DOZENS of families have told the county council to ‘hold its head in shame’ over a series of failures that have left children with special needs without support.

Parents and children from across the county have criticised children’s services for the way they have been treated by Worcestershire Children First.

Angry and frustrated families gathered in County Hall at a meeting last week demanding improvements in a service that has left them battling for months – and even years – and spending tens of thousands of pounds in the process to secure the right support.

Andrew Round, whose 18-year-old son Billy has complex needs, scalded the county council saying his life had been made a “living hell” by the fight and apologising was no longer good enough.

Mr Round said Worcestershire Children First (WCF) had placed his son in the wrong school leaving him frightened to the point where he refused to attend.

“When do you stop saying sorry and start doing something?” he said. “Sorry isn’t anywhere near good enough. Get a grip and stop this appalling behaviour.

“This isn’t petty politics, this is about the lives of the most vulnerable people in our society like our son Billy.”

Billy’s mum Elena Round said her family had spent more than £25,000 battling the council for the correct support and called on council cabinet member for education Cllr Marcus Hart to “hold his head in shame” and resign.

Debbie Lamont, whose 14-year-old son has complex needs, said that “various errors” by WCF meant it had taken an “incredibly stressful” 18 months for her child to receive a care plan.

Karen Noakes called for an independent body to be appointed to help WCF learn how to act after “numerous incidents of unlawful conduct.”

She said she had been “constantly misled and lied to” across four years which had seen several battles with children’s services for the correct support.

Cllr Marcus Hart, who told parents he would not be resigning and would instead by staying to ensure improvements were made, said the continuing delays and mistakes were "unacceptable" and the council 'recognised it needed to move things forward.'