A MUM has revealed she’s been referred to the police after her teenage daughter missed a few days of school due to being ill.
Mum Sara Louise took to TikTok to rant after being notified that the authorities would be coming to do a welfare check on her child, who is in Year 10.
The furious mum explained that her daughter has ”some additional needs” – which Sara felt like were ”not met by the school”.
In the video, Sara said that before the incident, her daughter had been off for three weeks on a different occasion ”because she was unwell” – and that time, there was allegedly no mention of a welfare check.
”I only had phone calls to check in and see if she was okay. Some of them I didn’t even answer,” Sara said in a recent clip on TikTok.
The outraged mum went on: ”This term, she’s been off for 11 days and they’ve rung me twice in the 11 days.
”And today, when I answered the phone call, she asked me if she could come out and do a welfare check – and I kindly declined.
”I said ‘No, I don’t want you to come to my house’,” Sara said, adding that her teenager was ”absolutely fine” and didn’t ”want any interaction with the school”.
Under the Education (Penalty Notices) Regulations, schools usually consider a welfare check when a child has missed 10 school sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absences within a rolling 10-week period.
Schools may conduct a welfare check sooner if they have concerns about a child’s wellbeing, even if the absence is shorter.
Before a home visit, schools will usually try to contact the parents first to understand the reason for the absence.
”I’m fuming. Because I have now declined, they’re telling me that they have a duty of care – which is fine – and safeguarding and all the rest of it, to come out and do this check.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”The Truth About Shared Custody: One Mum’s Perspective” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6361871350112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Sara, who is in the process of moving her daughter to another school, noted that getting the police involved felt as if she was ”hiding” and ”abusing” the child.
”I know they haven’t said that – but the way that comes across is, like, sinister.”
Despite the school notifying Sara, the mum said there was no chance she was going to the child’s school to let them know the daughter was fine ”when she’s fine”.
”And there’s not a cat in hell’s chance that they’re coming to my house to see that she’s fine.”
The furious mother, who insisted the school had never given ”a s**t” about her daughter, knew there’d be backlash after posting the clip – but said she didn’t ”give a crap”.
If the authorities do show up, Sara said she’d be having the conversation with the police from her camera.
”This is what you get for doing what’s right for your kid.”
‘At least they ARE checking’
Despite Sara’s fury, many social media users didn’t agree with her, with one viewer writing: ”A welfare check is VITAL to ensure the safety of the child. This should be applauded, not frowned upon.”
Someone else commented: ”As a social worker I really wish people would understand why this is SO necessary.
”You probably are a very loving caring mother but that is not the case for every child, and god forbid something was.”
”At least they ARE checking. So many children slip through the net and we moan, we can’t moan when they do check. Can’t have it both ways,” wrote a third.
”11 days is two weeks and one day so that plus the three weeks is a lot of missed schooling. Good on them for caring,” chimed in another.
Hitting back at those criticising her, the mother said: ”It’s frowned upon simply because they’ve only done this cos they know they’ve failed her.
”It’s just ridiculous and there’s bigger crimes been committed where police are actually needed.”