Mother of truant daughter jailed?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7104058.stm

A woman has been jailed for two weeks after failing to make her 14-year-old daughter attend school.
Dawn Joyce, 40, was jailed after magistrates in Wolverhampton heard her daughter had missed 90 days of school between January and June this year.
The court heard that the girl had offered a variety of excuses, including not liking her hair or Mondays.
Joyce, of Alderford Close, Pendeford, said she had done everything she could to get her daughter to go to school.

who should be punished, parent or child in these circumstances

Answer 1

The little madam should be punished however, How far can the mother actually go before being in trouble if she dragged her to school or smacked her she would be up on assault charges, If she grounded her some human rights lawyer would have her on unlawful imprisonment.
Parents have literally no powers due to this governments idiotic ideas and constant meddling.

Answer 2

This has not been the first time it has happened, dont know of any cases in Scotland, but do know it has happened in England. Have heard children going to college at 15yrs up here, because they dont attend school, for what ever reason. Sometimes I dont like my hair or I dont like Mondays, but I need to go to work!!! If the mother is jailed, and there is no family support where does the child go, foster care I would imagine, more expense. Its a mentality thing, obviously the14yr old is manipulating the situation because she knows she can get away with it, and the mother has no control. Parenting Classes for this one. Jail isnt the answer for the mother, and give that 14yr old a good talking to.

Answer 3

Neither it should be the government and the do gooders should be in the dock for taking away every means of control a parent once had and I do mean smacking as well.They blame anyone and everyone for the state of the country now yet it is THEIR LAWS which allow people to get away with what is happening now.We have a situation where someone a few weeks ago was jailed for LIFE and the judge recomended he serve AT LEAST 4 YEARS. WOW!!!. It seems that today its the victim of crimes fault for being there so the criminal can do his thing and the criminal is the wronged one in the case.It would seem that soon we will be jailing the victim of a crime for tempting the poor criminal

Answer 4

Who would want to be a parent.You cant touch them due to laws.They can divorce you and they know it.Lots of new illness has been invented to cover bad behaviour.The affluent however just send there children to private school so its not them is it.The only person in this country without a leg to stand on from every direction possable is?? Some where on the news a while back was a town whose schools had ten different nations,with hardly any English speakers,so the teachers were having to devote time to language,so the other kids were so banged off they stopped going.What now

Answer 5

The courts bend over backwards not to send anyone to jail. She must have had plenty of chances. Perhaps if hey took child benefit off parents who's children didn't attend school, would be cheaper, and with better results. After all why should the state pay if they not going to play ball.

Answer 6

I had a similar problem with my daughter. If she didn't go to school, I would go to the school without her and report that she refused to come. This way, they saw that I was doing my best, so she was the one that got in trouble.
I think the parent has the responsibility to make sure the child goes to school, but by the time they are in their teens, you can't physically force them, and may need help from the state. This worked for my daughter; they said she would lose her driver's license if she didn't go to school! OMG! For other students, they have different penalties, depending on the individual.

Answer 7

I don't see how a custodial sentence will help anyone in this situation.
The child needs a clip around the ear and the Mother needs a course in parenting skills, but for this family it is already too late, the damage is done.
The child rules the house, obviously comes and goes as she pleases, and it all stems from when children are small and are taught the difference between right and wrong, and how to behave.
Parents today haven't got a clue, no discipline.

Answer 8

The kid should be punished. When I was in junior high and high school we were the ones who were punished for skipping school not our parents. It seems either way the mother is screwed in this case. If her daughter refuses to go to school the mother gets put in jail, if the mother physically drags her kid to school she'll be jailed for "child abuse". What can you do? Some teens are out-of-control brats who refuse to do what they're supposed to and the parents are at their wits end.

Answer 9

The child is in the wrong but there is little that can be done to punish her so they punish her legal guardian. It's not really fair, especially if the mother really did do everything she could to make her child go to school, but then there are cases where parents aren't bothered about whether their kids go to school or not. Those are the type of parents who should be punished.

Answer 10

At 14 years old then somebody needs to take responsibility and I`m afraid that somebody is the PARENTS.

I read Jeanimus´ answer and I am a ware that there are parents who do everything in their power , but sometimes the young person will not co-operate, but these cases really are far and few between.


The vast majority, and I mean VAST majority of unruly and unmanageable kids have parents who do not set limits, either because they do not know how to or cannot be bothered to.


Discipline starts in the home and it starts young.
I have had to tell many an unco-operative parent, "I have to suffer this child´s behaviour one or two years at most......you´ll have this forever"