Christa, who home-educates her teenage daughters in Barnsley, described the policy as “discriminatory”.
The 47-year-old said she believed the target could “push children back into places that are damaging them and destroying them”.
“They should be able to be educated wherever makes them safest,” she added.
Christa began home-educating her daughter Ruth, now aged 15, six years ago as she was “hugely struggling” with mental health problems.
Ruth was diagnosed as autistic in 2019 and also has multiple health conditions.
When the family moved up from Hampshire in 2020, Christa tried to get Ruth back into mainstream education but 14 schools – some as far afield as Leeds and Nottingham – said they could not meet her needs.
She said choosing to home-educate had been “the hardest decision” but added: “The school system is broken.”
Last month Barnsley Council warned, external it was facing “urgent and increasing pressure” on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision, with rising demand fuelling “an acute shortage of local places”.
The number of children on the waiting list for specialist placements in the borough increased from 55 to 121 between July 2024 and July 2025.
