'Tired' mum starts SEND group for struggling parents

Kim White started the SEND Sisterhood because she was tired.

Tired of the forms and assessments, the fighting to get her autistic son who has muscular dystrophy and epilepsy the help he needs and having to explain her son's needs to people who she said 'don't quite get it'.

The Coventry mum said the Sisterhood - which meets once a month - is not a support group as such, but somewhere parents can gather and offload with a coffee and slice of cake.

"After speaking to lots of parents, they all felt the same - exhausted, not sleeping well, not eating well, not really taking care of themselves," White said. "So the SEND Sisterhood stems from that."

White, from Wyken, runs the 90 minute sessions at the Stoke Heath Community Centre - which she manages - after spending 18 months setting up the building to make sure there is wheelchair access to both the main rooms and the garden.

Government data suggests that there are 1,428 children under five in Coventry that are categorised as having special educational needs (SEN), a figure slightly higher than the national average for England.

The figures also suggest that within the same cohort, 398 children have been granted a Education and Health Care plan (EHCP) - just under the national average.

During the SEND Sisterhood sessions children are looked after while their parents gather elsewhere to have a communal break.

"We have a sensory room, a planetarium and a nursery setting for children aged between two and five and we've just been Ofsted-registered, which is absolutely amazing," said White.

The first gathering of the Sisterhood took place on 20 September, which she described as "phenomenal".

"The session itself was absolutely amazing just to see parents shoulders just drop and breathe, exhale," White said.

"It was the outcome that I really wanted."

She said parents travelled from as far afield as Rugby and Nuneaton attend and people had already been in touch to book in for the next session.

Among those was Rebecca Scarlett, a mother who had just started the process of getting her son - who was born prematurely at 29 weeks and behavioural problems - assessed for SEN.

Being able to sit with others in a similar position, she said, was a "godsend".

But despite the fun and camaraderie, she did hear from others just how difficult the SEND journey can be.

"One had [mother had] to call social services on herself, another has three SEND children and she's juggling," she said.

"You do have the behavioural problems, the forms and everything, but then you have your life and everything else on top; going to work, paying the bills, doing this and that.

"And it feels impossible some days."

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.