Huge rise in number of parents with SEND children accessing charity's advice service

According to the charity, SEND issues were identified in more than a quarter of all conversations on its Parent Talk platform over the last year, while parents accessed articles on the subject more than 130,000 times over the same period.

It says that together, nearly 470,000 parents and carers accessed online advice and support from Parent Talk in the last year alone.

Parent Talk is a free online service which provides advice and support for parents and carers of children aged from birth to 19, through family support workers and advice articles.

Child mental health was the top issue for those seeking help, making up more than 50 per cent of all conversations last year. Challenging behaviour and parenting and relationships were the next most common topics. The charity also reported a ‘steady increase’ in parents seeking help for children refusing to attend school.

Action for Children is now calling on the Government to take urgent action to improve the support children with SEND receive. It says this should include ensuring that parents are able to get their children they support they are entitled to.

The charity's head of policy Joe Lane said, ‘The results from analysis of our Parent Talk conversations shows clearly that mums, dads and carers have huge concerns about the help and support given to their children with special educational needs and disabilities.

‘The big message from these parents is they are hugely underserved when it comes to the various challenges they face. They all want to do everything they possibly can for their children, and they want to be the best parents they can, but the system is letting them down.

A parent, who wished to remain anonymous, explained, ‘As a single mum with a young child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), I felt very isolated. My health visitor referred me to Action for Children who provided me with a series of supportive sessions that really helped.

‘When that ended, the support worker flagged up Parent Talk Cymru as an extra support tool and it’s excellent.

‘The only consistent support I’ve had has been from Action for Children, and Parent Talk really is like a crutch.  I’ve recommended it to friends in a similar boat to me and they’ve also found it very useful.’

The charity has made a series of recommendations to Government to help parents most in need, they are:

• To create a national digital parenting support service, like Parent Talk.
• For family hubs to provide a minimum guarantee of face-to-face services for children under five and their parents.
• For plans to be amended in the SEND Green Paper so parents can hold providers to account and ensure their children get the support they need.
• For the Government to improve access to specialist mental health services for children and young people.

Parent Talk’s Jo Thurston added, ‘The combined impacts of a cost-of-living crisis, and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic mean that families across the United Kingdom are facing enormous pressures. Alongside this, public services to support children and families are struggling to keep pace with demand, meaning that many are not able to access the support they need.

‘When parents and children are unable to access support, problems get worse, and can lead to severe consequences such as lasting ill health, poor educational outcomes, and family breakdown.’