Fabricated or Induced Illness: Spot & Respond

Most children who miss a lot of school for medical appointments really are ill. Very occasionally, though, a parent or carer is inventing or causing the illness.

Fabricated or induced illness (FII, sometimes still called Munchausen's syndrome by proxy) is rare and hard to see. The parent can be very convincing, and the child may believe they're ill. You'll know the forms it takes, from exaggerated symptoms and falsified records to deliberately making a child unwell. And you'll recognise the signs school staff are best placed to notice, such as absence out of proportion to a known condition, vague symptoms that treatment never seems to touch, or illness that only shows up around one parent.

If something doesn't add up, you'll know the next step. Go to your DSL straight away, and don't raise it with the parents first, because that can put evidence at risk.