To think this poor mother should not be possibly facing jail

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

Over her sons truancy. I can't link on my tablet sorry
A mum is being prosecuted and could be facing a prison sentence, because her 11 year old son has not been attending school.
The back story is his dad was killed by a drunk driver and as a result he was understandably scared to leave his mum.
Has this poor little boy and his mum not been through enough, He's already lost his dad, does he deserve to have his mum taken away too. This mum needs support not hounding.
I just don't know what Good a prison sentence is going to achieve. I highly doubt it'll get him back to school, by taking his mum away. The courts certainly can't hurt him any more.
Before these fines threats of prison are bandied around, the schools EWOs and the prosecution need to be mindful of what these children who are not attending school are going through.

I thought I read that his attendance record was very poor prior to the accident, but I might be wrong.

I would imagine that there is far more to the story than is being reported.

There's way more to this story. They wouldn't prosecute if it was all after losing his dad.

Far more

Op.... So every child which is in some way traumatised should just be let off school? Only some parents fined and prosecuted?

metro.co.uk/2015/09/27/mother-faces-jail-for-son-missing-school-when-his-father-died-5409963/

There's the story.

Any reason reported why he didn't have a medical note, or something from another relevant professional?

Which council is it, btw?

Before it gets to prison many attempts are made to get children to attend school. In a lot of circumstances they will send the truancy officer to pick up the child and drop off directly at school.
Yes it is understandable for him not to want to go for a while.
But after a few weeks it does become a case of "you have to go" there isn't a choice.
If she is failing to ensure he goes to school then I can see where they are coming from.

They don't send parents to prison who are trying to get their kid to school. Only those who don't give a shit and don't try.
If you are trying and they can see that they continue to work with you, they don't send you to jail

Thought so - there's a back story of poor attendance.

His attendance has evidently improved at secondary school but there is a history.

Did she seek medical help for him? Did she try to work with the school?

There is obviously much more to this story than meets the eye.

No, it won't. I tend to wonder what the answer is though.

I don't think a prison sentence will solve it but there must surely have been interventions leading up to this.

As ever - any reporting of this will just be looking for a dramatic headline, and will not have all the facts. The school / council can't comment / tell you the rest of the story, so you'll never know, but it won't be a case of simply someone thinking the child isn't attending school so the parent must be imprisoned - there will have been a LOT of work done LONG before it got to this stage.

so they want to send a mom away from a child who has lost his father and do what to the child? put him in care? send him to family members? prove to him he was right all along and he will lose his mom?

the child needs help therapy something his mom must be in bits and unable to enforce him going to school they need to focus on why he won't go and help him and her overcome that

ffs prison should never be used in a case like this

I don't care what the rest of the story is. Even if she doesn't give a shit about his attendance, how can anything good possibly come from sending this woman to prison?

I'm wondering why his attendance was so poor in primary.

If the boys attendance is now good, then there's no point in sending the mother to prison.

The article only says that she says his attendance is back to normal, whatever normal might be for them. If his attendance isn't reliable, then something needs to be done, and the intervention so far isn't working.

When parents are threatened jail for their children truanting I can never understand why they don't tell the authorities they are going to homeschool the child then from now on.

I can never understand why they let it get that far rather than homeschool their child. Even if they have no intention of doing so but if it stops them going to jail. Not that I think that's right but it always seems like the parents are trying to prove a point

This dates back to when the boys father was killed by a drunk driver. It happened when he was in primary school, and his attendance understandably went down. The case should never have gone this far as there were extenuating circumstances.

The child in question is now in secondary school and his attendance is fine.

www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/tracey-fidler-reading-borough-council-10150368

According to this there may be a swift resolution. Hopefully.

If his attendance is good now, I don't see the point in sending her to prison.

That said, threatening her with incarceration is couldn't be the first course of action. Presumably she had opportunities to rectify this before it got to this point. Was he in counseling? Does she work? If not, could she have explored homeschooling? I don't know, I've looked at other articles about this, and they all seem to be one-sided, but don't really explain very much.

I think many people don't realise homeschooling is a legal option.

sound as though the family need support more now than ever

how is sending her to prison going to help the situation

Following a meeting today the prosecution has dropped the case. Thanks goodness. Their poor minds must have been in an absolute turmoil.

I was in this situation a couple of years ago and it nearly destroyed me.

I was widowed and my eldest child went off the rails. I would get him to school, he would disappear. Then he stopped going. I worked with the professionals - one said I was the only parent that had turned up to every single meeting.

Nothing made a difference - I regularly had to call the police. All whilst trying to hold down a part-time job and support my other children.

I agreed to family mediation - my child refused to go. The other children (primary school age at the time) came as did several of my close friends. One of my friends asked the EWO what else I could possibly do - the reply "throw a bucket of water over his head". She threatened prosecution in front of my 10 yr old who burst into tears and asked if his mum was going to jail who would look after him.

There were certain things I couldn't do - for example his timetable was changed to start at 11. Being at work I couldn't take him - he either didn't get up despite me waking him before leaving or spent the bus fare. The EWO told me in a Court of Law it wouldn't stand up that my work was taking priority. I then asked her who would be financially supporting my children when I lost my job? No answer.

The fact of the matter is he refused to engage - I believe there were other underlying MH issues and still are. I didn't feel supported, in fact I felt bullied and my other children felt threatened. Worst time of my life amidst huge, devastating bereavement.

He is still struggling to this day - I only hope through constant encouragement he will seek help eventually. The other children are doing well, normal teenage angst. So it's not always down to a lack of effort or not caring by the parent.