this has pretty much always been my reading of tim's relationship with his parents, and jack in particular, so i'm a little vindicated word of god is on my side given the general state of fanon on the topic nowadays, but i do also want to call attention to the bit at the end where dixon says, "tim drake wasn't the easiest kid to raise. he's always disappearing." because yeah. that's really all i can say. yeah. the first time i read tim's solo, i had a running tally for the amount of times tim literally ran away from home, more often than not leaving the entire country. multiple times over.
just off the top of my head, you have:
1.) during batman: legacy. tim joins bruce and dick on a mission to stop the clench (again). they all head to sudan, followed by dick and tim splitting off to france, before finally going back to gotham. this is the only one on this list that isn't treated as tim explicitly running away in the text as far as i can recall, but i'm counting it anyway for doubling up as part of my "times tim drake has been banished to france" counter. also, the country-hopping. in flight time alone, that's a missing person's case.
2.) shortly before batman: cataclysm. tim brings dick with him on a mission to fake iraq, then he has dick drop him off in france afterward for a crisis of faith disguised as a training trip, which he follows pattern in ditching for fake yugoslavia. pretty extreme reaction to being grounded, tim.
3.) shortly before batman: no man's land. tim running away… to gotham. he just hates keystone that much. jack is weirdly understanding, especially after the previous incident, which he probably regrets once:
4.) during batman: no man's land. the crowning gem to top it all off. jack's fourteen year old son sneaking into the lawless wasteland formerly known as gotham city. tim says he dropped off the face of the earth for two weeks before calling his dad, but the broader nml timeline puts it at a little closer to two months. his face was probably on milk cartons. the president wanted to meet him. please, stop reminding him, dick.
and still, whenever these instances come up, jack argues against the people telling him that tim is just being a rebellious teen and defends his son's character.
jack fights tooth and nail to get tim back. because he knows and loves his son, and all he wants is for tim to come home safe.
but none of these events occurred because jack was inattentive or neglectful toward tim. every step of the way, he's trying to connect with tim and understand his side of things, and it eats away at the both of them. tim drake just isn't the easiest kid to raise—he's always disappearing!
(and of course, this is not to mention the many instances dixon was actually referring of tim being generally unaccounted for during the day. or night, as it often was.)
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