Politicising or weaponizing the deaths of children is never acceptable.

There are no words to describe the utter tragedy behind every single one of the cases in this article in the Times.

But it is so important to allow just the tiniest glimpse into why, when we say that it is dangerous to keep children in environments when their needs are not being met,

That it’s not just hot air.

That is the voices of parents who fight to safeguard children.

It is important to allow even the tiniest glimpse into why unprecedented powers over children and families cannot be allowed,

Why the choices of families must not be obstructed or overridden.

Even more so without proper accountability, scrutiny of conduct, truly independent child-focused appeals and complaints systems, effective mediation, support and advocacy services for families, truly independent tribunal services for the times that councils will get it wrong-

(the CWS Bill gives no such provision).

Because the consequences of obstructing parents safeguarding their children are phenomenal.

Because the consequences of councils obstructing access to suitable education are profound.

They are heartbreaking

They are real.

When we say that LAs cannot be guaranteed to act in a child’s best interests-

Well, surely, common sense would tell anyone that individuals and institutions make mistakes, make errors, act on biases or in self-protective ways.

There is so much evidence of how staff and institutions can fail children.

But here, if it were needed, is more.

We have no desire to distress the families of these poor children.
We only seek to honour their memory by appealing to politicians to not block families from acting to protect their children,

To not prevent parents from acting when they know what is in their child’s best interests, even if and when council staff can’t see the needs.

And these cases mentioned in the Times are only the tip of the iceberg.

MP Chris Coghlan has published 1253 testimonies of nationwide council mismanagement on SEND across 134 different local authorities.

This includes 204 anonymous testimonies of suicide attempts.

He has said:

“I have seen hundreds of anonymous testimonies of Send children attempting suicide

with parents consistently saying authorities have been negligent.

“It is a stain on the conscience of this country”

“Cutting children’s rights in favour of local authorities when possibly hundreds of children are killing themselves because of failings by these same local authorities, would be a catastrophic error.”

The many support groups that have been required can verify that the problem extends far beyond those who have IDPs or EHCPs,

to the many who are deemed to not meet the criteria for these but for whom school is not able to provide a safe or nurturing environment or a suitable education.

Need further evidence that councils can make mistakes, can make errors, can and do make poor judgements?


Just look at local authority decisions over SEND/ALN provision.

For example, in 2023-24, only 1.3% of original LA decisions in England were upheld when brought to tribunal appeal by families.

And that’s with families usually acting without experience of these legal processes, let alone without access to legal representation.
That’s for those families who found the time, energy and capacity to deal with the stress of doing so whilst also caring for children with additional but unmet needs.

In England alone, the cost to the public purse of councils continuing to obstruct access to suitable education in this way,

Of persisting in trying to defend wrong decisions

was over £165 million in the last academic year alone,

and more than £600 million over the last decade.

Please read more on that here:

So, do people really think that policies are wise and safe
when they deem staff the “best” determiners of a child’s “best interests”?

When such policies mean the rights of families to safeguard the wellbeing and education of their children are obstructed and blocked?

When such policies effectively give routine right of access into homes to interview children,

And do so purely because parents decline the offer of free state-provided education?

Read those articles again if so.

Put yourself in the shoes of all those parents who have fought to protect their children’s wellbeing and education,
and imagine being blocked from being able to do so.

If you have the right to vote to prevent these rights for families to safeguard their children being obstructed and removed- please do so.