PARENTS have called for the resignation of the director of children’s services.

A letter penned by SEND National Crisis Worcestershire has called for Tina Russell, chief executive of Worcestershire Children First, to stand down.

The group, which has 799 members, say that parents and carers are continuing to experience failings of WCF and the county council.

They say there is a “culture” of “delay tactics, unlawful practices, and treating parents and carers as adversaries”.

The open letter continues: “Put simply, Worcestershire Children First continues to fail SEND children and young people and their families across Worcestershire.

“Tina Russell, you have sat at the helm of this organisation throughout this period and you have overseen these continued failures.

“For the good of the county and our children and young people, we call for your resignation.

“We also call for the removal of (senior) managers that continue to make unlawful decisions that are failing our children and young people.

“Our families have plenty of examples to evidence that such conduct remains widespread across your organisation.”

Despite this, Mrs Russell has reiterated that they will continue to work towards improving the situation.

“We remain committed to drive our improvements at pace.

“We are working with health partners and schools to ensure that we identify a child’s needs early and with sufficient quality to enable us to match provision to their needs and ultimately promote the best outcomes for each individual child or young person.”

The letter comes a year after SEND National Crisis Worcestershire wrote to MPs, Ofsted, and the CQC voicing their lack of faith in Worcestershire Children First.

It lists 13 “unlawful practices” of WCF and the county council, including a lack of suitable specialist provision, poor communication, and a “significant” number of children and young people left without access to any education at all.

Mrs Russell explained that WCF continues to work alongside the Department for Education and NHS to ensure the Accelerated Progress Plan “refocuses” the way the WCF works with parents and carers to ensure progress for children with special educational needs.

She added that they have implemented a Quality Assurance framework in SEND.

“This is now enabling us, across the multi-agency SEND partnership, to have a regular overview, not only of key performance indicators but also the experiences of parents and carers and the quality of the assessments and plans being created as we look to move forward,” said Mrs Russell.

She explained that WCF’s Key Performance Indicators and Quality Assurance quarterly reports have seen positive progress as a result of investment in staffing capacity and ongoing service developments.

Mrs Russell added: “We have had some very positive experiences fed back to us but we recognise this isn’t yet the experience of all parents and carers and we continue to be committed to making it the experience for all.

“We recognise that not all families are receiving the service we would like them to.

“We will continue to listen to parents and carers and those who represent SEND National Crisis Worcestershire. “