I Am Appearing In Court For Sons Abscence

[Maxkate]

My son has had a lot of abscences due to him being ill hes asthmatic has been in alderhey hospital twice, i cant help with him being ill , cause i dont let school no sumtimes yhat hes ill, as i dont always have credit on my mobile, the education are taking me to court, what will happen to me as i am so scared they will they put me in prison. Csn u advise me please wendi

[TonyV]

Why has it got to court stage?

[waterboatman]

They won't put you in prison. You will hav e a lawyer asigned to you. Tell them youn situation. You should have been visited by the education people before now.

[TonyV]

WBM first post

[waterboatman]

Yes. I saw it. I thought it needed expanding a little bit.

[fiction-factory]

It's very unlikely to be prison- in fact I just can't see it- if this is the first time it's been to court. As others have said speak to the lawyer who will have much more information than we have about the number of absences and previous meetings, warnings etc (and I am sure there must have been some history here).
Going forwards, if you have no credit on your mobile then you need to find another way of letting the school know each time- borrow a phone, use a phone box, see if the school will accept an email- or ask someone to take a note in for you if you can't get in

[cassa333]

They don't just take people to court. There are months of talks and attempts to engage with both the child and parent.

If it is just medical then that can be proved. Take that along to any meeting you have with either the school, education department or solicitors.

Not having credit on your phone is not an excuse. Stop using it and find another way to let the school know when he is poorly.

[mikey4444]

I am with Cassa here.....there must have been many previous attempts to contact you, before Court proceedings would have been issued.

Please don't get this wrong, but I think you need the assistance of another adult here, as well as legal Representative in Court, and you need it urgently.

[clairson59]

Your son's school should have an education welfare officer. You need to contact them to discuss his illness and absences as they can help support you to avoid future legal proceedings. You might even be able to ask them to contact you if your son does not attend school if you explain about the phone credit problem. If you are lucky you'll get away with a fine or suspended sentence this time but keep the school informed in future when he is sick. Highly unlikely to be prison if this is your first offence.