what are your thoughts on sending this mother to jail over her child's truancy?

[katie01]

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/michigan-mom-28-gets-jail-193322560.html

It appears that they gave her multiple chances to rectify the situation, but then you read this in the comments from someone who had been jailed in spite of follow up, and it makes you wonder. The woman in the comments writes: "True story-my daughter got very sick. Was in the hospital 3 times. I had a doctor's excuse for every absence. Truancy letters were sent to wrong address. By the time I found out about it it went beyond campus court to juvenile court. I got a show cause order. When I went to court the judge refused to look at the doctor's excuses. Was sentenced to 30 days community service. I appealed the decision. Went to appeals court date. They said as long as my child didn't have any more excessive abscences everything was good. Set another court date to come back. Next thing I knew I got a review court date to original court, where I was accused of not going to my appeals court date. Was sentenced to 10 days in jail. By the judge who's decision I had appealed. When I got out of jail I had a check waiting on me from winning the appeals case that I had just gone to jail over. Never been in trouble in my life."

Back to the original story, I also have to wonder, what is the reason for the lack of follow through for the mom who is going to be jailed? Does she have mental illness? Addiction problems? Health issues?Struggling single mom (they didn't mention a father in the article, if the child has a mother and father, would they jail both parents?). It seems to me that if those things were the case, it would be more effective to have social services step in to see how they could help the parent get back on their feet. Wouldn't sending the mother to jail land the kids in foster care, where they might be further traumatized, or even abused? Or make it harder for the parent to get a job and therefore support the children? Too many unanswered questions here I guess.

 

[barkley]

Back to the original story, I also have to wonder, what is the reason for the lack of follow through for the mom who is going to be jailed? Does she have mental illness? Addiction problems? Health issues?Struggling single mom (they didn't mention a father in the article, if the child has a mother and father, would they jail both parents?). It seems to me that if those things were the case, it would be more effective to have social services step in to see how they could help the parent get back on their feet. Wouldn't sending the mother to jail land the kids in foster care, where they might be further traumatized, or even abused? Or make it harder for the parent to get a job and therefore support the children? Too many unanswered questions here I guess.

it could be any one or all of those things. it could be that she doesn't care about the kid going to school.

i retired from dshs over 15 years ago but in the state i worked in dshs had to deal with attendance issues for families that were already a part of the dshs system and it only became an issue after welfare reform required us to track attendance as a condition of households receiving cash benefits. before that the schools were SUPPOSED to monitor student attendance for EVERYONE and follow the state laws but when all of a sudden the district attorney's office caught wind of the number of welfare clients who were all of a sudden getting their benefits reduced/being referred to his office for potential prosecution by dshs vs. the schools (in that state parents could be jailed) he went through the roof and started the ball rolling on reviewing every student/every school-and the results were STAGGERINGLY AWFUL.

there were no specific groups of people who had a higher instance-there were destitute/there were the rich, there were obvious mental illnesses/completely healthy, drug & alcohol/no substance issues. with some they just didn't give a flip if their kids went, with others they exceeded it b/c no one was going to tell them when/how much time they could vacation.

in the story you've posted it shows how generally it's the LAST RESORT to jail a parent, the schools (and other community resources) work to try to resolve it for the longest time before jailing ever occurs. i didn't work in the division that handled what happened to the kids if one of the parents ended up ultimately jailed but i suspect they exhausted every option to get a friend or family member to provide care for the child(ren) if it did happen.

 

[katie01]

it could be any one or all of those things. it could be that she doesn't care about the kid going to school.

i retired from dshs over 15 years ago but in the state i worked in dshs had to deal with attendance issues for families that were already a part of the dshs system and it only became an issue after welfare reform required us to track attendance as a condition of households receiving cash benefits. before that the schools were SUPPOSED to monitor student attendance for EVERYONE and follow the state laws but when all of a sudden the district attorney's office caught wind of the number of welfare clients who were all of a sudden getting their benefits reduced/being referred to his office for potential prosecution by dshs vs. the schools (in that state parents could be jailed) he went through the roof and started the ball rolling on reviewing every student/every school-and the results were STAGGERINGLY AWFUL.

there were no specific groups of people who had a higher instance-there were destitute/there were the rich, there were obvious mental illnesses/completely healthy, drug & alcohol/no substance issues. with some they just didn't give a flip if their kids went, with others they exceeded it b/c no one was going to tell them when/how much time they could vacation.

in the story you've posted it shows how generally it's the LAST RESORT to jail a parent, the schools (and other community resources) work to try to resolve it for the longest time before jailing ever occurs. i didn't work in the division that handled what happened to the kids if one of the parents ended up ultimately jailed but i suspect they exhausted every option to get a friend or family member to provide care for the child(ren) if it did happen.

