Mine was if you missed practice unexcused you had to miss game. But if you let me know ahead of time we would work through it. I had a kid who was a dad and worked on Saturdays 10 hours to help take care of his child. We were going to practice on a Saturday during playoffs and I excused him because he was doing real life. I explained with him there, he was open about his struggles, to the rest of the team and told them why. It was excused because he had informed me early and it was real. Had a kid who said he was sick who was shown fishing on a friend's facebook account and I sat him two games. One for missing practice and one for lying. Real life also. I still believe it is case by case as long as you know ahead of time and it is real.
In your situation, I would encourage my whole team and their parents to support him. As has been said on here a million times, these are the stories that make HS sports special.