We salute and commend parents who, despite the enormous stress they endure and the strain it places on their family life and relationships, continue to fight tirelessly to secure the very best for their child - often at great personal cost.

The lack of suitable educational provision comes at a high cost - not only to children, who miss out on learning and social opportunities, but also to parents and families, who face daily stress, financial strain, and the emotional toll of trying to fill the gap themselves.

Too many parents find themselves navigating a system that doesn’t understand or accommodate their child’s needs, repeatedly fighting for basic support in education, healthcare, or social settings.

The emotional toll can be devastating – coping with your child’s anxiety, meltdowns, or exclusion while managing your own stress, guilt, and exhaustion. We know it can severely strain relationships, disrupt routines, and lead to feelings of isolation, especially when others don’t see or understand the full picture.

When a child is unable to attend mainstream school due to unmet needs, many parents are forced to reduce their work hours, or leave work entirely to provide full-time care. This not only creates financial strain, but can lead to unpaid mortgages, loss of the family home, career setbacks, isolation, depression and loss of personal identity.

For most families, there is simply no alternative form of education or childcare available that can safely and appropriately support their child’s needs - and so they have a child at home, 24 hours a day with nowhere to go to be educated; a child who has no friends and no social circle; a child who is alone and isolated!

The pressure is debilitating, exhausting and relentless. It’s no wonder that in this desperate and intolerable situation, statistics show that 40% of parents of neurodivergent children have considered suicide. This is a shocking reality.

“We watched our intelligent little girl disappear in front of our eyes. She was anxious, depressed, angry, couldn’t sleep and was full of shame because she couldn’t go to school like everyone else. No one knew how to help her, and we were exhausted from years of fighting the system to try and get the help and support we needed. In the end we gave up and agreed to home schooling - something we didn’t want to do, but that we were forced into because there was nothing else for her.”

JRP.

(Parent of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder)

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