Families of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) may at times reach a crisis point, where behaviours and challenges feel overwhelming and difficult to manage safely at home, in school, or in the community. For many, this crisis arises when existing support that is typically offered by the family or support services, is no longer enough, and urgent help is needed.
Often families will find this process hard to manage, acknowledge and make a decision towards. Our loved ones are just that and this can feel like we are letting them down when we are no longer able to manage and support them. It can feel difficult to ask for help or involve services, especially when you worry about being judged or misunderstood. But keeping your child or adult outside of the system means that professionals are unaware of what support is needed. By staying connected with services, you create opportunities for help to be offered before things reach crisis point. Early involvement allows professionals to understand your situation, put the right plans in place, and share the responsibility for care and safety, ensuring your family is supported rather than struggling alone.
This guide has been created to give families a clear, supportive framework to follow when they are in crisis, helping them to know what to do and how to report on this.
Recognising a Crisis
Crisis can look different for each family, but common signs include:
- Behaviour that feels unsafe for the child, siblings, or others. This is where there is a significant threat to themselves or others.
- Frequent physical aggression, destruction, or self-harm.
- School refusal or breakdown of school placement.
- Carers feeling unable to cope despite existing support in place.
- Health and wellbeing of parents, carers, or siblings being significantly affected.
If you ever feel at immediate risk, always call emergency services on 999.
It’s understandable to worry about involving people you don’t know or to fear that your child might be labelled or even face legal consequences. However, your safety and theirs must come first.
By contacting emergency services, you make sure that the right professionals are aware of your situation and can act quickly to keep everyone safe. If your family isn’t already known to local services, this call will help bring you into the right multi-disciplinary network so that support can be put in place sooner.
What Steps Have Already Been Taken?
Before new support can be put in place, it is important to take stock of what is already happening. Ask yourself:
- What steps have already been taken and what you have done so far.
- What strategies and support have we already tried at home and school?
- What has worked, even in a small way, and what hasn’t?
- What did work that has changed now?
- Have adjustments been put in place but not followed through consistently?
- Are there recent changes (e.g. medication, school staff, routines, new home, death of a family member/pet) that may have triggered the crisis?
- Documenting this helps professionals understand the context and prevents repeating ineffective approaches.
Who is Involved Right Now?
It is vital to know which professionals are already supporting your child, as well as who should be. A strong support network makes crisis easier to manage. With SEN the phrase ‘it takes a village’ is something that families should think about as it does take a significant amount of people to provide support especially when crisis happens.
Families should consider:
Education: Does your child have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), alternative plan or something a school uses to formulate support. Does it fully reflect their needs? Is the school following it? Is it as up to date as it needs to be?
Health: Is your child known to the GP service for disability support. If not, Is there other services they are included with? Sometimes CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) may be involved – please link to our guide on this?
Social Care: Does your child have a social worker or family support worker? If not every local authority has an duty service for social services and will support you with next steps. Has a short breaks service been offered? If not you can always contact the out of hours or emergency duty social worker.
Community Services: Have respite, outreach, or voluntary sector services been explored?
Specialist Clinics: Is your child under a paediatrician, neurologist, or geneticist (e.g. for Smith-Magenis Syndrome)?
If you’re unsure, it’s worth writing down every name, role, and contact detail you have for professionals involved.
You can download My Child’s Support Network to help you keep all key professionals, contacts and services in one clear place. The template is available as an editable Word document so you can type and update it easily, as well as a printable PDF version if you prefer to write on it by hand.
What To Do When Crisis Hits
When crisis happens, try to:
- Stay safe first – ensure all family members are safe and call emergency services if needed.
- Contact your child’s professionals – inform school, social care, medical services or CAMHS immediately.
- Request emergency support – this could include visiting your local A&E department for an assessment, asking for emergency respite, request a call from the crisis team, or interim placements and would typically come through social services.
- Ask for an urgent review – of your child’s EHCP, behaviour plan, or care package.
- Keep a diary – of incidents, behaviours, and triggers. This provides essential evidence when asking for additional support. The types of behaviours that are important to provide are those where people are impacted either emotionally and physically. Schools/care environments will also have this information as they are required to record this.
Where to Get Support
Families in crisis should not feel they have to cope alone. Useful places to seek immediate help include:
- Social Services (Children with Disabilities Team) – for family support and respite options.
- Duty Social Worker or Emergency Duty Care Team – available outside of normal working hours for urgent situations where a child or adult is at immediate risk, or when care and safety cannot be managed at home. You can find your local team by visiting your local authority’s website and searching for “Emergency Duty Team” or “Children’s Social Care out-of-hours service.” Contact details are usually listed under the Social Care or Safeguarding section.
- GP or Paediatrician – for health referrals or a medication review.
- CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) – for urgent mental health input. Some areas also have 24-hour crisis helplines.
- Adult Mental Health Crisis Team – if you or another adult in the family needs urgent mental health support, contact your local NHS mental health crisis line. You can find the number by visiting the NHS website or searching online for “NHS urgent mental health helpline” in your area. These services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Local Authority SEND Team – to review EHCPs and provision.
Moving Forward After Crisis
Once the immediate crisis has settled, families should work with professionals to create a more sustainable plan.
This may include:
- Accessing an assessment for an EHCP or further diagnosis (e.g. Autism or ADHD etc).
- Updating the EHCP to reflect new or unmet needs.
- Putting in place a robust behaviour support plan.
- Knowing who my contacts are within SEN provision/Social Servies/CAMHS.
- Accessing short breaks or respite to protect family wellbeing.
- Linking with parent support groups or advocacy services.
Reporting
Keep all information factual as this helps professionals cut through the detail and see what is happening.
Who is involved with your child currently and communicating to at this time?
What information would be useful?
| Key information | Report |
| Timeline of what has happened? | Keep this to facts/dates/and people involved |
| What has been tried? | When/where/with whom |
| What do you feel would work? | What do you think is needed? |
This may be useful for you to use if you are trying to share key information.
Family Crisis Support – Quick Guide Checklist
You can use the questions below as a checklist when talking to professionals. Tick or write notes as you go.
Education
- Does my child have an EHCP?
- Does it fully reflect their behavioural, emotional, and learning needs?
- Has the EHCP been reviewed recently?
- Is the school following the plan?
- Has an emergency annual review been requested?
Health
- Is my child known to CAMHS?
- If not, why not? Has a referral been made?
- Is there a paediatrician or specialist involved?
- Have medications been reviewed recently?
- Has crisis mental health support been accessed?
Social Care
- Does my child have a social worker?
- Has a needs assessment been completed?
- Is respite or short breaks support in place?
- Is the wider family receiving any support?
Crisis Action
- Have I recorded incidents and triggers?
- Do professionals have copies of these?
- Who is my key contact (school SENCO, social worker, health professional)?
- Do I know how to contact an out-of-hours service if crisis happens again?
EHCPs: A Guide for SMS Parents and Carers