Katie Price been seen taking her son Harvey to look at potential residential colleges after revealing she’s made the ‘heartbreaking’ decision to put him into full-time care.
The doting mother-of-five, 42, and her eldest child, 18, who suffers from a number of health conditions, were seen touring potential places for him to attend in a new trailer for her upcoming BBC documentary.
In the short video, the duo are seen considering all the options with Harvey telling his mum he’s ‘excited’ to have a look at new colleges.
Changes: Katie Price has taken her son Harvey to look at potential residential colleges after revealing she’s made the ‘heartbreaking’ decision to put him into care
Speaking in the clip, Katie said: ‘Things change when people turn 18, for anyone. You become an adult. Whereas for Harvey, he’s got complex needs.
‘I’ve got to let Harvey have the best shot at life.’
The mother and son are then seen in a car as they head to one of the tours, with Katie asking: ‘Are you excited to look at a college?’
Harvey enthusiastically replies, ‘oh, yeah mum’, before the trailer shows him being shown around the residential colleges by staff as he smiles.
Time for a tour: Harvey is seen looking around one of the potential collages during the trailer and tells his doting mum that he’s ‘excited’ to see them
Another scene reveals Katie having a serious conversation with another woman about the potential placements and discussing Harvey’s wellbeing.
After touring the colleges, Katie and Harvey are seen waiting at a train station with the doting mother telling her son: ‘As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.’
The television personality recently revealed she will send Harvey to a residential college so he can lead a more independent life and learn new skills.
Harvey will live in the facility until he’s 25 and Katie believes the move is vital for his well-being because she can no longer restrain the at 6ft2in and 29 stone teen if he has a mood swing – and fears he could be sectioned if she doesn’t act now.
Looking around: Another scene shows the teenager having a peak at the inside of the college
Close bond: Katie is seen supporting her eldest child during the trip, with her later telling him so long as he’s happy, she’s happy
Harvey, whose father is retied footballer Dwight Yorke, 49, was born with septo-optic dysplasia – a condition that means the development of his optic nerve was unpredictable.
The teenager is also on the autistic spectrum, is partially blind, gains weight easily because he suffers from Prader–Willi syndrome, and finds mobility difficult.
Katie told The Sun: ‘It’s so upsetting to think I won’t see him every day but this is the best thing for Harvey and we have to think positively because I don’t want him to think I’m just getting rid of him.’
The former model said Harvey’s new chapter will bring him the opportunity to have as much as an independent life as he can and learn new skills.
Katie has spent six months visiting colleges for children with autism and learning disabilities in order to find the best place for Harvey, and is hoping he’ll be able to start at their top choice later this year.
Big birthday: As the mother and son duo celebrate Harvey’s 18th birthday, the former glamour model says ‘things change when people turn 18, for anyone. You become an adult. Whereas for Harvey, he’s got complex needs. I’ve got to let Harvey have the best shot at life’
Celebrations: Katie and Harvey are seen sitting in the garden surrounded by balloons as the teen turns 18
But the mother-of-five is finding it hard to ‘let go’ as she has an ‘incredible bond’ with her eldest son.
‘I need to learn to let go but it’s tough – anyone in my position knows how hard it is. We have an incredible bond. I don’t know how Harvey will react or how he’ll feel when I can’t get to him. It’s too painful to think about,’ she said.
Katie is also mum to Junior, 15, and Princess, 13, with her ex-husband Peter Andre, 47, and son Jett, seven, and daughter Bunny, six, with former spouse Kieran Hayler, 33.
The My Crazy Life star added: ‘When he’s three hours away it will break my heart because I won’t be able to get there as I’ve got to juggle him with my other kids.’
Harvey’s autism means he can have violent outbursts, such as head butting walls and smashing iPads, if he hears loud noises or slamming doors.
And Katie said she made the decision to place Harvey in full-time care for fear of him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act if he lashed out in public and was deemed a risk to society.
Fears: Harvey will live in the facility until he’s 25 and Katie believes the move is vital for his well-being because she can no longer restrain the at 6ft2in and 29 stone teen if he has a mood swing – and fears he could be sectioned if she doesn’t act now
The star added Harvey’s weight means she can no longer calm him down on her own.
Katie explained Harvey is excited about the prospect of going into full-time care, after previously going to a residential college five days a week.
Katie added her four other children will miss Harvey when he is not around at weekends.
The teenager is supposed to start at his residential college in September, but Katie isn’t sure if he will amid the ongoing global health crisis.
Katie said the main focus is to bring Harvey’s weight down, saying she needs ‘to get him the help he deserves because he will die if he doesn’t exercise’.
The star added Harvey’s breathing has got worse in recent months, but says he will be able to go swimming and work out with trained specialists at the college.
