Grandson breaks leg...Doc calls child protection services!

Three weeks ago my very precoscious 2 year old grandson was jumping on his bed, fell off and into a wooden toybox. He broke his tibula and fibula. Because he fell into the toybox he also had some bruising on his torso and arms. My daughter took him to the emergency room where he was treated and the bones set by the on staff docs. When he went to a follow up visit to a orthodpaedic surgeon (not the one that set his leg)the doctor did his exam and said everything was okay. But he must have noticed the bruising and a couple of days later, the Child protection officers showed up, en masse, at her house and searched the place. Sequestered both my grandson and grand daughter and geve them the third degree. Litererally scared the shit out them. Nothing came of it, but still, now they are in that system.

Now, had this doctor asked any of his regular doctors, he would know that injury is this kids middle name. He is a walking time bomb, afraid of nothing. A real wild child. They live on a ranch so the opportunity is pretty great to injure himself and he finds a way to. But abuse, never. Grandma and granpa (not me) live next door and both my daughter and my ex-wife are the most loving people you will ever meet.

Do doctors routinely do this? Without any corroborating evidence? Seems to me to be kind of weird. Seems to me the emergency room docs should ahve been the ones to file something not a doc that saw him days later.

Anyways, that's it.

I empathize with your little guy, because it's not an easy recovery.

Can't speak about the CPS business...but I do hope that you guys get him to a sports medicine doctor ASAP, because this injury could affect him his whole life if not treated properly.

If I can be of any help about the injury, please PM me.

And give the little guy big hugs. I'm sorry y'all are going through this.

18 months in a hip cast and 6 in a walker. The doc he has is the best (the one that called CPS)in town and everything looks okay. my injury was not set well (off set tibia) but enver gave me any problem.

Already Ethan is doing everything to get more active. Three weeks and he will be in a walker...

and y'all might want to do that, too.

The best local doctor said that I wouldn't require surgery and slapped a cast on me. Two days later, back to the ER to have the cast sawn off, because a vessel was being pinched between the fracture.

I left that doctor and had to go out of town and was lucky to find a great sports med doctor that put me in a flexible brace...after surgery and six screws. Lots of PT and five years later, I have no pain, no limp.

Not trying to make this about me, but just hope that he's seeing a great doctor that's looking down the road for him. If I had stayed with the local doctor, I would have lost my lower leg at the knee.

I'm sorry about the CPS mess...but if the doctor is the best as you say, he's looking out for the best interest for his patient...and it's his duty to do that.

maybe forward her this thread actually.....

when he was five years old, you should have SEEN the interrogation I had to go through at the hospital.

We've entered the kind of Police State that the movie "1984" could not even have imagined, and nobody noticed.

Nor did anybody care.

Redstone

hospitals are scared shitless of lawsuits,
and of being prosecuted by the state in regard to child abuse.

20 years ago my daughter fell against the corner of the coffee table,
and busted open her eyebrow. We went thru the whole shebang..

I knew familiies who have the same situation with their little boys...
we joke that the hospital emergency room should have a 'little boys' entrance.
But they are mandated by law to check up on anything suspicious...
and these days... anything's suspicious..

Usually all you need is a reference from the regular pediatrician
or family doctor.. as a means of saying: "This kid's just that way."

don't panic..

Same thing happened to a friend of a friend, when her 2 YO daughter fell down the stairs. Kids are always falling down stairs, of course, but CPS showed up (I forget how they found out) and isolated mom and kid to get the story, same as you described. CPS only calmed down when, all on her own, the child told them she fell down the stairs and exactly how it happened (meaning nobody pushed her).

My son fell off the couch when he was an infant, and I called the pediatrician, because he hit his head on the floor. They said not to worry and told me what serious signs to look for. I was one hysterical wreck. He was fine.

When he was 2, he fell down the stairs. I was right beside him at the top of the stairs; at the time I always held his hand when we went downstairs. But before I took his hand, he turned around to look out the window at the top of the steps, slipped backward, and whoosh--he was gone. He bumped his nose and his lip. There was a tiny amount of blood. He stopped crying a lot sooner than I did.

I did not call the pediatrician BECAUSE I had already called them the first time, and I didn't want to be flagged as a possible abuser. I appreciate CPS's vigilance, but it sure sucks worrying about a kid's normal bumps and bruises being misinterpreted as abuse.

In 1979, I went through the "terrible twos" and lived up to the name. I fell down the stairs and broke my right wrist. I cut my chin on the bathroom tub. Then, in my big finale, I stuck my finger in a meat grinder (my left pointer finger is misshapen to this day).