It’s got to be tough when there are so many kids not being sent to school and no clear cut answers on how to force the parents to send them.

I really am curious now though if it’s a two parent household, who would they send to jail?? Both parents? Or just choose one—and how do they determine if the mom or the dad is more “at fault”?

 

[barkley]

It’s got to be tough when there are so many kids not being sent to school and no clear cut answers on how to force the parents to send them.

I really am curious now though if it’s a two parent household, who would they send to jail?? Both parents? Or just choose one—and how do they determine if the mom or the dad is more “at fault”?

i have no idea. where i live now (washington state) there's been allot of recent action on the state's part to make sure individual districts are doing the diversion/counseling....steps with these families b/c of way too many kids being incarcerated in the juvenile justice system for truancy (here depending on the circumstances and the age of the student-the student can end up in the justice system).

 

[tvguy]

I would hope her Attorney considered her mental health, possible addiction and health issues in putting on her defense.
Based on the information in the article, it seems she refused any of the options she was given that would have allowed her to avoid jail.
So yes, jail is appropriate. As for foster care for the child, the first choice should always be for a child to be with a parent. But it seems to me, in this case. Foster care may be the best option, and less risky that staying with mom.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Regardless of this mom's lack of follow-through, it just isn't something that should happen. If there is significant neglect in the household then of course the state should intervene, but I don't necessarily view truancy as neglect. It's bad parenting, but doesn't mean that the child's basic needs are not being met. I think the mom needs supports, not jail time.

 

[sonnyjane]

Regardless of this mom's lack of follow-through, it just isn't something that should happen. If there is significant neglect in the household then of course the state should intervene, but I don't necessarily view truancy as neglect. It's bad parenting, but doesn't mean that the child's basic needs are not being met. I think the mom needs supports, not jail time.

My niece’s (brother’s daughter) mom lost custody of her. The way we found out about her horrible parenting was that the school took her to court over truancy. Her daughter missed more than 30 days in 3 months. They brought her in, demanded a drug test, she failed the drug test, found out she had been living in her car and dealing meth. If not for truancy we wouldn’t have known, as they lived in an entirely different state. The mom is in jail now, not for truancy but for the drugs, but that’s what started the process.

 

[amberpi]

Man, this is one of those situations I can see all sides and they all kinda suck.

 

[tvguy]

Regardless of this mom's lack of follow-through, it just isn't something that should happen. If there is significant neglect in the household then of course the state should intervene, but I don't necessarily view truancy as neglect. It's bad parenting, but doesn't mean that the child's basic needs are not being met. I think the mom needs supports, not jail time.

So you don't consider an education to be a basic need for a child?

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

So you don't consider an education to be a basic need for a child?

Basic needs for children are food, clothing, shelter, and love/feeling of safety or security. School is important, but not a need. There are all kinds of alternative ways to learn, but there are no alternatives for the basic needs.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

My niece’s (brother’s daughter) mom lost custody of her. The way we found out about her horrible parenting was that the school took her to court over truancy. Her daughter missed more than 30 days in 3 months. They brought her in, demanded a drug test, she failed the drug test, found out she had been living in her car and dealing meth. If not for truancy we wouldn’t have known, as they lived in an entirely different state. The mom is in jail now, not for truancy but for the drugs, but that’s what started the process.

I think the truancy is bad parenting, but I also think this mom needs help, not jail.

 

[NYCgrrl]

...maybe they had multiple trips to Disney during the school year...

https://www.facebook.com/brittany.a...26714:1611103836:1543653208&section=education

 

[DisneyOma]

Basic needs for children are food, clothing, shelter, and love/feeling of safety or security. School is important, but not a need. There are all kinds of alternative ways to learn, but there are no alternatives for the basic needs.

Parenting should go above supplying basic needs. If you can't get to the top of Maslow's pyramid for your kids, then you shouldn't have kids, IMO. If the parent can prove education was being done at home (and proper paperwork was done to withdraw the child from school) then there wouldn't have been an issue, would there?

 

[PollyannaMom]

I think the mom needs supports, not jail time.

