Truancy

What is truancy?

Truancy means missing school on a regular basis for no good reason. It is also sometimes called ‘unauthorised absence’.

By law, all children who are registered at school must attend regularly. Home-educated children do not have to attend school.

Truancy is a big problem, and it’s on the increase. The most recent figures, for 2009, show the truancy rate in England was up 4% on the previous year.

Children in special schools, and those on free school meals, are most likely to truant.

How it can impact on their future – and yours

Truancy matters because:

• Children who skip school don’t do as well in tests, assessments and exams.
• If your child doesn’t show up for lessons, their school record will suggest to future employers that they are unreliable.
• Being out of school during school hours gives your child time to kill - and research has shown that this can lead to criminal or antisocial behaviour.
• You, as a parent or guardian, are responsible for your child. Legally, you must ensure that your child attends school - and if they don’t, you could get a penalty notice (a fixed fine) or even face prosecution.

What to do if you think your child is playing truant

Taking an interest in your child’s school life is a very important way to avoid truancy. The more engaged you are as a parent in your child’s education, the more likely your child is to attend and enjoy school.

So always make time to talk to your child about how they’re getting on at school. Keep in touch with your child’s teacher and don’t miss parent-teacher evenings. Also, try to attend school events if you possibly can.

Don’t wait for niggles to become big problems before you address them with teachers. If you suspect your child of truancy, don’t turn a blind eye. And don’t cover up for your child or make excuses. Schools are now clamping down on absence. If you say that your son or daughter was ill, you’ll probably be asked for precise details about the illness (or possibly a note from your GP) to make sure their absence was genuine.

Talk to your child about what’s causing them to skip school. Some children truant because they’re being bullied, either at school or on the way there. If this turns out to be the issue for your child, then it is something that you and the school need to tackle.

Talk to your child’s teacher or the parent support adviser at school. They will probably suggest that you work together on a plan to track your child’s attendance - this could mean you staying in close contact with the school regarding your child’s appearance/non-appearance in the classroom.

Don’t be afraid of talking to school staff about your concerns. Schools and local authorities realise the importance of working with parents to ensure children attend school. They will try to give you and your child the support you need.

source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/truancy/

Homelessness and Houselessness

¿What we know about Homelessness?

In the last forty years there has been a proliferation of data and studies on what can be called, in a Foucauldian way, the “economy of homelessness” – resulting in the “knowledge of all the processes related to population in its larger sense” (Foucault, 2000, pp.216-217).
homelessness, and gender differences amongst homeless people, to very specific accounts on the housing stock, or, for instance, the health and mental conditions of homeless and vagrant individuals. However, despite the variety of topics and contributions, it is possible to recognise a commonality in the approaches adopted in studying homelessness: Namely that homeless people are often “framed”, hence prior  of this or that aspect of their life.

We compared 49 homeless female-headed families with 81 housed female-headed families in Boston. Most housed families were living in public or private subsidized housing. In both groups the mothers were poor, currently single, had little work experience, and had been on welfare for long periods. Many of their children had serious developmental and emotional problems. Homeless mothers had more frequently been abused as children and battered as adults and their support networks were fragmented; the housed mothers had female relatives and extended family living nearby whom they saw often. The frequency of drug, alcohol, and serious psychiatric problems was greater among the homeless mothers. The homeless mothers may have been more vulnerable to the current housing shortage because they lacked support in time of need. This, in turn, may have been due to their history of family violence. Psychiatric disabilities may have been another contributing factor in the minority of homeless women. The notion that a "culture of poverty" accounts for homelessness was not supported by the data since the homeless were less likely to have grown up in families on welfare. The data suggest that solutions to family homelessness in the current housing market require an increase in the supply of decent affordable housing, income maintenance, and assistance from social welfare agencies focused on rebuilding supportive relationships.

source:

http://www.feantsaresearch.org/IMG/pdf/ml_tp.pdf
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.78.7.783

Houseless and Homeless Same?  Not exactly. 

They may be housed and homeless at the same time.  This is a big issue and a terribly sore spot with the homeless.  To them there is a world of difference; almost fighting words!   There are homeless veterans and houseless veterans, two different levels of homeless, but don’t say that someone housed cannot be homeless.  The houseless veteran is one that sleeps in a doorway or back alley or along some creek bank somewhere.   The homeless veteran covers that and also the housed that cannot make a home out of their accomidations. 

Many think so, but they are different and overlap.   Many think that if you have a roof over your head – housed that is (shelter, rooming house, somebody’s couch) then you are not homeless.   They think you are homeless only if you live outside, on the streets.  They are wrong. 

If you don’t get the difference, think about it until you do.  Read the words of the homeless veteran below and see if anything clicks.   The old saying, “home  is where the heart is” is quite valid and true.  Just because a homeless person is in shelter or sleeping on a friend’s couch, or living in a cheap motel, doesn’t mean he or she is not still homeless.

source:

https://oldtimer.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/houseless-and-homeless-not-same-thing/