the court system has asked me to PROVE I am BF!

[aaaghHumbug]

I have been called for jury service.

I filled in the form saying that I couldn't as I am BF (giving the DOB of baby).

I got a letter back asking for a letter from my GP or HV to confirm that I am BF.

I phoned them in a rage (but politely) saying that I found the letter insulting. The admin person agreed that the wording is "unfortunate" and told me that they have received photos before. WTF?? They also said that a copy of my employers letter stating that I am on mat leave would do. I don't think this is good enough and would like to complain about the BF issue.

Any help with a letter back would be appreciated.

(Unless you think I am a loon and that this is a reasonable request?)

This is the text of the letter I used to get excused in 2011:

"I have a two year old son who I care for on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday every week. He has never gone to any form of paid childcare, as my husband is able to care for him on Monday and Thursday. This will be the case until he goes to school in September 2013. I think it would unreasonably disrupt his life to send him to paid childcare for two weeks, and I would hate to do that, as we have deliberately avoided doing this. He?s never been left with anybody other than my husband or his granny (just for a couple of hours with her). They both work, so aren?t available to provide care full time. My son has also never not seen me for more than one day at a time, so it would be a huge impact on him to not see me for five days in a row. In addition, I understand from friends that the waiting lists for good nurseries in the xx area are usually several months for a regular place, let alone a one-off need. So I don?t see where I could find for him at this short notice. I would very much like to be excused from jury service on this occasion (I have done it about 5 years ago), so that I can continue to care for my son at home."

Maybe I was just lucky?!

But the point surely is that if the parent has chosen to organise childcare for their child so that they could work, then it is work who is losing out by their doing jury service (as there would be little/no change for the child). Whereas in the case of a SAHP, it would be the child who is losing out. That doesn't seem sufficiently child-oriented to me, and that outweighs the benefits of having a SAHP available to be on a jury.

I understand that and no one told my dd that either but the fact is no harm will come to the child if it does not have milk for that period. The point I'm making is that the op faces the same dilemma as any other mother of an 8 month wether breast feeding or not. Because otherwise then a mother of an 8 month who is not breast feeding should expect to do jury service where the op would not.

The practicalities of the situation are not about breast feeding and think it is not right to imply that you can't do it because you are breast feeding.

I'm also not suggesting op should be forced to do jury service, I'm just dont belive that bf is or should be used as a stand alone reason.

EnthusiasticTroll FWIW I was also BFing DS at the time, but didn't think that was the main point so didn't mention it. But at 8mo it would have been very relevant, as he was feeding multiple times a day, and that was his norm.

So I do think BFing is relevant, but not the only reason. I would expect any parent caring for an 8mo to be excused if they didn't have suitable childcare that was acceptable to them and their child.

Where do you propose the 8 month old goes during the court time TheEnthusiasticTroll? Pop it under the chair and tell it to be quiet? A child of that age will still need milk during the day. Jury service plus travel time you could be away for over ten hours. Not practical really.

Can you please stop repeating that. I have addressed that thank you, if that is all you have then you are losing the argument

Isitme, I completely agree with what you are saying. But on the other hand a mother who works 5 days and has regular child care could not expect to avoid duty service because they breast feed. It is more about disruption to the child's routine and day to day care that is the issue.

I'm not intentionally repeating my posts each time i look at the page my phone decides to post again Sorry!

Just go to your HV/GP and ask them for a letter confirming that you are breastfeeding.

This is what happens in Belgium, where if you want longer then the standard 8 weeks maternity leave, you have to prove you are breastfeeding. Even then, you only get an extra 6 weeks maternity leave. If you don't bf, you only get 8 weeks maternity leave.

Ha ha no worries then.

So one case where BF is still relevant would have been my case when DD was 4 mo and I was back at work (hence had no maternity exemption any more) but was still BFing her several times a day.

In this case the childcare seems more relevant than the BF. But in my case the childcare was irrelevant and the BF was the problem.

I haven't ever been called to do jury service and I think I'd quite like to be!

I too am BFing a 6 mth old so ATM it would be an issue for me as DS won't take a bottle and as yet has no interest in taking food.

My other (bigger) issue would be childcare though - DS is only looked after by me or DH and seeing as DH works and is self employed it would be very costly for him to take two weeks off to provide childcare.

Do courts pay the childcare fees if parents are usually SAHM/D?

Very interesting thread this

It is bizarre to ask for evidence of this when I was excused forever because I truthfully reported on the form that I had once suffered from severe depression, in remission for several years.

I received a not very sensitively worded letter to say I was permanently disqualified because I had mental illness. No suggestion that I should provide medical records to substantiate my claim, yet the mother of an 8 month old has to 'prove' she breastfeeds? Pretty outrageous. And weird.

i would agree with that as the need of 4 month is generaly different than that of 8 month. but surely no one with a 4 month old could be expected to do dury service service where it disrupts any routine.

maybe they should have a blanket expecption for the main carer of any child upto school age.

ET I agree that exempting main carers upto school age would be good but it wouldn't have helped in my case as my DH is the main carer and I was back at work.

LilBlonde as somebody else pointed out, police haven't been exempt for 8yrs. Judges, lawyers, clergy etc were removed from the exemption list at the same time. The problem simply was that the court was bang in the middle of the neighbourhood he policed and a large majority of cases tried he was involved in.

Just read this having received a letter this morning calling me for jury service. I have a six week old who is mostly BF. I presumed I would get excused based on being the primary carer quite apart from feeding issue. I never even thought I might be refused, now bit worried.

All sounds very bizarre. I was called for jury duty a couple of months ago (6 month old and 3 year old). I love a bit of civic duty, I called them and was secretly hoping there would be some paid for childcare provision, but the woman just exempted me, didn't even defer, I was stunned how quick I was off the phone. I am in London.

I can't believe they don't exempt carers, whether main carer or 1 day per week where there is no other alternative care.

Enclose a used breast pad with your reply. Love to see where the jobsworth would file that.

Maybe different in Scotland then, as when I was called 1/2 yrs ago, on the back of the form amongst exemptions, was being an active member of the force. I told them that and was immediately exempted on those grounds. Strange.

Ah, sorry, just read back and saw that it's already been established that the exemption rules for Scotland (where I was) are different.