11/06/2026
Yesterday we had a Team Around the Family meeting.
Around the virtual table sat education representatives for Child 1 and Child 2, CAMHS, the Dynamic Support Register key worker, the County SENCO, the Local Authority pupil reintegration worker and more.
And do you know what became painfully obvious?
There are no resources to tap into.
Child 1 now has an EHCP. It states EOTAS. Yet there is still no provision in place because we are waiting for panel. In the meantime, the Local Authority has released funding to his school to plug the gap with a 1:1 tutor and alternative provision.
The introduction was supposed to be Tuesday.
Child 1 point blank refused.
And honestly? It was always going to happen.
He has been out of education for six months. He has severe anxiety. Then out of the blue he is expected to attend a completely new setting with no transition plan. No relationship building. No gradual introduction. Just go.
We set him up to fail before he even walked through the door.
Child 2 needs medication, mental health support and a 1:1.
Child 1 needs mental health support, social prescribing and a 1:1 tutor.
CAMHS assessments were completed over four weeks ago and we are still waiting for outcomes.
We are on a waiting list for a parent programme.
We are on a waiting list for continence support.
We are on a waiting list for post-diagnostic support.
Specialist nursing can offer us a two-hour online autism session before discharge because they simply do not have the capacity to hold cases.
Everyone around the table agreed support is needed.
Everyone around the table could identify the needs.
But identifying a need and meeting a need are two very different things.
Instead, families are handed plasters.
Reward charts.
Generic advice.
Signposting.
More waiting lists.
More referrals.
More promises that support is coming.
The system keeps handing out plasters when what families actually need are stitches.
Professionals need realistic guidance about the system as it exists today, not the system we wish existed.
Stop promising interventions that are inaccessible.
Stop offering support that cannot be delivered.
Families need actions that are actioned.
Support that is actually supportive.
We are more than statistics, attendance figures and budget lines.
Parents are fighting every day to keep their children safe.
Schools are under pressure.
Services are under pressure.
Local authorities are under pressure.
And somewhere in the middle sits a child who needs help.
The problem is that when the system prioritises data, targets and money-saving measures, the business model takes over.
Schools are pressured to improve attendance.
Families are pressured to increase attendance.
Other agencies are brought in to apply further pressure.
And before long, a situation that required proactive intervention becomes a reactive battle.
Schools say, "We need them in school."
Families say, "They can't cope."
Nobody is lying.
Nobody is necessarily wrong.
But while we continue arguing about attendance, children continue waiting for the support they needed months or even years ago.
And so the cycle continues.
Follow A mum's journey through the broken system for more from a family living it too 💜