I agree. Education is important, but parents today are basically always wrong in someone's mind:
If you keep your kid home, you're a bad parent because they're truant.
If you send your kid to school with a cold, you're a bad parent because you're getting the other kids sick.
If you physically force them to go, you're a bad parent because someone thinks you're abusing them...

It's excessive in this case, and I do think the mom (and probably the kid) could do with some counseling. But I think it happens on a smaller scale to a lot of parents. They make a wrong decision in the moment because they're afraid of making a different wrong one.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Basic needs for children are food, clothing, shelter, and love/feeling of safety or security. School is important, but not a need. There are all kinds of alternative ways to learn, but there are no alternatives for the basic needs.

Have to disagree with you and I suspect much of the world would as well. Schooling comes in many forms in this part of the world but not for all members of humanity. Most of the world's citizenry would do most anything to ensure their children had a decent education. With proper schooling (and use of it) one can progress past a constant struggle for food, clothing, and shelter.

I'm adamant about the need for elevating oneself by using the brain and saddened by the amount of people who think it's some sort of unnecessary and onerous chore.

I've no idea what this mother's problem and solution is as the article didn't go into the cause merely the effect. I just know it's very disheartening for all concerned.
Off my soapbox now.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Have to disagree with you and I suspect much of the world would as well. Schooling comes in many forms in this part of the world but not for all members of humanity. Most of the world's citizenry would do most anything to ensure their children had a decent education. With proper schooling (and use of it) one can progress past a constant struggle for food, clothing, and shelter.

I'm adamant about the need for elevating oneself by using the brain and saddened by the amount of people who think it's some sort of unnecessary and onerous chore.

I've no idea what this mother's problem and solution is as the article didn't go into the cause merely the effect. I just know it's very disheartening for all concerned.
Off my soapbox now.

Maybe I should explain myself better. I work with special needs kids; kids with SN are statistically more likely to experience abuse and neglect than typical kids because they are more vulnerable. I work in a small special ed classroom and we don't have many students but more than half exibit some signs of neglect. Mostly minor stuff that is easily corrected once it is addressed but sometimes it is much worse than that; last year one of my students was a feral child. I have personally witnessed kids whose basic needs were neglected, and kids whose education was neglected. But in my opinion, comparing neglect of basic needs--kids coming to school dirty with mats in their hair, wearing clothes that are inappropriate to the season, kids that aren't toilet trained who don't have access to basic toileting necessities, with filthy lunchboxes that contain moldy food or losing weight because there's no food at home--to neglect of education is like comparing apples and oranges.

Like Pollyanna Mom pointed out, people are so quick to judge parents who really could just use a little help and guidance.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I read an article where the mom explained that she was in a bad place mentally when the truancy happened. Something about losing a close relative and sinking into a deep depression.
Personally, I think a 6 year old missing school is no big deal. I think the school only cares because they get funded based on average attendance per day. Our schools demand work of children that many are not developmentally ready for. What could they possibly be teaching her that she can't catch up later?

I think jail was inappropriate. She needed family support services, not crinimal charges.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm confused though did she give her daughter's school the information for the absences? She said she had doctor's excuse for every absence so did she not give the school the information after each hospital visit? Wonder what the school's and/or state's policy is for situation such as that where it's a hospital stay, etc?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Personally, I think a 6 year old missing school is no big deal.

Our state truancy doesn't even start until age 7. Under our state law "children between the ages of 7 and 18 are required to attend school." (you can drop out with parental/guardian permission I believe at age 16 though).

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

I read an article where the mom explained that she was in a bad place mentally when the truancy happened. Something about losing a close relative and sinking into a deep depression.
Personally, I think a 6 year old missing school is no big deal. I think the school only cares because they get funded based on average attendance per day. Our schools demand work of children that many are not developmentally ready for. What could they possibly be teaching her that she can't catch up later?

I think jail was inappropriate. She needed family support services, not crinimal charges.

I completely disagree that it's no big deal. Foundational reading skills are built at that age and if you fall behind, it's very difficult to catch up. Missing 4 days for a Disney vacation- not a big deal. Consistently missing 2-3 days per week? You are missing a lot of the foundation for basic skills in language and math.

That being said, I completely agree that social services are what is needed here. Now a kid has an incarcerated parent and the host of trauma that comes alongside with that; if your goal is to have the child attend school, figure out what that family is missing and help the mom to fill those gaps. Assume goodwill always- that a parent wants to do the right thing, but isn't able to.