We have received our letter inviting us to a meeting under caution to discuss our sons absence. They have given us one working days notice of this meeting so we are going to ask them to reschedule as it is an unreasonable timescale. How are we meant to have legal representation with us with that much notice, you cant get a lawyers time that quick.
Same day the letter arrived (Friday and meeting is meant to be Tuesday!) we had been to see CAMHS again and they along with the educational psycologist and social worker have told the school not to go ahead with the prosecution as it will cause more harm than good but still they charge on with it.
The school visited us at home and said if we agreed to a supported transfer the prosecution would be dropped but if we do that we get a very limited choice of schools for our son ( and even then we cant guarantee ever getting him there)
Look like we will have to withdraw him from state education all together and home educate, and even this wont protect us from prosecution if the school forge ahead as you need to have withdrawn them before the absences started.
If anyone has anything they think might help us please email me.
Thank You

Sue - this is horrendous - how can they do this. On one hand if you transfer to another school ( the probloem will still be there ) then they won't prosecute but if you with draw him and home educate they will, this doesn't make sense at all. Right, if you have the ed psych and CAMHS on you side then this will carry great weight for you they have to support you and surely no court in the land will fine you. What does the GP say ? I feel so sorry for you, you must be at the end of your teather. Is it the school or education welfare who are instigating this ? One thing you may want to ask is - is there a pupil referal unit near you that your son could attend ? These are places where not only children who have been expelled go, but also children who have been ill and it is a way of getting them some education and hopefully getting them back to school. My son is so poorly at the moment that the tutor comes to the house and this is funded by the school.
Please please remain positive - i know how hard this is but your son needs you and I can't believe they are going to put him through this.

Love Sarah xx

Sue

So sorry you are having to go through this, yes we as parents have a legal obligation to take our children to school, but the education authorities have a legal obligation to educate him, where ever that may be. I took my son to school every day for two years, some days he went in, some days he didn't, but i went into the school office and told them that we were here, but couldn.t get in, so that it was recorded. you are doing everything in your power to get your child to school, you also have the back up from CAMHS and educational psycologist, try to have everything in writing, even the fact that they tell you if you change school then they will stop prosecuting, is that a threat or what???????????

I would also speak to my lawyer about sueing the education department for further distress,life is hard enough for you without this.

You have our support, if we can help in any way.

Take care
Dorothy x

Sarah, has your son have a diagnosis from a doctor? That is the one thing we cant seem to get. Yes the ed psyh says he has high anxiety levels, yes camhs say although he does not appear depressed they are concerned about his anxiety but no one has said he has a medical condition and that is why the school are prosecuting. I have spoken to a lawyer today etc and my son did go with us to look at another school but he had his hoodup on his jumper all the time and i feel he was just going through the motions because he thought it might help......i could see it was not easy for him.
We do feel that home education is our only option as we cant risk getting a criminal record!
What a mad, mad world we live in.

Hi Sue,

In our case, my son was diagnosed by a paediatrician - referred to by the doctor. But I would also imagine that a referral from a doctor to a psychologist or psychiatrist might come up with the same thing and that should be enough for the law. Doctors prefer psychiatrists as they give a full medical and psychological diagnosis. Psychiatrists are more likely to prescribe medication I think - so just be aware of that if you want to hold off on that option - but the choice is yours. The paediatrician also only recommended medication and never mentioned CBT. We have never gone back to the paediatrician but with the diagnosis have found it helpful in talking to the school - they listen 'a bit' more rather than keep blaming me.
Linda

Sue - yes we do have a diagnosis from the GP - we were fortunate that he has a great understanding of anxiety related SR - he actually wrote a huge report to the school 3 years ago about how it affects my son and what he recommended. Both the GP's at our doctors have first hand experience with SR so that helped. We are also going to see my private psycologist this evening - the one i told you about, he has diagnosed it and also CAHMS - Sue I feel for you I really do. I hope it goes well today and please let us know what happened. Anything we can do please ask.

Lots of love

Sarah xx