27/03/2026
A friend send me this and I feel it is so important to share !
Given the recent heartbreaking and catastrophic decision to withdraw our SEN summer schemes for special needs schools that are often a lifeline to so many families and children and young people.
I am unsure of the irresponsible people that have contributed to the decision making have walked a day in the life of a parent- carer of a child with special needs! These parents including myself are forced to fight for every single last thing just for their child to have their basic needs met!
It is EXHAUSTING and here we are once again another battle that we have overcome. Our SEN children are still treated like second class citizens in 2026!
👉 No one talks about what this does to the parent…
Heavy Armour
This journey wears parents down. Not all at once, just… slowly.
Forms, emails, waiting, chasing. Fighting for children while losing parts of ourselves along the way.
Months pass. Sometimes years. And still — families are waiting, still chasing, still stuck.
The system doesn’t really see the parent. They become a role — the advocate, the organiser, the one holding everything together. And somewhere in all of that, who they were before starts to fade.
Careers shift or disappear. Identities change. Life narrows into managing needs, appointments, paperwork, and survival.
And there is no pause button.
Reports are read. Forms are completed. Systems are learned. Everything that’s asked is done — and still, help isn’t guaranteed.
Parents carry their child’s needs, their own struggles, and a constant underlying exhaustion. The parts people don’t see. The parts the system doesn’t measure.
And all the while… the system saves money.
But at what cost?
Because behind every delay, there’s a child waiting. And a parent doing everything they can not to fall apart.
Still, they keep going. Even when they’re exhausted. Even when they feel invisible.
Because they have to believe there will be a day when the weight lifts. When children are seen for who they are — not just what they need.
Until then, parents keep showing up. They keep fighting.
💬 If this feels familiar, you’re not alone.
