Truancy

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Joan was sent to an alternative school by her probation officer when she returned home after completing a residential drug and alcohol treatment program. Her attendance was satisfactory for a short time, then she missed more and more school. Having exhausted all the usual strategies to encourage attendance, Joan's program counselor asked another counselor to organize a family group conference, since he felt too frustrated with his counselee to facilitate the conference himself.

The facilitator invited Joan's mother and father, her probation officer and, of course, the counselor who initiated the conference. When she asked who should act as a support, Joan wanted to bring her friend Eva, with whom she probably used drugs on the days she missed school. The facilitator hesitated, wondering how Eva might influence the conference, but she decided to go along with Joan's request.

The conference was emotional. Joan's parents were in tears and her father told her how frightened he was each time the program counselor called him at work to say that his daughter had not arrived at school. He would imagine finding her overdosed and dead. Everyone agreed that missing school was a clear indicator that she was using drugs again. Her probation officer said that he could not allow Joan to continue violating her probation and endangering herself. He was considering a long-term residential treatment placement.

Eva seemed to impact Joan most, perhaps because it was most unexpected. She cried and told Joan that she was her best friend and she didn't want Joan to go away again. Eva pointed out what Joan needed to do to straighten out her life, although Eva probably should have been heeding her own advice.

In the agreement phase of the conference, Joan apologized to her parents, counselor and probation officer for all the problems and heartache she had caused. She agreed to attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings every day and to record an entry about each meeting in her journal. She also promised not to miss any more days of school. Even if she didn't feel well, she would at least report to school and find someone to give her a ride home if she still felt sick. All the adults were satisfied with the conference and were particularly pleased with the friend's contribution.

The participation of peers who are also getting in trouble can be appropriate in a conference. I have heard (but don't know details) of conferences where fellow gang members attended and made a positive contribution. The conference facilitator needs to make a judgment call whether to include potentially negative peers and should talk to the proposed support persons before allowing their participation.

In this case Joan followed through with her commitments. At first she would write only a sentence or two in her journal about the N.A. meetings she attended. Then she started to note what people said at the meetings in greater detail, but never said anything about herself. Several weeks into her journal writing she began to proudly report that she spoke at the meeting and record what she had said. Her attendance was impeccable. She finished the school year with flying colors.

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