Thank you to Lola Okolosie for lifting the lid on the government’s “ghost children” narrative in response to the current school attendance crisis – and its attempt to blame and criminalise parents when a compassionate response is needed (I’m a teacher: don’t be fooled by Tory scare stories on the ‘ghost children’ missing from school, 16 August).
Two years ago, I was the parent of a so-called ghost child – my son, who became unable to attend school, or leave the house at all. It was a mental health crisis that we were not equipped to deal with. As a family we were in uncharted territory – we reached out for support and instead found ourselves blamed, even facing legal repercussions. When help did come, it was through peer support groups such as Not Fine in School.
