To wonder whether other kids mums may check DD for headlice at school & send her home without my consent?

[Mumpsnett]

Head Lice check is done by some mum volunteers at school, NOT by nurses....they reserve the right to send kids home if "lice are found", or what they think qualifies as such. There are lots of false positives obviously. I'm fuming!!! Should I complain???

I didnt even think they did head lice checks anymore

Wtf? Like who has nothing better to do than VOLUNTEER to check other people’s children for lice? 😷 why just why?

I don’t think I’d want some random touching my child to look for lice tbh, surely as a parent you’ve got that covered?

I would imagine that they can't do it without your permission anyway. I would speak to the school.

Yes - no School can randomly send kids home for something like nits - it’s an unofficial exclusion effectively

Why are you fuming? I can only assume there’s a big infestation and the school feel they have no choice but to check all kids. Perhaps then parents will treat and check if their child is sent home?!

Did you consent to your DD having a headlice check?

If you're not happy with your DDs head being examined/touched by other people, then say so. No need to complain, just say you don't give permission for this to happen to your DD.

Hats off to the brave women nutters prepared to sift through other kids hair though. You couldn't pay me enough!

Of course they can send them home for lice in the sane way they could if the child was vomiting. I would imagine the mothers are volubteeeingbecause they are fed up recurring infestations that result from other parents not being sufficiently vigilant.

I would love it if this happened at our school (we're on our fifth treatment in 2018 ). I can't speak to the legalities of it but it wouldn't bother me.

But lice are not an illness McOutface.

They're not classed as a public health hazard, merely an annoyance.

Why exactly are you fuming? Is it the fact that another parent will make the call? I doubt that if they find lice they will just send the kid home. It will be checked by someone else.

Or is it another adult checking your DCs head?

Frankly, it sounds like the school has a problem and parents are not dealing with it.

A random mum is allowed to check childrens hair. As a pp says "why would you want to do that. ". Whoever she is she Clearly needs to get out more.

I remember the nit nurse coming into school when I was a nipper. We called her Nitty Nora the head explorer. That was over 30 years ago. I don't think my dd ever had anyone check her hair at school.
I hate this send them home culture. Theyre quick enough to threaten prosecution when you keep them off. They cant have it both ways.

Im fuming because she got a letter saying she has headlice and, should she be caught again Friday this week with the same problem, shell be sent home etc etc.
I went to GP around the corner after school: DD has NO Lice. Thats why i'm fuming, DD was soo embarrassed at school yesterday.

PS : ...writing from Belgium, so really easy to GET GP appointment, BUT 25 Euros down the toilet!!!

I dont get the problem? Check your own DD's hair at home and dont send her in untill you get rid of them, that way no other mum will be sending her home for it.

You went to the gp about lice? Why?

False positives? Wtf? A live louse is pretty obvious.

So, send a letter to the Head, saying that your DD does not have nits - you checked with the GP (although why you'd take your DD to the GP for this I'm not sure!).

In the same letter say that going forward you do not give permission for your DD to have her head checked by anyone other than you.

Nits are ghastly. I'd have loved someone to check in my DCs school, as the infestations seemed to just go on & on & on. DD used to be able to see them crawling in other DCs hair, but no one did anything. Urgh, gives me the shudders.

That's a different question. So the school say she has lice and the GP says she doesn't? If this is the case, you don't have too complain, but you have to tell the school that their parent helper was wrong and a medical professional has said she is lice free.

It should just be a case of sorting out that mistake.

I would be very wary of going and complaining in really strong terms about this. You sound very cross, and that won't help.

In the UK this would never happen. We had to wait until a nursery child had fell and bumped their head as an excuse to how we spotted headlice in a child who had them so bad they would fall off the paper as we weren't allowed to physically check for them. It's a joke.

Ah, ok the Belgium bit might be significant. Perhaps they have different rules there about what you can be sent home for and who can touch your DC in school.

Rather than complain, why don't you have a conversation with someone at the school and see what their policy about nits is and what kids can be sent home for.

You go to the GP to check for lice in Belgium? Good god...les belges...

Can you imagine some of the Mums doing this role and then spreading all about little Johnny having nits in the playground. there would be outrage.
Seeing you have to sign before they can do any medical checks...
I do think nit nurses should be brought back though!

Did you check for lice yourself?

Hmmm...food for thought.
Yes I am angry, actually..... apparently the mum in question was nattering away on her mobile while checking DD...no wonder she got it wrong, stupid cow. But yes, should probably be grateful theres some kind of action being taken by volunteers about the lice issue...

"You go to the GP to check for lice in Belgium? Good god...les belges..."

Er, no, not usually.

But no reason why OP shouldn't do so if they want to!