ASD: on being a special-needs single parent

To Whom It May Concern,

I write to alert you to my concerns about the handling of my son’s case,which has been badly mismanaged by NE Surrey SEND Team.  My son, Daniel,is eight years old and was diagnosed two and a half years ago with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Following this, the SENCO of the school that he attended gathered a team in order to complete an EHCP, which was finalised in April 2017. None of the schools that the Case Manager approached last year offered Daniel a place.

In May 2018 at the EHCP review, the Case Manager and the SENCO recommended that more specialised schools be sought for Daniel, as changes in his behavior (and therefore needs) were evident, and beyond the school’s capabilities from Year 3 onwards (September 2018),  by the school’s own admission.

 However, Daniel and his needs were not reassessed and his EHCP was not updated; the provision set out in section F of the original EHCP remained the same. Most of the (more specialist) schools that the Case Manager approached could not offer an assessment, or even a place. One of the schools did, however, make a home visit, but they were unable to offer Daniel a place and the reasons that they gave were, in my view, not satisfactory. Furthermore, the school and the Case Manager suggested that a school in Haywards Heath might be better able to meet Daniel’s needs. However, this is too far afield to send a little boy.

 When, in September 2018, my son was nor found a school place, the Local Authority continued to release funding intended for my son to the school, who had, in agreement with the Case Manager, allowed my son to leave without there being a school for him to move on to. The Case Manager and the SENCO referred Daniel to Access2Education, which is in no way equivalent or similar to a full-time education and does not constitute suitable arrangements while a school is being identified.

When I discovered that this was the case, I emailed the Local Authority  to complain and also to request that the monies be used to reimburse me for the costs of childcare and of having – and perhaps paying for tuition for –  a child at home full time; and also as compensation for the stress of the situation for my son and myself and for my having had, as a result of this situation, to quit my career-focused training and to stay at home most of the time.

It is imperative, owing to my own mental health difficulties, that I am able to get out and participate in activities which better enable me to manage my moods and to be available emotionally as well as physically for and to my child. As my son has special needs this also allows me some respite.

 I made a formal complaint to the Local Authority (NE Surrey SEND Team)and to the Department for Education on 1^st October and the situation has not changed. Furthermore, in the course of independent enquiries that I have been forced to make in the hope of finding a school place for my son, I have been advised that a child with an EHCP ought to be reassessed and their EHCP updated every year. Following the review of Daniel’s EHCP in May 2018 this was neither recommended nor done, either by the Case Manager or the SENCO, who should have known, and should have told me.

 When I emailed the Case Manager on Friday 16^th November 2018 to state that this is a matter of the utmost urgency, I received no reply.

  I wish to escalate my concerns. I have copied below the main content of an email that I sent this morning to the Case Manager, copying in other members of the NE Surrey SEND Team together with Dominic Raab, Cllr Mary Lewis and other authority representatives:

Dear Epsilon-Minus Semi-Moron,

As I have had no reply to the email that I sent to you on Friday last week, I will restate the point here:

I have it on good authority that a child with an EHCP needs to be reassessed and the EHCP updated annually. Neither you nor the SENCO told me this. In fact, you have told me very little and it is only when, in desperation, I have spoken to other organisations, that I have been told what you are supposed, in the course of your work, to do and to suggest. An EHCP drawn up almost two years ago will not accurately or adequately reflect the child that Daniel is today, or the needs that he has.

I therefore request that Daniel is re-assessed and his EHCP updated as a matter of extreme urgency.

I restate here, too, my complaints, which are several:

• You did not, in 19 months, find my son a school place to which he is legally entitled, as you are legally bound to do in the course of your job;
• You and the school SENCO suggested, at the EHCP review in May 2018, that more specialist schools be sought for Daniel, but you did not amend his EHCP to reflect the changes in his behaviour and therefore in his support needs;
• You allowed the school that he was attending to let Daniel leave without having found him a school to move on to;
• You continued to release funding for Daniel to the school, despite his having left, which the school continued to accept;
• Instead of finding Daniel a full-time school place, you referred him to A2E, which entitles a child to up to 6 hours of non-curricular activities per week, delivered by qualified teachers but without him being taught, and with no other children present, which does not equate to 29 hours of supported learning per week;
• Your line manager sent me a letter which bears an uncanny resemblance to the one that I received from the Cabinet  Member for All-Age Learning only four days previously, which does not constitute an apology so much as the capabilities of cutting and pasting, and
• I made a formal complaint on 1^st October 2018 and nothing has been done to address the situation. One of the issues has been your failure to respond to emails in which I have stated the difficulties that Daniel and I are experiencing as a result of your failure to carry out your job to any decent standard;
• I have asked for the dismissal of the Case Manager for the reasons covered in the previous points in this correspondence, and you continue to deal (inadequately) with my son’s case.
• You ignore the ongoing costs to me for childcare; you seem, if not oblivious, then certainly to dismiss altogether, the effects on my health of the financial stress, having had to quit my own career-focused training, and my lack of respite. In addition, my outrage at the funding continuing to go to the school which let my son go, and your failure to reply to my email about reassessing and updating Daniel’s EHCP continues to rise.

You should by now be aware that all levels of reasonable treatment of my son’s case have been woefully mismanaged, and I am going to seek advice on how to proceed legally in order to achieve a resolution to the situation as a whole.

It is my sincere hope that, at some point and in view of the catastrophic difficulties in which increasing numbers of families with a SEND child find themselves, that the Government sets aside its internecine quibbling over Brexit and instead turns its full attention on the needs of the next generation. For a start, it can stop staffing Local Authorities with people who have been hatched in Bokanovsky’s Epsilon Cunt Farm.

Sincerely.