School Contributed to Negligence in Truancy Case?

[Isis1]

You sound like you need more help than even a lawyer can help you with. You AND your kids need some heavy counseling and boot camp.

 

[Zigner]

We are re-married and I am, once again, co-custodial parent, and have every right to make decisions on their behalf. And this is an entirely different school - they have never received a copy of the court order which was vacated over two years ago.

I see - you went to court and vacated the order. That wasn't clear before.

 

[Zigner]

You sound like you need more help than even a lawyer can help you with. You AND your kids need some heavy counseling and boot camp.

Emphatically seconded!

 

[BryanK519]

You sound like you need more help than even a lawyer can help you with. You AND your kids need some heavy counseling and boot camp.

This is why I didn't want to post all of that here. I understand we need other kind of help...nothing that any of you can really help us with. I posted my question here to specifically address language in a statute...but certain individuals kept insisting that I supply them with more information.

My children do attend weekly counselling by the way. Unfortunately, the one who really needs help is my wife, but I can't force her to do anything. She has to decide that there is a problem and seek that help.

 

[Humusluvr]

I think you should approach the court with verbatim what you wrote here. And ask the court not to fine you, to help you. That's all you can say, without making this seem like the school's fault, which I don't think the court will buy. Ask for them to be sent to the boot camp you described. Because all you can do is be truthful with the court - here's what I tried, it didn't work, I'm begging for help. If you can, make journal type entries of what you tried, what date, why it didn't work. If you have a hundred absences, and you tried a hundred times, you have a pretty compelling case against not being fined.

If you are capable of doing so, you might also ask the school about homeschooling, or putting the children in an alternative program until they get back in the routine of going to school. Have you taken them to a doctor when they claim to be sick? Dragging them to the doctor and having a doctor say they are OK then dropping them off at school on the way home might help.

Do you have primary custody now? What is the situation with the ex-ex-?-wife?

 

[futuredust]

Have you asked their therapist what kind of residential placement is available for habitual disobedience? Are they openly defiant regarding other rules, such as the rules of your home?

 

[BryanK519]

I think you should approach the court with verbatim what you wrote here. And ask the court not to fine you, to help you. That's all you can say, without making this seem like the school's fault, which I don't think the court will buy. Ask for them to be sent to the boot camp you described. Because all you can do is be truthful with the court - here's what I tried, it didn't work, I'm begging for help. If you can, make journal type entries of what you tried, what date, why it didn't work. If you have a hundred absences, and you tried a hundred times, you have a pretty compelling case against not being fined.

If you are capable of doing so, you might also ask the school about homeschooling, or putting the children in an alternative program until they get back in the routine of going to school. Have you taken them to a doctor when they claim to be sick? Dragging them to the doctor and having a doctor say they are OK then dropping them off at school on the way home might help.

Do you have primary custody now? What is the situation with the ex-ex-?-wife?

Thank you Humusluvr. This is the most helpful response I have received thus far. Yes, I have taken them to the doctor several times to have the physician validate their health. We tried homeschooling, but my wife just isn't responsible enough to ensure that they maintain the required curriculum. Half the time it was nothing more than playtime for him. So I refuse to let her take them out and homeschool them again. And we are legally re-married and have equal custody.

 

[BryanK519]

Have you asked their therapist what kind of residential placement is available for habitual disobedience? Are they openly defiant regarding other rules, such as the rules of your home?

In Texas, there are juvenille centers they can be sent to if ordered by the judge...we haven't gotten to that point yet...they just want to fine me. The therapist actually suggested what I have been asking for all along. The therapist agrees with me that it is going to take an officer coming out to the house and forcing them to school. She will be advocating me at the hearing.

That is the only thing they are openly defiant about. They are good kids, they do their chores, believe it or not, they have all As and Bs, they go to bed when I tell them to....but because they have been allowed to seek solace at home since 1st grade, this is just a habit that they have developed that I just can't break them out of.

