Failure to reach agreement on autistic son's education

[Iwanttobreakfree2]

I left an abusive marriage a number of years ago and am now in the process of divorce. Our son who has ASD and ADD is in Year 11 at a specialist school and his current school only caters for pupils up to the end of Year 11. My ex and I have court-ordered 50/50 parenting of our son and we are in fundamental disagreement regarding our son's future education. My ex is keen for him to attend a mainstream FE college. However, I feel this would be detrimental to him and my preference is for him to attend a specialist Post-16 provision.

I was considering applying for a Specific Issue Order through the family court to resolve the dispute. However, our SEND Case Officer at the local authority has advised me that she doesn't believe that this is an option when a child has an EHCP. Is anyone able to confirm if this is the case? I intend to consult my local SENDIASS service on Monday, but I am stressed and would be grateful if someone could confirm this for me before then. Many thanks.

Be careful with SENDIASS. Some are good but too many repeat the LA’s unlawful policies. Also, be careful believing everything the LA tells you.

Family court can rule on such cases. It can get complicated though because in cases like this much depends on the individual’s specific circumstances and SEN law doesn’t cover parents having different preferred placements. The Noddy guide covers where parents disagree about the preferred placement and covers the case law (SG v Denbighshire CC [2016] UKUT 460 (AAC)). The case law is slightly different in that you think a specialist placement is required.