CPS / abuse
Suzanne900@aol.com
Fri, 29 Mar 1996 14:49:29 -0500
Recently my son's OT told us that one of her babies (client) was in foster
care because the parents had been charged with abuse. The OT feels very
certain that there was no abuse and she was very ticked off at the whole
situation. Their son, a 25 weeker with hypertonicity and history of
diuretics, had fallen down and bumped his head. The mom took him to the
emergency room because of the bump on his head and a fracture was discovered
on his leg. The ER doctor called Children's Protective Services and the baby
was put into foster care. The OT said anytime there is a spiral fracture they
automatically think it is child abuse, even though that is the type of
fracture a baby with hypertonicity in his legs might have.
The parents hired an attorney, and even after the charges were dropped, CPS
refused to give the child back to the parents even though they had been told
to do so and didn't give him back for several more weeks. (The parents were
allowed one hour per week visitation.) I asked why, she said because there
tends to be a power struggle. She has been to court on several cases where
she is certain it is not abuse, and the experts agree, but the CPS won't give
the baby back right away. She said that anytime you go to the ER to call your
pediatrician to talk to the ER doctor and explain in detail what your baby
has been through. She said it is also a good idea to have the name of a good
attorney handy, just in case. It is really scary, haven't our children been
through enough?
I find this really disturbing, I have friends who are police and they call
CPS all the time to remove children from horrible situations and they won't.