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.

Oh man. That's horrible.

I understand that a 55% attendance rate is really low, and the world can't stop simply because someone died. But support and getting the family help would be better than jail time for the mother.

ChocolateMonster

My ds started truanting when he was 12.
It was a nightmare situation

The school dealt with it by expelling him.
He went to another school but ended up in a pupil referral unit.

Ihatethecold

Snap

The only thing it achieved was to intensify the situation.

The thing is, media reporting of court cases is nearly always inaccurate, so you can't really come to an opinion based on it.

Oh Chocolatemonster. I am so sorry, for your loss and then for the utter lack of common sense and common decency on the part of people who are supposed to be employed to help children.

Agree sleeponeday When you hear things like chocolate's story it makes you wonder if we DO live in a free country.

If you've got a school refuser, how are you supposed to act? take them to school and they just leave. It happened to us too, a 'normal' caring family. Not prison though I was lucky enough to be able to HE the child.

Yes, parrotsummer I agree. Home schooling is legal and would be a good option for her. In his mum's shoes I would just say I was home educating him.

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

So what a bollocky waste of everyone's time.

For other parents who find themselves in this boat, if this is the full story, then no one should go to jail for their child's truancy, this is a gross misuse of public funds and of the power of the government/courts to persecute a person. I don;t see how she can be held responsibility for her 11 year not attending school. And to be honest I don't want my taxes going to pay to keep a woman, or man, in jail for this! Can't the courts spend their time on proper cases!

Exactly Peat. How do you get a 6 ft tall 15 year old to school if they refuse to go, strap them in a fucking pram and push them there. FFS.

chocolatemonster that is truly crap and I am so sorry for you. This country is positively barbaric about some things. 'We' as a nation like to think we are so civilised and so fair, but people can be treated appallingly. I do hope things will be better for you in the future. I really hope you have and continue to access all things (benefits/counselling everything) you can to help in the long term, because people like you deserve every help and not to be hindered and hurt further by your own country. It makes my blood boil.

Thinking of you.

Well yes it was Italian and I think what had happened was some jobs worth on a power trip, (funny they only use the vulnerable to try to make an example of, though!, but that for now is for another thread) had tried to use this mother as an example, not thinking it would hit the media and of the public out cry and anguish it would cause. I think they've been made a holy show of. The school and the council.

Love and thoughts to you, Chocolate.
Throw a bucket of water over his head, another example of how far out of touch these people are with the real world. That's abuse, so she advocated abuse of a child. I'm telling you now i-d have made an absolute cunt out of her, believe me.!
It's beyond clear that she has no clue about her job or she would be able to offer useful advice. She's nothing but a bully. !!!.
Also EWO, stands for education welfare officer, does it not, well perhaps she needs to familiarize herself with the word welfare. Did she give a shiny shit about the welfare of your 10 year old saying she was going to prosecute you, while he was in floods of tears. That's certainly not my description of welfare, and I doubt it's anyone else's either.!
It's mental abuse.

Home educating is legal (and can be wonderful, we do it) and might be a really good option for a family dealing with a bereavement, but no one should be pushed to it as a last resort.

LAs are much more likely to be involved where relationships with schools have broken down, and parents who have basically been forced into it because the alternative is fines or jail time aren't always going to be equipped to cope - if they have work that's just incompatible or many other reasons.

It's also shocking that schools/the school system should be able to avoid having to adapt and deal with children who clearly need something to change. And it can also make accessing other services that could help children with additional needs difficult. It shouldn't, services to benefit children shouldn't depend on being in school but it's a fact for people in some areas and if you're already struggling with something then adding on an extra layer and having to fight for support might not be easy at all.

His attendance was poor in primary school. He is 11 so he is probably only in year 7, so last year would have been in primary school - the year he lost his Dad so surely the "history" of poor attendance is the time after the death - not an ongoing thing.

It makes my blood boil because it's also not as if some of the schools are so effing wonderful, bullying goes on from other dcs and teachers ( I speak as a retired teacher).

Hi Peat, well we've all heard that straight from the horse's mouth.

Yes and I've had to report some terrifying teachers. We're talking EYs too.

The problem is giving local authorities too much power. Generally they are run for specific public services and should be service-based, not enforcement-based. They lac the proper structure, including accountability mechanisms, to be enforcement-based. I'd also question where the public interest criterion for prosecuting is in this case. So many careless drivers who cause serious accidents aren't prosecuted for example, because there is a low chance of conviction, because little good would come out of prosecuting, because they don't fit within a strict set of evidential criteria here. Wheres the public interest here?

I, too, don't see how prosecuting the parent is going to help the child.

I was that child. It was due to mental illness but they still desperately encouraged me to go. My mum remortgaged the house, dropped to part time hours and drove me to school. She delivered me to the teacher. I still managed to get out as soon as I could. A child who is determined to exit the building will do it. It is often not about parental input and in those cases, time and energy should be spent on managing what is underlying the truancy.

Talking about enforcement, what about the lorry driver who killed 6 people in Glasgow?? the CPS are not effing prosecuting WHY?

When some poor person gets prosecuted for just not getting their dc to school. It's totally mad

Yes and those parents should be on guard at every exit of the school all day to stop their child from running away once they're inside. If not stick 'em in jail!

The same thing was done to us over an incurable, untreatable medical condition they had evidence of. I told them I am not paying more council tax due to them being disablists who were more worried about OFSTED than children and to take me to court. They dropped it.

Iliveinalighthouse - the only thing she cared about was ticking a box for her forms.

KourtneyK - awful that you were failed.

My ds is 18 now and not in a good place. Imprisoning me wouldn't have changed that. I feel so sad he has missed virtually all his secondary education. Why would any professional believe I wanted to deprive him of that intentionally?

I worked with some great professionals but some were truly awful.

I wouldn't wish it on anybody - it was horrific for my younger children. Certainly no winners in this situation.

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

To play devil's advocate it could be that the risk of criminal sanctions concentrated the mind of the boy and/or his mother enough to ensure he attended school.

Chocolatemonster Don't feel sad, lots of people were school refusers and have succeeded in life. It certainly doesn't suit everyone. Our ds is G & T he HATED school so I HE him (well he did it himself really he just needed confidence in his own abilities) The inspector said he knew much more than the dcs at school !

Also some dcs were forced to go to school and took their own lives.