Ten-year-old with autism speaks out against Worcestershire's SEND failings

Ten-year-old Rowan Winchester has described how his severe anxiety has been exacerbated by the ever-mounting list of challenges his family has faced in securing him an appropriate school place in Worcestershire.

Rowan, son of campaigner Tracy Winchester, was among dozens of children and families who denounced Worcestershire Children First (WCF), which runs children’s services on behalf of Worcestershire County Council, for its treatment of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Rowan has said he now finds it hard to trust any school following his family’s ordeal and asked the council what it would be doing to ensure other children did not suffer as he has in the future.

“My question is, I have been through a lot, and it is happening to many other children still. How can we prevent more children from going through what I have?” he said.

Several other frustrated and distraught families used the council meeting to describe the “living hell” they have suffered fighting children’s services to find an appropriate school for their children.

Concerns about the service were raised during a reinspection by Ofsted in November last year which found that while there had been some improvements in its SEND service, it was still failing in four key areas - particularly the service’s fragile relationship with parents and carers and the lack of adequate care plans.

Earlier this month, the group SEND National Crisis Worcestershire – which represents more than 500 families in the county – wrote to the education and health secretaries and the chief inspector of Ofsted criticising Worcestershire Children First for its "delaying tactics, unlawful practices and treating parents and carers as adversaries.”

Tracy and Russ Winchester’s children Rowan and seven-year-old daughter Maive, who both have autism and suffer from severe anxiety, have so far missed a combined 43 months of school.

Speaking at the meeting, Rowan’s mum Tracy said WCF’s attempts to improve were just “regurgitating failing strategies” and she was so concerned by the plan that she demanded “more thorough” answers from council bosses.

Ms Winchester said parents should never be forced to spend thousands of pounds on independent assessments because WCF’s care plans were “unlawful, unreliable and inadequate.”

Rowan’s dad Russ Winchester told councillors on Wednesday: “It is unacceptable because, not only are we as parents dealing with our children’s complex needs, we are now navigating the hugely stressful and costly landscape of securing education.”

He said the council was “uninterested” in finding his children a school which left the family “ignored and without hope.”

Cllr Marcus Hart, cabinet member for education, said the continuing delays and mistakes were "unacceptable" and the council 'recognised it needed to move things forward.'

“It was really moving to hear first-hand at the meeting from many parents and children, who spoke really passionately and eloquently about the negative experiences they have had in working with the county council and Worcestershire Children First," he said in a statement.

"It really highlighted the need to ensure adequate support is in place for young people and their families to ensure their individual support needs are met.

"We recognise the need to move things forward, by continuing to listen to parents, working with our partners and local school communities to implement changes in the way that we work in this area.

"Following the recent inspection by Ofsted and Care Quality Commission, we have produced an accelerated progress plan alongside our partners, to address the four specific areas of weakness where we have not made significant progress.

"We want to put the young person and their parent carer at the heart of the decision making process so that we have co-production, and they are involved right from the start and kept informed about the assessment and planning for their young person.”