t care, and they say there’s nowhere for her to go.”

The trio have spent more than 320 days in lockdown due to fears from the coronavirus outbreak, and Ms Phelps is refusing to send her daughters to school until they are vaccinated.

“They (the department) are using good mothering against me,” Ms Phelps said.

“I need the girls to go back to school after they get their vaccine … they know that and they know my home life is a mess, and they don’t care.”

Ms Phelps said she had approached Bayswater state Labor MP Jackson Taylor’s office with details of her plight and wanted him to represent her in parliament.

The school’s principal Libby Anderson did not comment on the two girls’ situation and referred Leader’s inquiries to the Department of Education.

A department spokesman said it was continuing to work with the family on “gaining an exemption for Julianna to attend school in 2021 and identifying appropriate post-school options for Jordyn.

“The Victorian Government has provided schools with additional resources to ensure students with disability receive extra support to transition from their final year of education into post-schooling pathways,” the spokesman said.

Mr Taylor and his office did not respond to Leader’s inquiries.