19/08/2025
An Open Letter to Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education
Dear Bridget,
I am writing to you as both a parent and a SENCo. My near adult son was on the CAMHS waiting list for two and a half years. Earlier this year, I received a phone call telling me he had been removed from the list. The reason given was that, two years earlier, we had moved 15 miles down the road and we had not informed them. We still live in the same county, but because we fall under a different CAMHS team, his place was lost. Having moved GP surgery I had no idea that this would have affected his CAHMS referral. It appears that no one else did either until it was too late.
I was advised to go back to our GP and ask for another referral, “if you still need the service.” But CAMHS is not a service families turn to lightly. By the time a parent makes that call, we are already desperate. We know it takes being at breaking point to even be considered. My son is 18 in 4 months. He does not have another two and a half years to wait on a list because being 18 he will need to apply himself to adult services.
At the time of referral, my son was skeletal due to the stress of GCSEs. He has undiagnosed ARFID and was not eating or drinking. His teachers were concerned, and together we raised the alarm in the proper way, through a safeguarding referral to CAMHS. We did what the system tells us we are supposed to do.
What followed was a single phone triage. He was bright, articulate, and honest about his struggles, but no professional ever saw him in person. His height and weight were taken over the phone, based entirely on our word. There was no follow-up, no monitoring, no support. After that call, there was silence.
No one checked how he was coping.
No one asked whether he was eating.
No one contacted his school.
No one helped.
Then, years later, a final call—not to offer care, but to remove him from the waiting list altogether.
I cannot help but wonder whether the outcome might have been different if my son were female. That question belongs to another letter, but it lingers all the same.
As a SENCo, I fight every day for pupils’ rights to access education. I see, first-hand, the inconsistencies, inequalities, and lack of knowledge around SEND law. I have paid for training in SEND law because the system does not provide professionals with the tools they need.
But as a mother, I am left with one unshakable truth: when I asked for help for my child, there was none.
I am ashamed of how successive governments have treated SEND children and families. Each administration points to the failures of the last, but meanwhile, children like my son go without support. What matters to families is not political blame—it is that when we ask for help, someone listens and someone acts.
At present, that is not happening.
I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you, or members of your department, to discuss these concerns in more depth. Real change will only come when the experiences of families and professionals are heard and acted upon.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Leigh-Currill
The Autistic SENCo ♾️
