Worried about social services following accident

[VectisRover]

Hi - my son suffered an accidental burn on a radiator a couple of days ago and A&E were very suspicious. They have arranged for the health visitor to come round and verify our story. I am terrified that social services will get involved and want to take our children away. Am I right to be worried? Do you think the hospital will already have contacted social services without our knowledge? Any words of reassurance you can give would be very much appreciated.

No words of wisdom, or experience I'm afraid, but I thought it was standard procedure for a hospital to refer any suspicions to SS. How bad was the burn and how did it happen - sorry for your LO

It's standard practice for the HV to be informed if you take a child to A&E.

They might want to ask about what you are going to do to stop it happening again - for instance, radiators shouldn't normally get hot enough to burn unless you can't move away from it, which is why they use radiator covers in baby rooms at nurseries and in care homes

HVs are always informed if you take a child to A&E, its just standard and it doesn't mean you seemed suspicious.

About 18 months ago my tiny toddler DD picked up and dropped her much larger preschool brother and we ended up in A&E with suspected broken neck. I had to repeat how it happened to about 15 different people - I can't blame them for asking - they just want to protect children.

Hope your DS makes a good recovery.

Agree that it is standard practice.

The HV will probably just come round for a chat and check that you are aware of safety hazards around the house and have taken suitable precautions.

Don't worry about the radiator not being covered as most houses don't have them covered. She might however be looking out for things like fireguards if you have a working fire, that dangerous substances (cleaning products, medicines etc) are not left lying around and so on.

Thanks very much to all for your messages. The hospital was certainly suspicious - we ended up seeing two different paediatricians, lots of questions about who lived in the house and so on, at one stage they said they needed to take photographs although ultimately didn't bother. What they couldn't believe was that my son just slept through it and wasn't all bothered by it when he woke up in the morning. The health visitor basically said that she was coming to check up on our story.

Thanks again

Radiator burns are one of the most suspicious injuries you can have usually because you have to be held against them for it to happen.

Vectis if what you say is true i think I would be more bothered by how he managed to sleep through the burn and wasn't bothered by it. That suggests lack of sensation and needs investigating by the medics.

Hope your lo is ok. I second what nellie12 says, I would worry why your lo slept through it.
I wouldn't worry about ss wanting to take your children away, in my experience they don't even bother taking those children away that do need protecting, so you have nothing to worry about.