The hidden cost of waiting for an education placement — and the reality of being expected to simply “make it work”.
Since November 2025, I have been waiting for my local authority to find a suitable school place for my son.
Nine months.
Nine months of waiting, asking questions, requesting updates, chasing information and trying to understand what is happening next.
Nine months of uncertainty.
And perhaps the hardest part has not simply been the waiting. It has been the lack of communication throughout that waiting.
I have repeatedly asked for updates. I have asked what steps were being taken, what the process was, which schools were being approached and what I should expect next.
I have not been given the information I needed.
Our first-choice school was not contacted until July 2026, despite my having requested this much earlier.
By that point, months had already passed.
Months in which my son was still without a suitable placement.
Months in which I was left trying to plan a future that I couldn’t actually plan because I didn’t know what that future looked like.
Eventually, after repeatedly asking for information and receiving little or no meaningful communication, I made a formal complaint.
And when that complaint still wasn’t answered, I escalated it.
Still, there was no meaningful communication.
Then, on 24 August 2026, I received an email.
It simply asked whether someone could contact me regarding an “interim placement.”
That was it.
No explanation.
No details about what the placement was.
No information about where it might be.
No indication of the proposed hours.
No explanation of how long it would last.
No discussion about transport.
No information about how it would fit around my son’s needs.
No conversation about what this would mean for our family.
And, as I write this, no one has actually contacted me.
So I am left once again waiting.
Waiting for information.
Waiting for someone to explain.
Waiting for someone to tell me what is actually being proposed.
And apparently, I am also expected to be ready to rearrange our lives at a moment’s notice.
But here is the part that seems to be forgotten
I am a mother.
I am a carer.
I am the sole breadwinner for my household.
And I care for two disabled children.
One of them is technically an adult. She is 22.
But becoming 22 did not magically mean that she stopped being my child.
It did not mean that I stopped caring for her.
It did not mean that her needs disappeared.
It did not mean that our family suddenly became a straightforward household with unlimited flexibility.
There are routines.
There are needs.
There are appointments.
There are medications.
There are communication difficulties.
There are practical considerations that have to be taken into account.
And there is, quite simply, life.
My life.
My children’s lives.
Our household.
Our responsibilities.
Our finances.
Bills don’t stop because a placement becomes available
This is the part I desperately wish decision-makers would understand.
When you are a parent who is also a carer and the sole income earner, you cannot simply be told:
“We have found an interim placement. Can you make it work?”
Because what happens if it doesn’t?
What happens if the hours mean I cannot work?
What happens if the placement is miles away and requires travelling at times that conflict with my working hours?
What happens if the arrangements change at short notice?
What happens if I have to take unpaid time off?
What happens to my employment?
And ultimately:
Who pays my household bills?
Who puts food on the table?
Who pays the mortgage or rent?
Who pays the electricity?
Who pays the heating?
Who pays for my daughter’s medication?
Who keeps our household financially afloat?
Because the government doesn’t pay those bills simply because a local authority needs me to accommodate an arrangement at short notice.
My employer doesn’t necessarily have unlimited flexibility simply because the education system has taken months to find a placement.
And my children don’t stop needing care because someone has finally decided that an interim placement needs to be considered.
I am not refusing support
This distinction matters.
I am not saying:
“I don’t want an interim placement.”
I am saying:
“Please talk to me.”
Please tell me what is being proposed.
Please explain why.
Please give me enough information to understand what this means for my son and for our family.
Please recognise that a placement is not simply a name and an address.
It has consequences.
For my son.
For my daughter.
For me.
For my employment.
For our routines.
For our wellbeing.
For our finances.
For our entire household.
After nine months of waiting, I should not have to receive a vague email on a Monday and sit wondering what is happening next.
I should not have to chase basic information.
I should not have to repeatedly escalate complaints simply to receive communication.
And I should not be made to feel as though asking reasonable questions is somehow being difficult.
Behind every placement request is a family
Sometimes, I think systems forget that.
A school placement might be a case number on a spreadsheet.
It might be an allocation.
It might be a process.
It might be a statutory responsibility.
But behind that paperwork is a child.
And behind that child is a family.
A family that may already be exhausted.
A parent who may already be balancing work, caring responsibilities, appointments, school meetings, paperwork and advocacy.
A household that may already be functioning at its absolute limit.
When communication stops, the uncertainty doesn’t simply sit inside an inbox.
It follows you home.
It affects your sleep.
It affects your ability to plan.
It affects your work.
It affects your finances.
It affects your child’s anxiety.
And it leaves you constantly asking:
“What happens next?”
I shouldn’t have to choose between my child’s education and keeping a roof over our heads
This is perhaps the most painful part.
I want my son to have an appropriate education.
I want him somewhere that can understand him, support him and meet his needs.
I want him to have stability.
I want him to have certainty.
I want him to be able to move forward.
But I also have a responsibility to the rest of my family.
I cannot simply stop working.
I cannot simply abandon the income that keeps our household functioning.
I cannot simply rearrange every aspect of our lives without understanding what is being asked of us.
And I cannot be expected to respond to an unknown arrangement with:
“How high?”
when someone says:
“Jump.”
There has to be a conversation.
There has to be consideration.
There has to be communication.
There has to be recognition that families have lives outside of the paperwork.
Nine months is a long time to live in uncertainty
Since November 2025, I have been waiting.
Waiting for a school place.
Waiting for communication.
Waiting for answers.
Waiting for someone to explain the process.
Waiting for our first-choice school to be properly approached.
Waiting for a response to a complaint.
Waiting for an escalation to be acknowledged.
And now, at the end of August 2026, I am still waiting.
The difference is that now I have been told the words “interim placement” without being given the information needed to understand what those words actually mean.
So I am asking for something that should not be unreasonable:
Please communicate with me.
Please see the person behind the case.
Please see the family behind the child.
Please understand that an “interim placement” isn’t something that exists in isolation.
It has consequences.
And before asking a parent to make it work, please take the time to understand what making it work actually means.
Because I will continue to advocate for my son.
I will continue to ask for the education he deserves.
I will continue to fight for appropriate provision.
But I should not have to sacrifice my family’s financial security to do it.
My son needs an education.
My daughter needs her mum.
My household needs an income.
And I need the people making decisions about our lives to remember that all of those things matter.
I’m tired…yet I wake up, show up and keep going; why is that not acknowledged?!
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