Child theme not working

I am trying to create a child theme for a customised version 2.6 of this theme. It completely breaks everything and doesn’t seem to recognise any of the style.css file.

I’ve tried a lot of different things with this and it simply won’t work at all.
Issues with child theme:
– Left hand column takes up the entire width of the page.
– header image does not show up.
– slider images have reverted back to theme ones.
– all content is pushed below what should be the left hand column.

I also downloaded the new version of the theme and that won’t work either all my formatting and colour schemes are gone if I activate it.

Theme Version 3.0.9 issues
– Text menu lists everything in one large block rather than incorporating the drop down features it used to have.
– colour scheme and header image have disappeared

Is there an issue with the theme that is causing this to not function properly??
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.