Disability: Harvey, whose father is footballer Dwight Yorke, was born with septo-optic dysplasia- a condition that means the development of his optic nerve was unpredictable
Heartbreaking: Harvey’s father, retired footballer Dwight Yorke is absent from his son’s life (Katie pictured with Dwight in 2001)
In June, Harvey was rushed to intensive care after having trouble breathing. He experienced extreme chest-pains and a soaring temperature and was thought to be at risk of organ failure.
Katie recalled seeing eight doctors crowding around him in the resuscitation room and said she was ‘terrified’ by the horrific ordeal. He was discharged after 10 days.
Following her announcement, Katie received a flood of support from Twitter users.
One wrote: ‘As I’ve said before, in all my time working in hospitals, Katie Price was the most knowledgable and passionate advocate for their child that I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Horrendously abused but that’s never stopped her learning, growing, and fighting.’
Stated another: ‘Katie Price has tried for 18 years. I can’t believe some of the horrible comments people have made when they have no clue how it is to be a primary carer for a child with such complex disabilities. Her decision to put Harvey into an assisted living scheme deffo wasn’t easy.’
Support: Following her announcement, Katie received a flood of support from Twitter users
Following the influx of kind messages Katie took to her Instagram Stories to share a message of thanks from herself and Harvey.
She wrote: ‘Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support over the past few days it means a great deal to myself and Harvey.’
Katie made the decision to put Harvey in part-time care in April 2019.
The mother-of-five candidly admitted on her show that she ‘had no option’ but to send Harvey, who was 16 at the time, to the care centre, as she admitted it’s ‘selfish’ of her to keep him at home.
The former glamour model admitted: ‘I don’t want him to go, but the doctors and my mum say it is the best thing for him.’
‘Thank you’: Following the influx of kind messages Katie took to her Instagram Stories to share a message of thanks from herself and Harvey
The star then explained to the camera: ‘What they can offer Harvey that I can’t, is daily exercise, a food plan, he can’t go into the cupboards and eat. He’ll socialise with his friends, it’s more freedom for him.’
But Harvey had to move back home in March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the last six months, the teenager’s behaviour has got progressively worse.
She told The Sun in November: ‘He’ll smash things up if you say no. I’ve had to re-plaster my walls because he’ll bash holes in them with his head.
‘He knows what nice things taste of. I’ll give him sweet potato chips instead of real fries but he knows the difference.’
She continued: ‘It’s not what he eats in the day, it’s what he eats when I don’t see him. I’ve tried hiding food but he’ll find it.’
Full-time care: Harvey was previously in part-time care but had to move back home in March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.(pictured in November)
Katie also said that Harvey, who now wears 7XL clothes, doesn’t understand why she wants him to lose weight.
The worried mum explained how he gets breathless and sweaty just walking up the stairs and that she agonises over his increasing weight, because now the weight is on, the ‘damage’ has already been done.
It comes as Katie emotionally declared her son Harvey is ‘not a thing to poke fun at’ as she said being a mum to a disabled son is a ‘badge of honour’ on Instagram on Thursday.
She has previously said that one of the hardest parts about Harvey’s condition has been having others blame her for her son’s disability, which she has explained was a ‘one-in-a-million chance’.
She has said: ‘It’s no one’s fault… That’s why it’s still so upsetting when people say it’s my fault. It’s not.
‘I did go out. I was single, I was going out. But they’d get pictures of me coming out of the club looking drunk even though I was driving.
‘I had lots of speculation with his problems, and I was blamed for my partying. I wasn’t drinking at all.’
In 2019, Katie expressed her worries over Harvey saying she hopes she outlives him, because he wouldn’t be able to cope without her.
Speaking candidly about her relationship with her son, the former glamour model, said that she worries how Harvey would take care of himself.
She told The Sun: ‘I know it’s horrible to say, but I wish he’d go before me because he wouldn’t cope without me.
‘He’d be so heartbroken and wouldn’t understand where I’d gone.’
Back in 2013, Katie told The Guardian that she would never put her son in care and called residential homes ‘evil’.
She said: ‘He’ll always live at home. He’s not leaving me. There are a lot of evil people out there’.
She also said she doesn’t want her other children to end up taking care of Harvey when they are older because she thinks it’s her job.
But Katie has understandably had a change of heart about care homes after learning what would be best for her son.
And no doubt she has already seen him thriving being in residential care five days a week.
Promoting her new BBC documentary Katie Price: Harvey and Me on BBC One, Katie wrote: ‘I wanted to share what really goes on behind closed doors.
‘Harvey isn’t a thing to poke fun at, he’s my son, he overcomes mountains and obstacles everyday that other people take for granted. Being a single parent of a disabled child is a badge of honour for me!’
The documentary will air later this month on Monday January 25 on BBC One.
Emotional: It comes as Katie emotionally declared her son Harvey is ‘not a thing to poke fun at’ as she said being a mum to a disabled son is a ‘badge of honour’