Family's fight to end restraint and seclusion in schools reaches Holyrood

A family’s fight to prevent children with additional support needs from being restrained or secluded at school has moved a step closer.

It would be known as Calum’s Law – named after Calum Morrison from Angus, who was restrained at a special school 15 years ago.

Calum Morrison suffered injuries so serious his mother believes he could have died when he was restrained at school.

Calum’s Law, championed by MSP Daniel Johnson, aims to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion of children and young people in schools.

It would also introduce a reporting and recording requirement. Meaning that parents must be told when restraint or seclusion techniques have been used on their child, as soon as possible.

It’s the result of a 15-year battle after Calum, who has epilepsy, autism and learning difficulties, suffered serious injuries when he was restrained by staff at his special educational needs school when he was 11-years-old.

His mother Beth Morrison described his injuries as “barbaric” and said an expert witness report stated that his injuries were consistent with restraint death.

“We could have lost our child that day,” she said.

Mrs Morrison discovered that Calum was not the only child impacted by restraint and seclusion techniques at schools.

“Since 2017 in Scotland alone, I’ve collected over 3,000 family case studies,” Mrs Morrison told STV News.

“That’s 3,000 children who have been harmed physically and emotionally. Every day it’s going on.”

Last year, Mrs Morrison said there were 208 incidents of restraint and seclusion used in Scotland.

Of those cases, 6% – approximately 12 children – were only three years old. Approximately 68 children (or 33% of cases) were six years old. 91% of these children have autism or ADHD.

“I’ve not had a single case involving a child over the age of 8 for three years,” Mrs Morrison said.

“Something is happening to the little ones. They all have disabilities; the vast majority have very little verbal language. They can’t communicate so they use their behaviour as a form of communication.”

If the Bill is formally approved by Ministers, it would roll out training and guidance requirements for school staff to be trained in specific de-escalation techniques – hopefully removing the need for restraint and seclusion techniques.

Mrs Morrison said the issue stems from a fundamental mis-understanding of why children like Calum are lashing out.

“It’s about understanding their behaviour isn’t aggressive or violent, it’s a child in distress – it’s a distress behaviour,” she said.

“We need to make school staff understand how to prevent distress. If we can prevent distress and meet children’s needs, we won’t have that behaviour.”

Appealing to MSPs, Mrs Morrison pleaded for them to support children like Calum by approving the Bill.

“We don’t want little children going home with bruises and broken teeth and broken limbs,” Mrs Morrison said.

“It’s awful what’s happening to these children for behaviour linked to their medical conditions, neurodiverse conditions.”

Now that the Bill has been introduced into the Scottish Parliament, it can be debated, scrutinised and amendments from members considered before it is eventually put to a vote.