@Fullycaffeinated @HebrideanHecate I worked with a few families with poor attendance, and a lot of it stems from them being too self-absorbed to engage.
I had the usual assortment of Friday and Monday are the weekend, too drunk, too stoned, too tired to get up in the morning, too selfish to consider anyone else.
Some are cowed by their own children.
I worked with a single mum whose twin girls played her up about getting ready for school, and she felt afraid to get cross with them. The school was no help because they wouldn't support her to assert back control (but I did).
I also worked with a single dad whose children used the threat of social services over him (little shits) and made him late every morning. The school was a great help here and we cracked that one in no time at all.
There are also specialist cases such as the one with a child who had a chronic and debilitating illness, which we were also able to solve very easily by using the home tuition service.
Schools have attendance software to help with spotting patterns. We got our poor attendance dealt with in under a term by tackling each case properly.
It can be done.