Child not being sent to school

mozattack

Hi all,

I am seperated from my ex who I have an amazing little boy with. I have a court order for access which is good but due to work commitments I mainly have him at weekend save for one night midweek in which I drop him to school on Wednesday morning.

He is in Senior Infants and I was told yesterday that he has missed 16 days so far this year. Added to this, he missed 46 days last year. The mother lives 1.25 miles from work but is too lazy to bring him to school. Our communication is poor and I spoke to the school yesterday who are sending out a school liason officer but I am wondering what else I can do. The Gardai said it is not a matter for them and the Social Worker has said the matter is not serious enough as the child is not in danger. I really dont know what to do and cant sleep since I met with his Teacher yesterday on this.

Any ideas?

Nevyn

Speak to the home school illasion officer about it, every school has one.
My two are out of school the last two days as they have bad colds and there is no point sending them in sniffing and sniveling for the day as they will be miserable and just pass the virus on.

When kids are in school they can will get everything going, so check with your co parent as to why he's been out, he could have been ill or he could have had issues settling into the school routine, I would not assume that it's laziness.

lalalulu

Hi Op. I can't believe the social worker said that it wasn't serious enough to follow up?! They do a great job honestly :rolleyes:
Fair enough your son could be genuinely ill but 16 day's since september???? And 46 day's last year!! I would be very worried as a parent if my child was sick that often... Every child has the right to an education. Lazy parent or not.. Hope you get this sorted soon op...

Nevyn

If a child misses more then 20 days then it is possible that the dept of education can take action against a parent and a fine for 400euros can be issued but thats about it.

There are very limited number of socail workers and rescources and a child missing school alone is not enough for them to designate time unless the child is considered at risk.

mozattack

Hi, thanks for the responses. Just to note that the little lad was not sick. I see him every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and every second Sunday so the chances of being immediately sick the previous or following day are slim. He would have missed around 6-7 days for being genuinely sick in the last 18 months.

The school liason officer was due to call to her house today but the headmaster said she shouldn’t as it would come between myself and the mother? They are taking a back seat on this apparently. Social workers were called re last year but nothing ever came of it. Incidentally I spoke to the mother on the phone today about this and was basically abused as I am not “rearing” the child – I’ve had it all with this.

Nevyn

Maybe they are hoping you can work something out.
If getting him to school is an issue can you take on the school runs?
IT sounds like you are trying to be an active parent, do you have an agreed parenting plan in place?

mozattack

Thaedydal, yeah I am a very active parent. I do as much as I can while trying to juggle work etc. I have the disadvantage to my ex in that I need to work to pay maintenance and put a roof over his head - that work comes in the way of sorting this problem out easily.

I am proposing to collect him every morning subject to my Employer allowing me to be 15 -20 minutes late each day. It is a tough time to look for favours cos lucky to even have a job!

There is no parenting plan - she does what she wants with Eoin, if I am not happy I am reminded that I don't "rear/bring up" the child and that I walked away 5 years ago - that's the nicest version of abuse that I get............