 

[futuredust]

In Texas, there are juvenille centers they can be sent to if ordered by the judge...we haven't gotten to that point yet...they just want to fine me. The therapist actually suggested what I have been asking for all along. The therapist agrees with me that it is going to take an officer coming out to the house and forcing them to school. She will be advocating me at the hearing.

That is the only thing they are openly defiant about. They are good kids, they do their chores, believe it or not, they have all As and Bs, they go to bed when I tell them to....but because they have been allowed to seek solace at home since 1st grade, this is just a habit that they have developed that I just can't break them out of.

That's all great and good, but not the answer to my question. Texas has residential treatment placement as well. Does the therapist not feel the children need it. Have you requested assistance from the courts to get your children on track or into a juvenile facility?

Honestly I would rather visit my children in a residential placement or even juvenile center then in prison as adults.


A few seconds of google with only one search yielded this page, I am certain there are more options. http://www.caring4youth.org/Residential-Treatment-Center_TX.htm

 

[BryanK519]

That's all great and good, but not the answer to my question. Texas has residential treatment placement as well. Does the therapist not feel the children need it. Have you requested assistance from the courts to get your children on track or into a juvenile facility?

Honestly I would rather visit my children in a residential placement or even juvenile center then in prison as adults.


A few seconds of google with only one search yielded this page, I am certain there are more options. Residential Treatment Center in Texas (TX) < FINDER < Caring 4 Youth < 24/7 - 1-866-YOUTH-09

I guess I'm unaware of residential placement...I will ask the therapists about that this afternoon. I don't want them in juvenille detention either...hell, I don't like the idea of asking an officer to force them to school, but at this point, I'm willing to try anything that will turn these kids around before they turn into adults and face some very serious consequences for this type of behavior. What's really sad is that my youngest son is brilliant. He is in the gifted and talented group...he has the potential to earn scholarship money and be admitted into a fine college if he turns this around... something that I was never gifted enough to earn.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

I don't know if Texas has a process for having a child declared unruly. If it happens in Ohio, my understanding is they are assigned a probation officer to monitor their behavior.

 

[BryanK519]

I don't know if Texas has a process for having a child declared unruly. If it happens in Ohio, my understanding is they are assigned a probation officer to monitor their behavior.

I think there may be a law similar to that in Texas, but I don't think that truancy would rise to that level. I will check and see. I'm truly hoping it doesn't come down to that.

 

[Zigner]

I don't know if Texas has a process for having a child declared unruly. If it happens in Ohio, my understanding is they are assigned a probation officer to monitor their behavior.

The costs for this would be billed to the parents...

 

[BryanK519]

The costs for this would be billed to the parents...

I'm not so much concerned with the costs (within reason) as I am implementing a measure that will provide results. Fining me without implementing some kind of tool to produce results is what angers me. not because there is a cost involved, but because it doesn't provide for any kind of rehabilitation...the school district has simply become a collection agen. If I have to pay to enter the kids into some kind of program that will actually help...I'm okay with that.

 

[cbg]

I've been following this thread without replying because, while this isn't really my area of expertise, I was once (long ago when the dinosaurs roamed the earth) briefly a teacher and education issues interest me. Bryan, let me explain to you a little bit about how these boards work and why some of the posters insisted on information you felt was not relevant. BTW, this is being offered solely as an explanation - there is no judgement or condemnation intended in what I'm saying here - towards anyone.

Those of us who have been on these boards for some time have seen over and over where posters come in with an idea that this is the way my problem can be solved. How can I make this happen? How can I force my ex/my employer/my lawyer/the police/the DA/the truant officer/et al to do what I want them to do? And they see as "non-helpful" any attempts to explore any alternate suggestions because it is so clear in their minds that this is the answer. No blame attached - the poster is the one living with the situation.

However, sometimes that is in itself part of the problem. Someone who is a little further removed and can be a bit more objective can see alternate solutions that may not be evident to the poster. Sometimes, before providing that alternate solution, the responder needs to ask for additional information so they can be sure that it's really a viable option. But the intent is to provide answers - just maybe not the answer the poster has convinced him or herself is the only possible one.

The volunteers here are responding out of their own experience.