Baby taken away by social services whilst in A&E

[napol]

Hi

I'm new to Mumsnet but am in desperate need of help/advice or better still has anyone out there been in the same situation as me.

I dropped my 10 month old boy at nursery one morning at 8am. He was his normal self - happy chappy with no injuries. I got a call from the nursery at 4.30pm from the manager saying despite no accident happening at nursery throughout the day he had developed a lump on the side of his head but not to worry as he was in no pain or discomfort but best I get it checked out.

we picked him up and took him to a&e immediately where to our horror he was diagnosed with a fractured skull. because the injury was unexplained social services and police were called and the decision was made not to let us take our baby boy home. We are now under investigation and cannot see him unless supervised. it looks like it will go to court months down the line.

We are innocent of any neglect or wrong doing and it seems to us the nursery are obviously to blame. Understandably we are devastated and heartbroken and just want our boy home

Many social work teams are chronically understaffed and have waiting lists for cases, so they'd have to have fairly substantial reasons to be worried.To take a child from A&E would fall under the emergency concerns about a child's safety. Unless an EPO has already been granted then the child is under the care of the police for no more than 72 hours I think.

From what the OP is telling us, it's highly likely there's more to the situation. That doesn't mean anyone is blaming her or saying she has done something. It's just likely there's more going on.

Work with the SS, get legal advice. Dont talk about it with anyone else.

Ignore those saying there must be more to the story. There isn't. I know there isn't. There wasn't with me 14 years ago.

Unfortunately you have to prove you didn't do it, which is the tricky bit. Someone may try to get you angry, they are just trying to see how you react. See if you have a temper. Keep calm. zone out at those times, but they will come. A SS may have the task of getting you upset and irritated to see how you react. or at least they did with me. I just sat there and didn't say or do anything.

Most important thing is to definitely keep up as much contact as you can. Work WITH the SS, keep calm (at least in front of others - save the screaming and shouting cos it will get frustrating for when your alone), and speak to a family lawyer.

I wish you all the best. You are in for a long journey. And a difficult one.

Either way the dropping of the poor baby was just an awful accident. Whether OP or nursery were the ones who dropped him that resulted in the bump. This is beyond devastating for OP and the nursery need to be held to account.

OP all you can do is take a deep breath and be totally transparent and honest and have legal help and this will be resolved. They don't want to take your baby away. They want to make sure he's safe. You are on the same side but some monsters out there have created a process whereby everyone needs to go under the microscope, just in case. You know that. So work with as much as you can, and try to shelve your natural outrage and fear. I hope this is sorted very soon for you all 💐

@Bsmirched
Sorry, just read your update. That’s appalling that the cm didn’t give the full info straight away!

I meant the monsters who've hurt children - they're the reason this process has had to be created.

If he's got a fractured skull then anyhow would need to be in hospital. Poor love. I hope better v soon.

Make sure you get legal representation ASAP. I personally wouldn't attend any meetings without a solicitor present. I don't trust social services in the slightest.

@Lockheart as far as I remember (it was 8 yrs ago) there was no care order but we had to essentially sign him over to their care and were basically told if we didn't that they would go straight to court.
I was pointing out that anyone saying there HAS to be more to it is wrong, as there doesn't have to be as I know only too well. You are correct that no one knows either way in this instance, so I stand by my comment that it is wrong to categorically state that there must be more to it.

@LotteLupin
She didn’t drop the baby!
The baby was dropped off at nursery!

I hope you come back Op - were all here to support you

How long ago was this?

@Bsmirched
I think people mean that something must have happened. The fracture didn’t just magically appear.
Someone knows that the baby fell from a height onto a hard surface or similar, not that the op Or nursery did anything sinister.

I know someone this happened to and age eventually got baby back. Baby was younger, and she had supervised contact. It went through the family courts and one child specialist said the only way it could happen was deliberate abuse. Fortunately for her another specialist came forward who was more respected disputed the claims and she finally got her kid back. If you are free from blame op (sorry I said that but I don't know you) then you should get your little one back. In the meantime could you ask that baby is taken care for by relatives, rather than strangers?

