Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Recurring themes: parent blame and systems-generated trauma
- 3 Parent blame and complex trauma
- 4 Parent blame in education: working together to find solutions to school attendance difficulties
- 5 That woman!
- 6 Fabricated or induced illness: the controversial history, missing evidence base and iatrogenic harm
- 7 Managing the data: allegations that parents are fabricating or inducing their child’s illness
- 8 Child protection and the experiences of autistic parents accused of fabricated or induced illness
- 9 A sibling perspective on fabricated or induced illness
- 10 Parent blame and the NHS
- 11 Forging an Alliance
- 12 Conclusions: The way forward
- Index
4 - Parent blame in education: working together to find solutions to school attendance difficulties
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2026
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Recurring themes: parent blame and systems-generated trauma
- 3 Parent blame and complex trauma
- 4 Parent blame in education: working together to find solutions to school attendance difficulties
- 5 That woman!
- 6 Fabricated or induced illness: the controversial history, missing evidence base and iatrogenic harm
- 7 Managing the data: allegations that parents are fabricating or inducing their child’s illness
- 8 Child protection and the experiences of autistic parents accused of fabricated or induced illness
- 9 A sibling perspective on fabricated or induced illness
- 10 Parent blame and the NHS
- 11 Forging an Alliance
- 12 Conclusions: The way forward
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Our Define Fine team, and colleagues within other parenting SEND and mental health lived experience organisations, have worked for many years providing peer support and advocacy for thousands of parent carers struggling to navigate their way through their child or young person's school attendance difficulties. In recent years, we have seen an unprecedented growth in members linked to what is now being described as a ‘national absence crisis’.
School attendance data shows that:
In Autumn term 2022 1,742,722 pupils were persistently absent, missing over 10% of sessions) which equates to 24.2 per cent of all pupils.
The number of severely absent pupils (missing over 50% of sessions) has soared by 108 per cent since the pandemic. In Autumn 2022, 125,222 pupils were absent more often than they were present (severely absent), 1.7 per cent of the school population. (Centre for Social Justice, 2023)
This crisis has led Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, to ask: ‘Where are England's children?’ (Children's Commissioner, 2022), while others have referred to the children missing from Britain's classrooms as ‘ghost children’ – with a Parliamentary Inquiry (House of Commons Education Committee, 2023) and a House of Commons debate (UK Parliament, 2024) calling for ‘improving school attendance’ to be made a priority. Attendance is finally on the political radar.
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- Understanding Parent BlameInstitutional Failure and Complex Trauma, pp. 37 - 49Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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