Unsure what to do

[Howdidwegethere]

2 1/2 year old child fractured his tibia in April. It was an unexplained fracture as he just started screaming after coming out of the bath and was taken to A&E. Fast forward to now and he had a fall and refractured the same point in his tibia. On the xray it also showed 2 healing fractures to his fibula one at the top and one at the bottom. We have no idea where these came from there isn’t a point in time between the first fracture and now where the child showed signs of pain or refused to walk. We have pictures of the child running and playing pretty much weekly since then. Social services are now involved and the parents have to have 24/7 supervision while looking after their child.

I am unsure how we prove the parents didn’t cause him harm when we didn’t know these fractures exist and there were no signs. A blood test was completed and that came out normal.

The other cause raised was the delay between bringing him to A&E for the 2nd fracture. There were a few tears after the original fall but the child was saying his knee hurt and then was crawling/ climbing on it. He didn’t walk for a few days but the child is also hyper mobile. Had clubfoot and parents have been told previously that his ankles are over mobile and that he sometimes needs rest. He has been sent home from nursery before for refusing to walk (before any fractures).

We are struggling how to prove the parents didn’t do this. How do you prove you didn’t do something you are not aware about. We don’t feel we are being listened to.

Any advice would be welcomed as we navigate this awful time.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Howdidwegethere

Welcome to the board. I am Suzie, the online adviser at Family Rights Group, and I will be responding to your post.

I am sorry to read that the child you mention has what may appear to be (until there is a full investigation) a non-accidental injury and that children’s services have asked that his parents are supervised whilst caring for him.

At this point you may not be able to prove that his parents did not ‘cause the harm’ or act appropriately after discovering that their son may have needed to attend hospital for an accident/injury.

However, to help matters you may advise his parents to make a note of everything they can remember about the days before and the days after they noticed that their son had difficulty walking. It may help too, if the nursery is able to offer their written notes (if they have them) for the reason they asked the child’s parents to collect him from nursery. The child’s parents should also seek medical advice about his hypermobility and whether that condition could have contributed to his injuries.

Child Protection Resource has a helpful discussion about injuries that are not explained, parts of which may be helpful to you.


Best wishes
Suzie
Family Rights Group Adviser

[VD2ER]

I can imagine that SW's alarm bells will be ringing.

There is a medical condition: Osteogenesis Imperfecta. It's a genetic condition for which there are tests.Has this been looked into or related conditions?

If not it sounds very much an uphill battle.