{"id":547014,"date":"2025-11-03T21:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T21:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/547014\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T21:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T21:12:15","slug":"mum-scared-to-die-because-she-doesnt-know-where-her-son-will-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/547014\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum scared to die because she doesn\u2019t know where her son will go"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government has delayed its proposed reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system until early 2026, citing the need for further consultation\"FamiliesFamilies in Sefton and Knowsley took part in national campaign to raise awareness about the the SEND system. Members of Voice of the Families (VotF) L to R Alix Shaw, Jayne O’Neill, Nichola Anne and her partner(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

Parents up and down the country turned up at their local council buildings this morning to demonstrate for improved support and services for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Mums and dads in Merseyside laid children\u2019s footwear outside Southport<\/a> and Bootle<\/a> Town Halls, as well as the Municipal Buildings in Huyton<\/a>, to raise awareness about the impacts of a \u2018broken\u2019 system.<\/p>\n

Jayne O\u2019Neill is a mum and an active member of the Voice of the Families support group, which advocates for improved SEND services in Sefton<\/a>. Ms O\u2019Neill was demonstrating in Southport, she said: \u201cSEND children and their families are being let down by the entire social care system. So many children and young people with SEND have not got school places.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis failure in the SEND system impacts the whole family, in some cases extended families too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt affects your mental health, because in some cases, you can no longer work due to care responsibilities. You\u2019re living on benefits, which is really tough, especially with the social and economic situation that\u2019s going on right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents are constantly having to fight, and it\u2019s draining mentally, physically and emotionally and it\u2019s very isolating. You lose contact with your family, you lose your friendship groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who support the SEND families are often people with SEND families themselves. I found a great community out of Voice of the Families and other parents with SEND children, because they get it.<\/p>\n

\"FamiliesFamilies in Sefton and Knowsley took part in national campaign to raise awareness about the the SEND system(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s affirming that I\u2019m not crazy, I haven\u2019t got unrealistic expectations. We just want to get the basic rights but we\u2019re not being afforded those rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alix Shaw was another parent in attendance outside Southport Town Hall and raised the issue of a \u2018lost generation\u2019, where SEND children are missing out on education and the impacts that will have on their life chances.<\/p>\n

Ms Shaw said: \u201cOur kids are being squeezed out of society and put them in a position where they\u2019re going to be the unseen part of society, stuck away in a bedroom, hidden away, out of sight, out of mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no social opportunities for our children. My son has no friendship groups and that is really sad. He is going to go into adulthood \u2013 he\u2019s 12 now \u2013 and I\u2019m afraid what\u2019s going to happen at 16. He can\u2019t read or write and never will.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be home with me for the rest of my life. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen at the end of my life? You know, will the house be taken out from under his feet? Is he going to be institutionalised? It\u2019s terrifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way it\u2019s set up now is solo parent carers are being asked to fill-in this huge support gap, until we eventually drop, but what then?\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to the general points raised by parents about the SEND system, a Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson previously told the Liverpool ECHO<\/a> the government is looking at fundamental reforms: \u201cThrough our Plan for Change, we\u2019re determined to give children growing up in our country the best start in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DfE announced in March this year that \u00a3740m has been allocated to fund 10,000 new places for pupils with SEND. A DfE statement outlined the scale of the issues and highlighted that fewer than 1-in-10 mainstream schools have SEN units or resourced provision \u2013 known as specialist facilities which provide more intensive support for pupils with SEND.<\/p>\n

Between 2010 to 2024, the number of children with EHCPs (Education Health and Care Plans) being educated in independent special schools increased from 7,000 to 26,000, while the latest data shows an escalating gap of 8,000 places in state special schools.<\/p>\n

A 2024 report by the National Audit Office (NAO) declared the SEND system to be \u2018broken\u2019 and financially unsustainable. Despite funding rising by 58% over the past decade to \u00a310.7bn, the NAO said remains in \u2018urgent need\u2019 of reform\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report noted there are an estimated 1.7 million children with special education needs in schools in England, and despite funding rising by 58% over the past decade to \u00a310.7bn, the system is financially \u201cunsustainable\u201d and \u201cin urgent need of reform\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, it was reported that the government was delaying reforms to the SEND system, citing a need for further consultation. For many of the families, the reforms cannot come soon enough and is one of the reasons behind today\u2019s demonstrations, organised by SEND Sanctuary UK (SSU).<\/p>\n

Spokesperson for SSU, Aimee Bradley explained the reasons for the campaign and the use of the empty shoes, she said: \u201cEach pair symbolises a child who has missed out on school, support, or simply being understood.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is to show the human impact behind the statistics and call for urgent reform \u2014 timely assessments, proper provision, and accountability from local authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t about politics or protest; it\u2019s about visibility, compassion and change. Families have been fighting for far too long to be heard. Today, we stand together in silence to make sure every child\u2019s story is finally seen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government has delayed its proposed reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system until early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,2266,393,26695,4884,41030,179,12460,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-547014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-family-and-kids","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-knowsley-council","14":"tag-liverpool","15":"tag-sefton-council","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115487830999455160","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}