After quite a battle MC (my child) finally received an EHCP. By then MC had been through a failed placement in mainstream secondary and two PRUs. MC's journey ran in parallel to OFSTED's damning reports of the mainstream and one of the PRUs. MC has not set foot inside an educational establishment since 2016. Such is the extent of the trauma. Teachers have to come to our home. We have been left with the impression that the system in its entirety is not fit for purpose. Education, Health and Social Care do not link up and work together to identify supports needed and how best to implement them - in our experience. The Plan lacks nuance in this respect and specificity. CAMHS has long waiting lists not just for Autism Assessment but also for therapy. There is a distinct gap between therapeutic intervention and understanding of Autism. Social Care is a labyrinth when trying to seek support. There is little understanding of needs when it comes to someone who is Autistic and also suffering from severe mental health challenges as is the case with MC. The needs of the parent carers from our view are little understood. There is no comprehension that if the parent carers are struggling it is a given the child will be too. Education: I was lucky to be able to afford a private educational psychologist to assess MC and finally recommendations from the resultant report made it into the Plan. However with all that said, with all the knowledge and experience I have accrued over five gruelling years of dealing with professionals whilst caring pretty much full time for MC, I would say that the family unit as a whole is worse off now. I struggle to sustain the ability to earn a living or indeed to leave the house and have a life. We are also traumatised mentally and emotionally as a result of staying within the System. MC is broken and life chances restricted as a result of a distinct lack of early interventions and failures. It has completely altered my perspective.

Having received a large box of documentation as a result of a Subject Access Request, a huge low point for me - and also an eye opener - was an email sent to the Council's Education Team from their contracted senior ed psych. It was clear the Education Team had sent all assessments and reports to said person to review ahead of a Tribunal challenging a Refusal to Assess. The email stated very clearly that the view of this EP was that my child had complex and longstanding needs and that in their view the Team should assess for an EHCP. Instead they obtained a Witness Statement from the School's Senco who had spectacularly let my child down to the point that my child had already been referred to a PRU and could no longer attend said school. The Witness Statement stated the School could meet needs. During this time my child's mental health completely broke down. I didn't have time to focus on the Tribunal and we lost.