So so sad to read this. Desperately sorry for you OP and hope you work this out soon. I can understand why people are suspicious if they have never experienced intervention from SS / the police. Similar issue happened with my good friends and their 8 week old. Baby rolled off a changing surface. No obvious injury but they went to ED to get him checked. When they explained what had happened they were referred to SS and interviewed separately under caution - they were lucky in that they were able to prove their baby could roll (they’d taken a clip of him rolling the day before) and the full body scan (which they had to consent to him having) didn’t show any injuries. It took 2 days for him to be released.
Child protection processes are there for a very very good reason but I find it hard to believe that keeping all these children who have innocent accidents away from their homes / parents (bearing in mind I’m the third person of the 30 odd posters to tell a similar story) can be right. Makes me terrified of DS taking a tumble.

@napol
Did you tell A&E that you dropped him at nursery.

This could easily have sprung from a semantic situation - where being dropped at nursery has very different meanings.

If I recall correctly the British nanny in the USA (Louise ??) was convicted initially on the grounds that she said that she 'popped' him on the bed.

So is the issue that an injury is unexplained?? I mean I brought my DS to hospital at the age of 2 with a broken collar bone and a bump on his head! They didn’t bat an eyelid!!was that because I could tell them exactly what happened??

Fb group Challenging SS false evidence May be able to help

The boy has a fractured skull @Dowser, so not sure how “challenging false evidence” would help, and in fact this sort of combative approach is the last way they should be dealing with things.

As others have said OP, the best thing you can do is to co-operate while they investigate how the injury occurred. It’s a serious injury and they have to do this. They should investigate all avenues and everyone who’s had contact with your son, including nursery.

I totally understand how devastating this is for you and for your poor boy, and I hope it can be resolved soon for you.

Not the first time this has happened.
I saw a friend go through it.
Took DC to A&E. Dr said injury could not have happened accidentally. (First time they'd took him in.. DC was a few months old).
Kids removed and placed with family member. Supervised contact only.
Court date rolls around a month or so later
Dr changed statement and said the injury could have been self inflicted (I.e. baby grabbing itself), and therefore case was dropped.
An awful time for them.

OP stay strong. Evidence. Character witnesses just incase. And be prepared. It's going to be a tough ride

And cooperate as much as you can

What a very upsetting situation.

sorry everyone - I dropped him off at nursery. not dropped him. sorry that wasn't clear. we have no history whatsoever with injuries, etc.

no existing injuries, in fact hes never had anything wrong with him ever

"He was his normal self - happy chappy with no injuries."
sorry if I misunderstood the OP. I thought she meant that after she dropped him, he didn't cry and was happy, and had no obvious injuries, so she left him and went to work as normal, with no concerns.

I can see now that it could be interpreted as she "dropped him off..." meaning she took him there and left him, not literally dropped him. sorry if i am mistaken.

Op please get SS to check nursery’s accident book in case a lot of children are having accidents it’ll support you massively in court

Solicitor. Borrow money for it.

IME A&E are not to be trusted and jump to conclusions. Recalls night when 17 year old dd had taken 10 anti histamine 36 hours before and wanted to check she was ok. This was after camhs had refused help and when I'd ensured she was under the care of a consultant psychiatrist privately.

A&E didn't bother phoning me for four hours during which time they forever her into agreeing to stay voluntarily with an mh nurse to facilitate a gangs review the next day. The consultant paed then told me I had given my permission fir matters to be reported to SS. Oh he didn't like it when I insisted I had not. Then he muraculously realised dd cd be assessed in A&E because she was over 16 and didn't need to be admitted.

Four hours later after being messed about endlessly I told the somewhat ignorant sister we would be leaving in 10 mins if they didn't get stuff sorted. At that point a mh liaison nurse had said dd was good to go having liaised with the camhs psych to that effect. By that time the cons pass and the sister had lied blatantly and done diddly squat.

When I said we were leaving the sister screamed at me across the dept that I was obstructing my dd's care and causing a safeguarding issue and she'd phone the police if we left and report me. She then called security who hovered like dementors. 10 mins later we were allowed to leave - and guess what CAMHS did after all that. Big fat nothing.

OP these people are largely pig ignorant, dishonest and power hungry. They are not well trained and generally vile. Hope bitch features is reading and recognises herself.

OP get yourself the best lawyers you can afford and good luck. Do not trust a word these people say - they are inveterate liars one.

it is unexplained because we don't know what could have happened. nothing occurred at home and Nursery say he had no accidents whilst there

How long ago did this happen and where is he now?