Referral to social services after A & E visit

[Worriedmummya]

Hi everyone,

I’m worried sick!

I noticed blood in my 20-month-old’s nappy and took her to A&E. They immediately admitted her in and sent us by ambulance to the children’s hospital.
It turns out she has a small laceration in her privates that had bruised up - the doctor asked me if I knew how she could have done that and I said I had no idea, they asked if anyone else looked after her and if she went to nursery (no to both), a few more doctors came to check and we were told it could be from anything but that the doctor believes it could be from scratching herself as she had scratch marks on her belly too. She said she had no concerns and we could go home that night but that as it’s unexplained injury she had to refer us to social services (she did say she would write in her report that she had no concerns) as it was protocol.

I’m freaking out! Will they believe someone abused her? Are they going to take her away?

Did they not offer any explanation as to why she might be scratching herself? Dry skin? Nappy rash? Sounds like they have let you down here because you need to get to the root of the problem.

It’s standard practice and I doubt anything more will happen.

No they didn’t say, I asked if it was swollen and I needed to buy some cream but they said it wasn’t necessary

Okay that’s reassuring, thank you!

A&E are legally required to report anything untoward or unexplained. It was reported when my ds6 came home from his dad's with an untreated dog bite and I took him in.

SS will look for any history, nursery, childminder, new boyfriend etc. and then probably conclude she just scratched herself.

My ex got a visit from the police checking he was keeping his dog properly. I never heard anything else about it.

They're just making sure she's safe, that's all.

They won’t take her away. But that is a very odd injury and it’s unexplained. They have to fully investigate.

Thank you for your reply

I’ll wait for their phone call next week as it’s unlikely to be on the weekend I imagine, and take it from there

They won’t take her away, they just have to be very proactive and rightly so when it comes to unexplained injuries in small children. It’s actually really reassuring to hear they have followed this protocol. I still remember baby P from the news stories and how awful that multiple agencies missed chances to save him, poor kid.

This is normal practice but just be careful how you present yourself and answer their questions without giving more information than you need to. Be mindful about any further trips to A&E as you will now have a record on file and if you can get treatment at home or through private GP practice it will be better.

How old is she? We used to have a saying ‘if they’re not cruising, they’re not bruising’ - meaning bruising on a child who is immobile is to be looked at. This doesn’t mean it’s never due to a simple explanation, but anyone can understand why it’s more of a concern. You may get a routine visit from a sw but they will chat to you and as long as your explanation is consistent and there are no other concerns, then they will conclude no further action.

I had questions to answer after my toddler got hold of an open bottle of calpol and we went to a&e not knowing how much she may have ingested, and I was a sw at the time, it was embarrassing. But the questions were understandable and warranted as they didn’t know me and needed to check dd was safe. I’m sure it will all be fine, even if they need to visit you. There is no way they are taking her from you, unless there was some huge back story or harm that you were covering up.

Standard. Waste of time. Don't worry.

We got referred to social services when DS was tiny - two A&E visits in as many weeks. One was because he'd stuck his foot down a rabbit hole on a walk and twisted his ankle then wouldn't put weight on it, the next weekend he decided to jump up and down in his cot (which we'd lowered the base and removed the side from to start getting him ready for a bed) and the mattress shot out from under his feet and he went down like a sack of spanners, bruised his tummy and wouldn't eat.

The only follow up we got was a phone call.

Think of it logically. Of course a&e need to report it. If something bad was happening and they didn’t, there would be outcry. But it doesn’t mean they think something bad has happened, but social services need to be aware in case something happened again.

Well it’s not is it. All the horror of kids being harmed over the years in the new and people didn’t speak up. There’s processes in place to try to make sure those kids don’t slip through the net.

no please never avoid A & E
dont get paranoid about this

Those are the actions of someone who actually IS abusing their child - avoiding the system. It's standard safeguarding practice - a hospital I used to work in had lots of signs up in paeds to state that reports would be made to social services and that it was a legal requirement and not an insinuation about parenting practices.

Why?

Don’t do this. Dodgy as fuck.

@Ringinfiron how do you know that this isn’t at child at risk and you are advising to seek help. It’s a random on the internet.

In regards to why she is scratching could a nappy cream you're using be irrating her?

trimming her nails could be the solution

It’s not a waste of time if it saves a child who’s being abused. It’s a good thing.

It’s not a waste of time at all. A child has an unexplained injury to the genital area. I am not casting any doubt on the OP and her family but sadly these things aren’t alway innocent so they do need looking into to ensure that the child is safe.

A weird response. Plus I would hope and imagine that a private GP is equally bound by safeguarding law.

Thank you everyone for your responses.
I imagine social services will want to visit the house and look at my daughter’s living conditions as the medical examination was already done. They’ll see that she is happy and taken care of, I’m just so worried they’ll put her in foster care while they investigate or something

That would only happen in very extreme circumstances. You are more likely to receive a phone call.