After a number of increasingly violent and dangerous incidents, we finally managed to gather a selection of over-stretched and under-funded professionals together to consider how best to attempt to prevent *Adam’s life collapsing further into chaos and disaster.

I was glad when the meeting was over, about an hour and a half later, and I could go back to my office to get a break from the horror that was Adam’s life. I’ve listened to lots of tragic and depressing life stories: this one was particularly bleak. I was fortunate that I only listened to accounts of it, not having to live it day in, day out like Adam and his nan. I made myself a cup of tea, sat at my desk and tried to make sense of what I had just listened to. Adam and his nan had no such respite. They were in it 24/7.

I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Adam’s nan. She’s tiny and frail but possesses an immense strength and a willingness to fight, metaphorically and physically if necessary, to protect her grandson. She has been looking after him since he was about 4 and has had to fight many times to protect him.

I wish all the kids I worked with had someone like this woman to look out for them. As I looked at her, I worried what Adam would do if anything were to happen to her - Adam has the same worries, but magnified a thousand or more times. He’s suffered so much loss. It’s no wonder he wanted to get sent home from school so he could stay with her to make sure she was safe. They don’t live a safe life. She’s his one point of stability in a crazy, dangerous and uncertain world, and if he lost her, well, I dread to think what would happen.

Vital support withdrawn

As each professional added more and more information to the picture, and as nan linked all the accounts with her oversight, it became easy to understand why Adam was behaving like he was. Of course he would have an issue with knives after what he had seen. Of course he would struggle to see a purpose to life after what he had experienced. Of course he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to learn. No wonder he had night terrors. He had been let down repeatedly and in the most awful ways by the people who should have loved and protected him the most. It all made sense: a disturbing, horrifying and bleak sense.

But, despite the trauma that Adam had experienced, the amount of risk he was in and the danger that he presents to himself and my staff, the agency that had worked most closely with him was ending its involvement - not because the issues in Adam’s life had been resolved; not because another organisation was taking over  -because it had run out of money. All cases had to close. Just like that.

Nan and Adam would be on their own over the holidays and after school and at the weekends. There was a safety plan in place but that was basically “ring the police”. Nothing else. No support with the incidents that happened outside school hours.

We could all see the sadness and frustration in the eyes of the caring and hard-working professional who had the unenviable job of closing the case after working so closely with Adam and his nan. We all knew they were going to struggle; that they needed more help, not less. The decision to close the case was strictly financial.

We suggested that another referral should be made but we were told the case would “not meet threshold”, despite the concerns of everyone present. Due to staff constraints and the demands of the role, the threshold for intervention was so high and agencies were increasingly struggling to provide the service they were designed for. This is the reality of austerity.

We, as a school, will continue to do our best for the family, as will child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs). We will re-refer and escalate and offer all the support we can. We will put strategies in place to reassure Adam when his anxieties and fears overwhelm him and when he yet again goes looking for sharp objects. Of course, we will continue to do this. Adam and his nan need more than us though. They need social services and the support of other agencies beyond school and Camhs.

Sadly, this isn’t an isolated case. My worst fear is that “did not meet threshold” will be the epitaph carved on some poor child’s headstone. It will be the social services and the agencies involved who will take the blame but it is those who control the purse-strings - those who will never meet Adam and his nan - who will be responsible.

The writer works in a special school for pupils with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs

*The pupil’s name has been changed

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