Article about fabricated or induced illness

[DianaVilliers]

Did anyone read that article in the Times recently about the rise in false accusations of fabricated or induced illness against parents of ill or disabled children? The article is behind a paywall but this has a summary of it. https://www.lancashire.ac.uk/news/fii-serious-case-review
And Cerebra did a study into Fii a couple of years ago. cerebra.org.uk/research/fabricated-or-induced-illness-research-report/
Apparently at least half of these accusations are made by professionals after parents have raised concerns about poor care their child is receiving.
Am I being unreasonable to think that true fabricated/induced illness is very rare and the majority of accusations are likely either being used to deflect blame from failings in the NHS, or just professionals jumping on the latest moral panic bandwagon a bit like the satanic panic of the 90s?

Has happened to three people I know whose children had chronic illnesses (CFS/ME) and was prompted when schools raised safeguarding cases due to drop in school attendance. All proved not to be FII but caused a huge amount of stress to the parents, children & their siblings.

I think that the rise in knowledge about the benefits given to the disabled (completely fair benefits) and the rise in Adhd and autism being used by celebs to justify their shit behaviour, will definitely cause an increase in accusations of lying about being ill

Its a shit world we live in

If you want your mind boggled, take a listen to Believe In Magic:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0fk1xhj

Actually, I believe there to have also been a rise in psychosomatic diagnoses, which happened to both a family near to me as well as to us. In both cases, the doctors did either not listen to or believe the children (both teens) and their parents. One child suffered permanent neurological damage and the other, my son, was diagnosed with a potentially life-limiting illness. This is not to say that psycho-somatic conditions do not exist, but the care that should have been taken in diagnosis was not.

That's so awful. CFS/ME is a difficult enough illness anyway without having to deal with that. Schools are so obsessed with attendance these days I can see how it could so easily happen, it often seems like they care more about getting bums on seats that the actual welfare of the children.

Yes I've seen that as well, so many people with serious medical issues brushed off as 'anxiety'. I'm so sorry about your son and your friends child 💔. I think it's a similar thing, true psychosomatic illness is very rare and it's being massively overdiagnosed in people with actual physical illnesses.

I was accused of this and we had a child protection investigation. They tried all sorts of tricks to make me look bad but I’m very organised so was able to provide evidence to counter all false claims - but then it was ignored and they kept trying to push opinions of ‘experts’ as fact and override the proof I had. I had to remain so calm and keep submitting the same things over and over and it was only when one SW became involved that we got the whole case closed down with ‘no concerns found no action needed ‘ but it was hard.

I think there is a rise in drs not having time to actually listen to their patients so a lots being missed. Iv been told multiple times by different drs its nothing im fine and then it turns out to be something. But I dread to think what they say and write about me in the meantime

Watch take care of maya on netflix and see how people are being treat by the medical system and how parents are being blamed just because drs won't listen

the accusations about us were started due to school attendance issues and needing extra support in school. They got in their own ‘experts’ had meetings, did an ‘investigation’ and produced a report they didn’t involve social services for about 10 months they just kept having meetings and compiling evidence . They had a meeting with the GP as well. Once it all came out they referred to SS but although I was terrified at first I quickly realised they were the ones with the power to pick apart the amateur investigation with their own CP investigation. I hated the process but they did a good job.

@Blackcarrots I'm so sorry you had to go through that it must have been horrendously stressful.

Theres a big difference between someone being found not to have a formal diagnosis of FII/FI, and someone being found to have anxiety provoked but also provoking behaviour around illness, diagnosis, symptoms.

FII or FI is quite a difficult threshold and diagnosis to 'prove'. All these things are quite nebulous, particularly if the patient or child does have an illness of some sort which needs separating out from other concerns.

I used to think Fii was rare- now I am not so sure.

One acquaintance over fed her child so much and so chronically that he died in his very early twenties from the obesity related illness that she induced. She (and her husband!) are utterly in denial about the fact it is their fault, and will never face justice.

Another acquaintance told her kids they were sick, too sensitive for school, and the like until Child Services intervened, and put the kids into boarding school. Apparently even as the kids were leaving to start university, she was saying to them, in front of a judge and social worker and psychologist that they needed to be on a low dose anti-psychotic. She still thinks they’re ill, but can’t square that with the fact they have thrived when they only saw her Friday evening to lunchtime on Sunday, minus the increasing time they spend with their Dad!

I was oblivious for months then I got suspicious as the school kept asking me to go in to discuss things / kept saying they didn’t have paperwork they needed (eg care plans that I had given them ?) Then they approached the GP and that’s when I found out as entries were made on dc notes

@Blackcarrots 💐 That must have been a nightmare thank god you got a decent social worker.

I have a book that was written in 2000 and I think it’s now out of print, I’ll add photos.

In the book it highlights that when parents of autistic children are constantly having to deal with supposed experts who know bugger all (and let’s face it, pretty much every parent of an autistic child finds that the majority of professionals they have to work with have a limited understanding and often gaslight us parents) we often take it upon ourselves to become the expert in order to help our children, and very often our knowledge of our child far outstrips the knowledge that those trying to advise us has, and they don’t like that. To the extent where some autism bloggers have written whole blogs advising parents how to hide their knowledge, flatter the experts and try to get the help they need.

