We are proud to publish a new guest article written by a concerned mother who shares her deeply personal account of what happened when her autistic, gender-questioning daughter encountered an education system unwilling to safeguard her properly.
The post, written before the release of the updated RSHE guidance but shortly after the publication of the 2025 Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) update, raises urgent questions about how schools are responding to gender questioning children and whether they are protecting them, or placing them at greater risk.
The author describes how she recently met with other parents whose children had also attended the same secondary school as her daughter. They were joined by their former MP who has remained supportive throughout their dealings with the education system. Although each family had a unique story, they quickly discovered a shared and disturbing pattern: over several years, the school had failed to protect vulnerable pupils – not just through individual incidents, but through systemic issues involving teachers, senior leaders, and safeguarding staff.
At the heart of the issue is an institutional belief system that appears to prioritise ideology over evidence. Staff at the school actively promote the belief that everyone has a ‘gendered soul’, a position which is wholly unsupported by science and contradicts safeguarding good practice. For the author’s autistic daughter, this environment has been confusing, isolating, and damaging. Since the Cass Review indicated that “social transition is not a neutral act” all schools should take note and urgently review their approaches to such children.
The post also highlights a broader concern that will resonate with many families: the breakdown of trust between schools and parents. The author expresses frustration at a system that increasingly treats parents as a threat if they do not immediately affirm their child’s new gender identity. As she notes – the system seems to drive a wedge between children and parents, and treats parents as a risk to their children”.
This article is a timely reminder that the stakes are high. As the government prepares to release further guidance for schools on how to support gender questioning children, the experiences of families like this one must not be ignored. Schools have a duty to safeguard all pupils – and that includes providing thoughtful, evidence-based support to those who are questioning their gender, without cutting off communication with families or pushing children down a predetermined path. In short, dealing with gender questioning children should be dealt with under safeguarding, not ideology.
The author ends with a powerful warning: if we fail to address these issues now, we may be left reckoning with the consequences in the form of harm to young people who were failed by the very system that should have protected them. We expect to see many more testimonies from detransitioners who were not properly supported, and we are sure the court cases will also come.
Safe Schools Alliance has been raising these issues with the Department for Education, OFSTED, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and anyone else who has a role to play in safeguarding children but our words have fallen on deaf ears.
We are grateful to this mother for her courage in sharing her story.
You can read her full article here. Or download the PDF below.