My daughter, like many others, is being seriously failed by our local authority, Hampshire County Council, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS). This personal tragedy is not unique. It's a systemic failure that affects countless families across the country.

Children are our future; they deserve better than this. The current system has shown a lack of responsibility towards their wellbeing. According to the NHS Digital survey in 2017, one in eight (12.8%) 5 to 19 year olds had at least one mental disorder when assessed (NHS Digital). These numbers have likely increased due to recent global events. 

Children who are Neurodiverse are being kept in mainstream schools where their learning needs cannot be met. These schools are happily accepting the SEN funding for these children but either cannot or will not provide them with the 1 to 1 support that Educational Psychologists are recommending they need. And the Teachers are not trained well enough in how to communicate with children in different ways, depending on their individual needs. A Head Teacher that my daughter had called her LAZY! A lot of "old school" teachers will still not accept that our children are suffering with these conditions instead believing them just to be naughty children. 

My child hasn't been to school for 2 years. She is suggestive of ADHD and ASC but of course there is at least a 2 year wait for the proper assessment to confirm this. CAHMS waiting lists need to be addressed. When we were told she could apply for an EHCP we thought that finally she would be given the help she needed.  NOPE! The LA recommended she stay in her mainstream school despite saying "The EHC needs assessment of XXXX has demonstrated that she has special educational needs requiring special educational provision that is additional to and different from that ordinarily available in mainstream school". They said that this means by issuing the EHCP it releases funding to her current mainstream school to meet these needs. Even though they say they can't meet her needs and even though my daughter physically cannot go there due to such bad experiences with them. To me, that sentence means that she needs a special educational setting and NOT a mainstream school.

Did you know it is cheaper for the LA, for children not to be sent to a specialist school, but to just top up existing funding with their current setting?? Is that why the LA will not suggest a specialist school? Are these people there to help our children or not??

The fight just to get CAHMS to even see my daughter in the first place was immense despite repeated referrals from us, her school and her GP. It took over 18 months for her to even be seen. This must change.

The lack of accountability from local authorities and CAHMS is unacceptable. They are responsible for ensuring the welfare of our children but have repeatedly fallen short of their duties across the entire country. Many of them can even be breaking the law by not providing the support for these children that they should be, and I will not stop until they are held responsible.

We demand that Hampshire County Council, Hampshire CAHMS and ALL LOCAL AUTHORITIES across the UK be held accountable for these failures. We call upon them all to be independently audited, to improve their services, provide adequate support for children suffering from mental health and any neurodiverse issues, and ensure no child falls through the cracks again.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that many of these services are under staffed and under funded, but that should not fall on our children's shoulders. It still means that someone, somewhere whether it be local or at Government level, is failing our children. The very children they are paid to protect.

Please sign this petition if you believe in justice for all children who have been let down by those who were supposed to protect them. And please share it wide and far across the whole country. I will not stop until they take responsibility for their failings.