According to the U.S. Department of Education, 1 in 6 students miss 15 days or more of school each year. The department has called chronic absenteeism “a hidden educational crisis.” Pennsylvania, like many states, uses Children & Youth Services (CYS) and dependency court to address absenteeism. For over five years I practiced as a child advocate attorney with the Philadelphia Defender Association, representing children alleged to be dependent by Philadelphia’s CYS agency, the Department of Human Services (DHS). In dependency court, a branch of family court, there are only three parties: the child, the parents and DHS. School districts are never part of the proceedings—even when the sole basis of the dependency petition is that a child is truant. In using CYS and dependency court to address absenteeism, the state overlooks the school’s role in absenteeism. Not surprisingly, what happens at school has a lot to do with why kids miss school. This is particularly true for students with disabilities and students who are victims of bullying and harassment. Pennsylvania’s approach to absenteeism is ineffective for these students, who miss school due to issues at school.

Students With Disabilities

One recent study analyzing absenteeism across gender, race, income and disability status found that, as a group, students with disabilities are far more likely than any other category of students to miss school. Further, according to the September 2018 issue of the National Health Statistics Report, children with an intellectual disability, autism, or ADHD are more likely than their nondisabled peers to experience chronic school absenteeism and having multiple disabilities further increases a child’s chances of absenteeism.

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