Northamptonshire dad of autistic boy slams 'criminal' special educational needs system
Video report by ITV News Anglia's Graham Stothard
The parents of an autistic boy who has been waiting eight months for a place at special school have accused the authorities of failing their son - and "destroying" their family in the process.
Ignacy Darocha, seven, has not attended any type of school since he and his mother moved from Poland to join dad Leslaw in Northampton.
While other children of his age head to lessons, Ignacy spends most of his days on the sofa watching Netflix and the Smurfs.
Mr Darocha said that his son had become so stressed at one point that he lost 10kg.
Ignacy's complex needs means that he requires special school provision, and although the local council do provide two hours a day with a specialist tutor at home, they have not yet been able to find him a permanent school place.
"The whole situation has destroyed or is destroying our family," said Mr Darocha.
"I've been trying to get help from every possible place and I've been ringing the school admission, the health care plan team. I've been ringing social services, asking for help. I've been talking to the GP so many times.
"I'm lacking words because I think what's being done to our children is criminal, because of the pain we have to go through."
West Northamptonshire Council apologised for the delay and said that work was taking place to provide an additional 500 new placements for children with special educational needs.
"We are aware of this particular case, and we are very sorry that this has taken so long," a spokesperson said.
"We are doing everything we can to arrange suitable provision for this child. Tackling the shortfall in SEND provision is a top priority for us and we have plans to provide an additional 500 new places over the next two to three years."
Ignacy's case is just one of a number that ITV News Anglia has covered recently.
Parents of SEN children staged a protest outside West Northamptonshire Council headquarters in September, while families over the border in Bedfordshire have also been demanding action.
It is all part of what the National Autistic Society has described as a "broken" special educational needs system for autistic children in England.
"Autistic children are facing massive long waits, fights and struggle, fighting through hard work and far too long for support," Tim Nicholls from the National Autistic Society told ITV News.
"Then, when they are in school, we're seeing reports that there isn't enough understanding or that support might go elsewhere during the day. So, actually they are not able to access the education that they have the absolute right to."
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