Appeal to parents of school refusers (legal researcher)

[PlonitbatPlonit]

I am posting this on behalf of a friend who is a law researcher and has recently done work on imprisonment for council tax debt. She is also interesting in cases of parents being imprisoned for debts relating to school non-attendance.

ARE YOU OR DO YOU KNOW A PARENT OF A SCHOOL REFUSER?
Researcher at Coventry Law School, Coventry University.
ARE YOU OR DO YOU KNOW A PARENT OF A SCHOOL REFUSER?
If you know anyone who has been threatened with imprisonment or imprisoned because a child refused to attend school please contact me at [email protected]
Please share widely.
I am concerned about parents being fined for their child’s school non-attendance and threatened with prison. I believe there should be research on this topic. I know there are parents of school refusers to whom this is happening. It's awful. Many of the young people have severe mental health problem. There are parents, often of children with autism or anxiety disorders, who, try as they might, cannot get their children into school. Some have received repeated fines and been threatened with prison. We can imagine the detrimental impact on both the parent and the child. I am hoping to hear from people with first-hand experience of the system: all information supplied will be treated with utmost confidentiality, I will protect privacy and will not reveal any identifying info. Only if individual histories are known can this situation be exposed and the law challenged.

More info here:

There's also this background info, use it if you think it's right

In 2016, a total of 22,453 people were proceeded against for the offence of truancy (parent failing to secure attendance of child) and 15,663 were convicted. Of those proceeded against, 12,572 were women and of those convicted, 9,333 were women. In terms of sentencing, 89 women out of 127 people were given a suspended sentence and 10 women out of 13 people were given an immediate custodial sentence. This is a subject which must be studied, evidence must be collected, and the system must be challenged. Can you help with your testimony? (All reporting will be with pseudonyms; confidentiality will be respected at all times).

Bumping this thread . Hoping for some experiences to be aired here.

I am the parent of a 'school refuser' term I completely hate. He has ASD and SPD and has just after 2 years of fighting and spending an extortionate amount of money on private reports been deemed unsuitable for mainstream provision. However there are no special schools (other than residential schools which would kill him) that would meet his needs. He is bright and has no behavioural problems. I am lucky that the school that my son is registered is supportive and does not mark as unauthorised absence, however I know others are not so lucky.

I am not lucky that this costs me around £40-£50k per year in real terms as I cannot work as I need to care for my child and there is next to no provision on NHS for his needs.

I am about to embark on a fight with the LEA for funding to teach him at home but this will not reimburse me for the costs of not being able to work, costs to my mental health and the relationships I am losing due to the lack of support available.

Parents do give up and deregister to avoid fines. Perhaps post on the SN boards on here as you are more likely to get the right traffic. Parents are afraid to speak on on this unfortunately.