However, in 1979, the hospitals and doctors were not required to report such things. My parents later told me that they were scared that DCFS was going to come knocking, but since we lived in a small town and everyone knew I was a clumsy kid, no one made the call. The law didn't require them to at that time. It didn't hurt that my mom worked in the hospital I was taken to.

With the increasing awareness of child abuse, by law hospital workers, teachers and day care providers must call in suspected cases of child abuse. Whether you get a DCFS worker who follows up, now that may be the bigger and more frightening question.

One of my sister's and her husband were watching a football game on TV. When their team won, my sister jumped up, ran across the room, and jumped into my BIL's lap. He hugged her as she landed, and the collision broke one of her ribs.

My BIL took her to the hospital to get looked at (they didn't know until after they got there that she had broken a rib), and they were separated, and grilled by hospital personnel until they were satisfied that my BIL had not deliberately busted my sister's rib.

The doctor might have had a chance to see your grandson's other medical history of being injured and felt like it showed a pattern of abuse. Yeah maybe he should have spoken with the other doctors to ask about the other specific circumstances but I think the doctor probably did the correct thing with the information he had. It was no doubt traumatic for your family and I'm sorry sorry that it happened and was stressful on them. It's an imperfect system but the doctors have to do what they think is in the best interests of the child and I would imagine that by doing so they've saved untold numbers of kids from abusive situations.

I was abused horribly when I was growing up. The only thing ANYONE did for me was the police would handcuff me (after I escaped by being thrown through a window by my dad) and bringing me back to him so he could beat me up some more. I literally had to escape from the police to avoid that situation.

Luckily for me, I had an Aunt and Uncle that were willing to take me in and treat me with kindness and love.

edit: I was a big mean 13 year old when that particular incident happened... :eyes:

I think in NY teachers have to take courses in spotting signs of child abuse. In reality though, I suspect that anyone in the field has heard horror stories of the kid that no one noticed until it was too late. I can understand someone thinking better safe than sorry because of that.

doctor can not afford to take a chance on anyone. If your grandson lives in a good home and CPS felt everything was OK then the record will show it and the family will not have anymore problems from them. They have way too many real abuse cases to handle to spend time harassing good families. At his age with that kind of break I would be more upset with a doctor that did not report it. Yes kids get hurt on their own but not many two year olds break both tibula and fibula with body bruising all at the same time. Step back and think about it. If you came across a child that age with those injuries and you knew nothing of the history what would you think? Also keep in mind abusive parents are very good liars so medical personnel can not be expected to take whatever a relative says as the truth.

I used to do day care and had to report a mom. She broke a thick wooden spoon on her middle son at my house in front of me. I had to wrestle her to the floor to keep her from hitting him with another utensil. I called on her and it ended up being blown off by CPS. She said she tapped him and the spoon was cracked already. I knew better but they decided to believe her. I lost those 3 kids of course since mom was pissed at me and I didn't care about that at all. What I did always care about was the kid and what else she did to him. That also taught me that there are parents that do only abuse one child out of many. Older brother was sweet and quiet according to mom, younger brother was perfect according to mom. Sorry but older brother knew to disappear in case, younger brother was a spoiled brat that could do no wrong. That middle brother was a normal active kid so he was beat. I always hoped eventually enough people reported her that they were all saved.

If it happens again, tell your daughter to immediately call her children's regular doctor.

A friend of mine had something similiar happen to her. Her baby was in one of those Jonny Jump Up things that hangs from the doorway. (He was FAR too young to be in it, but that's another story) His toe got caught in the carpet and he ended up with a spiral fracture which used to be/sometimes still is an enormous red flag.

The police came to the hospital, spoke with her, her husband, and the only way she was allowed to leave was by contacting her own pediatrician who vouched for them. (they had another child and the doc knew they weren't abusive)

But honestly, if they don't show up to investigate, then they catch hell for that too.

They're pretty much in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation.

A friend of mine fell down the stairs carrying her 1 month old and he fractured his skull. No abuse at all, but they called DHS and found nothing. The poor girl is such a klutz, she's always getting hurt, tripping, falling ect...

(This is not my subject, so anyone feel free to correct my facts)

Anyway the one I remember is a spiral fx of a bone is often caused by twisting of the bone. When orthopedists see that one they usually suspect abuse. Plus, I bet the little guy got x-rays head to toe because of the many spots on his body with injury. If he is really active like you say I bet he has a few healed fx. Especially in a child that you healed fx show up easily and the doc may suspect ongoing abuse.

People complain when families get reported, or they complain when a kid falls through the cracks. Which is worse? He's just doing his job.

