Prosecuting Parents of Children Who Have Missed School
We have done a study of parents, and in particular, mothers, who are fined or threatened with fines for their child’s non-attendance at school.
There are many children who need support to cope in school, and who don’t get it: they become fearful. Their parents, try as they might,
simply cannot get their children into school. Some of these parents are themselves ill or disabled. They are particularly vulnerable
families. Many have received repeated fines and threats of prison.
Many of the children and young people who do not attend school regularly have special education needs or disabilities, and/or
moderate or severe mental health problems. 40% of the children in our survey are on the autism spectrum, and most have high levels of
anxiety. Many have been bullied. Our research finds that schools often fail to tackle bullying robustly and effectively. However, in
some schools the restorative justice approach is proving very effective — this is a positive development which we are pleased to be
able to report.
Author Contact Details
Rona Epstein Coventry Law School
R.Epstein@coventry.ac.uk
Geraldine Brown Coventry University
G.Brown@coventry.ac.uk
Sarah O’Flynn Roehampton University
sarah.oflynn@roehampton.ac.uk
Please
Consider creating a petition for this to be discussed in parliament for anreview of this law and the impact on the long term effects of the prosecutions.
Mental illness whether that’s depression, anxiety, social anxiety, school anxiety/refusal, PTSD etc must be taken more seriously.
In the workplace it is far easier to be signed off work for mental illness than it is for a vulnerable child.
Our children are being failed by local authorities and therefore parents are now being forced to put the needs of local authorities re attendance ahead of their children’s mental health in order to avoid prosecution and for what? For putting their child’s mental health first?
There is going to be an inevitable and catastrophic surge of young adults who will be unable to work and cope with daily life because their needs have been ignored and their families penalised for trying to protect them.
These prosecutors should be made to walk in the parents shoes for a few days I have a 12 yr old who won’t go to to school she suffers from Autiism ADHD SPD she has hyper mobility and a few other SEN needs I’m exhausted trying to get her to go to school
And suffering from depression as I have no help
Threaten to take me to court would be the last draw
I’d give up and runaway
Sadly the threat of prosecution when my son’s attendance was dropping due to recurrent tonsillitis is what led to his M.E.as we felt forced to send him back to school before he had recovered. This was highly stressful for him, he did not recover and has now been in a wheelchair for nearly a year with M E. as a result.