I think #1 we must all realise that in the majority of cases with children who don't go to school that it is due to poor parenting skills and lack of parent involvement. Some parents would be... and are shocked to think they are to blame. They would rather play the blame game than to admit their own part in it. They try to get in front of a judge and act like their child "out of the blue" just stopped obeying one day(maybe 1% of the time this happens). Kids learn as they go and with so many split homes/single homes kids face so many situations that there parents put them in. I have seen moms who bring in 2-4 different men a month in front of their kids with many backgrounds, some okay and some are terrible influences. It's time parents accept responsibility too. Kids are learning from you, are you a good role model or do you just want to pretend to be a good role model when someone is watching? Parents who love their kids do not seek to be their kids best friend, they seek to be their guides and protectors. That means having rules whether your cool or not. Parents need to be parents rather than trying to be carefree and kid free most of the time.