I'm a child protection worker. We're trained to err on the side of over-protection. The alternative can be deadly.

The truth was found out. The system worked.

It may be uncomfortable, but this stuff can get sorted out. However, do you feel investigating reports like this might take time away from a child who really needs intervention?

We can't only investigate valid reports. We have no way of knowing which are valid without first investigating. I'd say the majority of our reports are invalid. Sometimes we have horrific reports of terrible injuries, only to find that the child is fine, and the ex-husband or neighbor is just using CPS as their tool for revenge. Now that's a waste of time.

Of course, they can't make thing up. However, it's CPS' job to look into the situation and determine whether there is enough information to bring to court.

He was just like your grandson sounds to be. She was at the ER (again) with him (broken arm) at age 7 and they had a different doc than their regular one (yes, they had a regular at the ER, it was that bad). The new doc called the hospital social worker when he saw how many visits were on his chart. As they were standing in the hall interviewing my mom, they all happened to look over and see my brother stand up on the exam table (with a broken arm) and proceed to try to leap from it to the counter, of course not making it all the way and getting even more hurt. They dropped it after seeing that and speaking with the "regular" ER doc and his pediatrician. The pediatrician told them he'd be surprised if my brother made it out of childhood with no permanant damage.

He fell out of a tree 3 weeks later, breaking the cast and re-breaking the arm. And got hit by a car on his bike 2 weeks after getting the cast off his arm finally, breaking his leg. I am honestly surprised he even lived through childhood, having seen much of his daredevil crap (and the injuries that accompanied many of them). His youngest son seems to be following in his footsteps, the kid is 1 year old and has NO sense of self-preservation.

My mom just brushed it off. She says, if she saw a kid with such a huge history of injuries come through the door, she'd have done the same thing.

Viral Meningitis. Later, blood tests diagnosed Salmonella. We had been to the County Fair about a week prior to the Doctor visit - I'm pretty sure that's where he picked up the Salmonella. So, we gave him plenty of fluids etc etc and in a few days he recovered.

About two weeks later, I got a call from our County's Child Welfare department. The woman on the other end of the phone was polite, professional and was obviously screening my Wife and I. So we had a half hour or so conversation about washing dishes, whether our home was a mess, how often my children missed school - actually, she asked the question because she said she couldn't find records of my children in the Public School database - our kids attend a private school, so we had to discuss that.

Anyway, after I told her that I grew up with a Physician Father that eventually was a Hospital Director and then I related to her very detailed food handling rules I had learned working as a cook right out of college. Finally, she asked me whether I had any idea of how our son picked up Salmonella, I said yes, we went to the County Fair. So, I then received a gentle lecture on hand washing at venues with farm animals.

Now, why I didn't just start the conversation with "He got it at the County Fair" I don't know, I was kind of surprised at being called out for my son having Salmonella, so I guess I was curious as to where the conversation was headed.......

Child abuse is SUSPECTED. The reason that doctor called CPS was because of the NUMEROUS injuries reaching an apex with such a devastating break. If doctors wait until they gather other evidence (where would they get it?) victims of abuse would go without the help they need.

Speaking from my experience: I was a child who was severely abused and believe me, I wish that some kindly, thoughtful doctor, neighbor, relative ANYONE would have done something to rescue me. I was one of the children with no voice. I grew up in the '60's and was abused until the abusive parent died when I was 14 - The terror and physical pain I endured lasted until the early '70's.

How would your daughter's doctor know if that baby is in a safe environment? He has no way of knowing but he HAS seen what happens to children who end up with broken bones and bruising. Many children are murdered by their caretakers and the crime, for most of them, goes unpunished. From the outside, my childhood home seemed like an ideal place to be. It was clean, we went to church and I attended school every day. I was always clean and looked well taken care of. It was what happened behind closed doors that would take your breath away. Abusers are not always what most people think of them as... dirty, filthy, uncaring drug abusers and alcoholics.

So, instead of seeing the doctor as a meddling problem-maker - try putting yourself in his or her position - That person HAD a moral obligation to report what he or she SUSPECTED may be abuse because a child has no voice and the doctor must be the advocate of the voiceless.

CPS, while containing some caring individuals, generally has armies of evil uncaring bureaucrats that go into every situation thinking all parents are abusers and that swat team style tactics are whats best for the child, the family and getting at the truth. The closest thing to Vogons we have.

Unfortunately there are enough bad parents to justify this line of thinking to them, as well as making them a necessary evil.

The Dr was just doing his job.

CPS was just mishandling theirs.

(I've never directly dealt with them, other than to tell a few of them they were batshit insane for suggesting some people I knew were doing ridiculous things to their children.)