Would you complain ?

[jimmyateworld]

Ds 11 goes to a special school, he’s starting his high school tomorrow. I’m so annoyed with how badly it’s all been handled by the county council.

I applied for his high school back in September/october 25 and handed the application in in person, I wanted to be sure it got there okay. Come may I still hadn’t heard if he had his place, in the end I had to ring the high school directly to see if he was on their list. This was after a couple of months of unanswered emails and phone calls to the Sen department at the council.

Once I found out ds had his place at school I could then sort the transport, you have to apply for this and you are told whether you are eligible or not, before applying the school MUST be names in the child EHCP, guess what I realised ? Ds school wasn’t named in his plan meaning I couldn’t apply. Cue panic stations becuse you cannot get in touch with anybody at the councils Sen department to ask what the hell has happened! Eventually ds primary school got involved and somehow managed to contact the Sen department for me, I then had an email off ds keyworker who had ignored me for the last year. She approved the transport herself and apologised for ds EHCP not being updated properly after the last review.

Next thing is I’ve literally only found out yesterday what company is providing ds transport to high school, this is after numerous emails of me harassing the council to find this out. Usually you would receive a call from the company a few weeks before school starts to organise a meet and greet, the driver and passenger assistant will come out and meet your child and introduce themselves so the child with special needs knows what to expect etc. l’ve just managed to speak to the taxi company myself and find out the drivers name so I can at least tell ds that, and also what sort of time to expect them.

Honestly it’s all been such a shambles, I’ve had to organise everything myself it seems, even down to finding out if ds is even in our preferred school.

Ds keyworker told me she’s only just come back to work after long term sickness, so I think what’s happened is nobody at the council picked up her workload maybe ? And that’s why ds got forgotten about.

Would I be unreasonable to put a formal complaint in? Luckily I am quite pro-active (I’ve learnt to be from dealing with this whole EHCP process and getting ds into a special school)
Some parents may not be as organised as me or need extra support so I worry how they would cope with this shit show.

That’s really nice he was so proactive.
We had half hour notice. With no other details and no name. Cab came 15mins early. Told us off for not being ready on time. No lanyard.
My child was anxious to say the least.

We are paying as child is now at college.

That is disgraceful! This is what I was worrying about, when are they going to turn up?! Ds was anxious enough as it is being the first day of secondary school not to mention getting on a car with total strangers, I wouldn’t like that myself and I’m 36!

That’s really nice to know and what we’re used too, I guess not all company’s do meet and greets, I just think a phonecall off them confirming they have ds on the list and to expect them would’ve been something

You sound quite envious. There are plenty of caseworker roles advertised in most LAs, go and give it a try.

HaHA yes i have 2 autistic kids thanks very much and have been there and have got the tshirt but i treat people with respect

I mean you can complain, but be prepared that the best possible response you are likely to get is generic fob off. They are highly unlikely to care.

So then surely you understand the frustrations? Or have you been relatively lucky and not really come across any obstacles ?
And where in my post do I state I’ve been disrespectful? I have manners and am always courteous, but I won’t be fobbed off anymore like I used to be when I was new to all this, mainly thanks to the support I’ve received on Mumsnet when I’ve come on here with issues in the past. When I say harassed you do understand I’m just using a turn of phrase to show how much I’ve had to chase people regarding these issues? I’ve not actually stalked anyone 🙄

You come on here, read a couple of comments and jump to conclusions, some people are unbelievable.

Sadly this is true. But if us parents don’t make it known the treatment is not okay then there will never be any change.

Oh I don't disagree. But am still awaiting the response to the complaint I made in April, so am feeling rather jaded!

OP can challenge the LA for not doing what they are supposed to do and sitll be respectful. They aren’t mutually exclusive.