📑 SWANK Dispatch: How to Mismanage a Complaint into a Threat
🗓️ 6 August 2020
Filed Under: complaint misdirection, truancy lies, homeschool sabotage, procedural dishonesty, trauma minimisation, asthma discrimination, policy weaponisation, investigative misconduct
“I brought evidence. They brought back the original threat — with new stationery.”
— A Mother Who Tried Every Proper Channel
On 6 August 2020, Polly Chromatic met with Willette A. Pratt, Senior Investigative Officer of the Complaints Commission, expecting an investigation into her trauma and systemic abuse by the Department of Social Development. What she received was an administrative boomerang: the original truancy threat from 2017 — revived, rebranded, and hurled back at her by the very commission meant to hear her complaint.
🔁 I. The Complaint Was About Trauma. The Response Was a Checklist.
She described the following:
• Her sons were sexually abused by a doctor under state orders.
• Her fence was dismantled.
• Her home was entered illegally during a pandemic.
• She was dragged to hospital under false accusations.
What did Willette Pratt say?
“Your children aren’t approved for homeschool, and they may be taken away.”
📋 II. The New Requirements — Delivered with a Smile
Pratt claimed Polly had spoken to the wrong official in 2017.
Apparently, Mark Garland, Deputy Director of Education, was not “senior enough.”
Despite having:
✓ Met with her
✓ Approved her curriculum
✓ Notified Social Development
Now, she was told to:
• Re-submit all documentation
• Include proof of social interaction
• Hire a teacher to assess her children annually
• Address it to Edgar Howell, Director
• Send it through Pratt (of course)
🧠 III. The Gaslight Was Institutional
“I feel like the entire issue is much bigger than just with the Department of Social Development.”
Indeed. The Complaints Commission had become another arm of the same dysfunction. Rather than investigating the abuse, it pivoted to treating the victim as the problem.
⚖️ Final Position:
“Because obtaining homeschool approval is so important for my children’s well-being… I feel it is necessary to consult an attorney.”
A mother filed a complaint to protect her children.
She left that meeting more endangered than when she arrived.