When you take into account that many parents (I mean mothers, it’s nearly always mothers doing the leg work and appointments) are also autistic and might not know it, but our own autism means that our child’s autism becomes a special interest out of necessity, and having communication issues means that we don’t come across in an accepted NT way and people don’t like that.

I believe that for the most part (obviously there are exceptions) FII is not happening, it’s a case of knowledgable parents who’ve been traumatised by the whole process of having an autistic child and having to deal with people who know fuck all but have more authority than you do, and it’s really difficult in that situation to not be obsessed with trying to prove that your child needs the help that they’re all denying them.

Anyway, when the photos are approved they’ll show the cover of the book - it’s very good, and a couple of pages saying what I said but far more eloquently!

@CowPooSummer Thanks for sharing that's really interesting! In my old job I worked with disabled children and their families, and I often had to liaise with various different professionals involved with them. I found a lot of them to be ignorant about basic things and difficult to work with, (a lot of big egos!) so what you say really makes sense to me. A lot of them seemed to have a really adversarial attitude to the parents for no discernable reason.

I was accused of this 30 years ago and assessed by a psychiatrist considered an expert in MSBP at the time. He couldn't diagnose me because I didn't have it, however he mentioned "mild BPD" and advised me to humble myself because I disagreed that I had deliberately caused multiple metaphyseal fractures in my 6 week old, 5 weeks premature DC without any other signs of abuse. (Metaphyseal fractures are abnormalities in the unhardened growth plate of babies bones, and are occult and mostly symptomless, often only picked up on X-ray.) I've posted about it on other relevant threads, if anyone wants to cross reference.

Back then it was a novel "diagnosis" that was brought into the public domain due to Beverley Allitt, and experts like Roy Meadows and David Southall, who did untold damage to mothers like Sally Clarke, rest her soul. It was definitely used in cases where medics couldn't easily figure out what was going on with a child, and unfortunately switching the focus from child to mother with a psychological focus did lead to children being medically neglected.

The book mentioned by a PP is a very good explanation of the methodology.The bit about becoming your own expert stands out - i was told my research and keeness to get to the truth was basically unseemly - my focus should be solely on my baby - who was in foster care for 18 months, with whom contact was limited, and I had been told that if I couldn't come up with an alternative explanation he would be adopted. Quite what they thought i should do, while my good but out of his depth solicitor floundered around and had other clients, I'm not sure.

The allegations of attention seeking could hardly apply to me, as the fractures in question don't present dramatically or in a life threatening way, and I was as shocked as everyone else.

When i asked for a test to determine if maybe there was a chance of collagen disorder / OI, I was told it could be viewed as possible further abuse, and even if it came back positive, it didn't change the fact that abuse had occurred, because at that time metaphyseal fractures were considered pathognomic of child abuse. I believe things have moved on since then, due to cases like the Websters.

Now I don't doubt some people do harm their children and some do it for emotional or financial gain - the whole Gypsy Rose saga is the worst case of this in recent times - BUT FII is a relatively easy way to deflect from medical mistakes / poor practise, and I'm not surprised SEN children and their parents are feeling the brunt of it again.

The current rhetoric around benefits claimants with disabilities / complex conditions and the cost of it all might also feed into a resurgence of interest in placing blame back on parents.

It's a murky and harrowing area of psychology/ child protection, and I stand in sorrowful solidarity with those who've posted here having had a taste of it. CPTSD is a common result.

@MistressoftheDarkSide That must have been horrific I'm so sorry for what you were put through 💔 Did they eventually close the case and leave you alone?

Yes, my son did come home under strict conditions after 18 months. He was on the CP register for a further 18 months. The SW was incensed, and pestered the police to charge me, advised my DC should receive criminal injuries compensation, and tried to get the very esteemed and respected GAL investigated just as she was retiring.

By rights, my son should not have been returned, however, I have a theory that he came home because I would never have shut up with nothing left to lose so to speak. With him at home, and me under ongoing scrutiny until he started school, I couldn't really do much other than put it all behind me and focus on him, because there was the constant threat of intervention.

Thank you for your kind words

The newer FII guidance also strongly aligns with what is common in high masking autistic kids e.g. symptoms only reported/noticed by the parent.

Research shows that professional single parents and disabled parents are most likely to be accused.

@MistressoftheDarkSide I'm really glad to hear that, though that must have put an unbearable strain on you knowing they might take him away again. 💐
I have a pretty low opinion of social workers in general tbh after meeting a lot of them through work. In my experience the good ones often get burnt out and leave fairly quickly. The ones who are left are often the ones who would be pretty much unemployable elsewhere, but because social services are so desperate for staff they have very low standards.

It really doesn’t help when teacher training organisations release courses like this…

I was accused of being hostile, but at the time it was because literally no one would listen. I’m pretty sure I have CPTSD from that time in my life, not because of my autistic child but because of the people I had to work with and the gaslighting endured.

@CowPooSummer Uncooperative, avoidant, hostile and aggressive is a good description of plenty of the professionals who are supposed to support vulnerable children. Perhaps there's some projection going on there! I'm really sorry to hear that 😢 ❤

It really is a good description, indeed.