Help freaking out re: child servics :(

[Sunnygal]

Okay so I received a business card from Child Safety asking me to call them, which I can't do until tomorrow! I am freaking out, we haven't done anything wrong :no: I don't smack, they aren't abused or hurt and I have no idea what it could be about :confused:
Im panicking?? Anyone experienced this, what could it be about??

[sansha]

Is it from a government department or just a business card? It could just be one of those businesses who comes into your home and assesses dangers (and then sells you products to combat them)

[Sunnygal]

Its from the Department of Child Safety so a government card....
It has a note on the back to call 'so and so' at her office :(
I honestly have no idea what it could be about???

[ForeverMine]

maybe it could be regarding an investigation in another family & your name has been passed on in there investigation...?!?!?

:)

[Noah_and_Elijah]

If you have done nothing then you should have no reason to be worried! It's hard not to though when things like this happen but you will find out what's going on tomorrow so there is no point stressing over it tonight.


I hope everything is ok! :)

[bronny-jane]

how did it go:confused:

[Sunnygal]

Sorry it took so long!
Well I am officially being investigated by child services :(
What happened was back in October I took Bug to the hospital, he fell of the bed earlier that day, then later on Grub through one of those metal die cast trains and accidentally got him in the head, leaving a nice big bump and bruise... The hospital notified Child services for suspected child abuse and now I am being investigated... They are interviewing Grub's kindy teachers, my doctor, etc etc... Im miserable:no: Ive never laid a finger on either of my boys, in fact I am constantly being critisized (?) for being to soft on them, now my name is being dragged through mud, because I took my child to the hospital for something that was an accident!

Does anyone know if this will stay on my record, its just that I want to do Social Work once the boys are in school, and if this is on my record, well it won't look good :crying:

[delirium]

Does anyone know if this will stay on my record, its just that I want to do Social Work once the boys are in school, and if this is on my record, well it won't look good :crying:

In order to work within the social work field employers will require a federal police check. CP issues are different. It will be a permanent record, but if and when they close the case, they will list as unsubstantiated (meaning you are cleared) and that notification will be closed.

I wouldn't worry as far as how it affects your career down the track.

[Seekrit]

:hugs: You're not the first and you won't be the last person who has a child with a few bumps and ended up with the hospital calling docs.
I'm so sorry you're going through this, I haven't been through it myself so my words might be of no solice, but please - you've done nothing wrong so nothing will come of it!! Don't stress!! Try to breathe and be thankful that this system IS in place, because they so catch bad guys this way. :hugs:

[Chunkydunks]

:hugs::hugs::hugs:

hope it gets sorted soon

[~Temet Nosce~]

:eek::hugs: how scary for you, I would be livid but I guess if all cases of bruising etc. were just passed off as normal rough and tumble, child abuse would never be stopped. At least you know you are a good mother and after they have done investigating, they will know that too!
My dd has a fat lip from falling over and smacking her mouth on one of her toys at the moment, I bet that looks bad.

[Sunnygal]

I understand that they are just doing there job and to get the bad guys they have to sift through some of the good guys, it just hurts a bit - iykwim???
Im not worried that they will find anything and I know we will be cleared, its just so stressful, upsetting and yes a bit humiliating especially since they have to interview kindy teachers especially :(
I tell you what it really puts me off taking the boys to the hospital for injuries now :no:

[princess niamh]

:hugs::hugs::hugs:

I understand how you must feel..Yes its great they are doing their job...but WHY ME?

I hope it goes all smoothly and quick for you babe, and I am sure it wont hurt your social work aspirations. Afterall its not true and they will find that too!

[HousebumMum]

I understand that they are just doing there job and to get the bad guys they have to sift through some of the good guys, it just hurts a bit - iykwim???
Im not worried that they will find anything and I know we will be cleared, its just so stressful, upsetting and yes a bit humiliating especially since they have to interview kindy teachers especially :(
I tell you what it really puts me off taking the boys to the hospital for injuries now :no:

:hugs: That would be an extremely hard thing to go through knowing that you haven't done anything wrong and even though they are doing their job it still doesn't make it any easier for you to go through. A friend of mine has the biggest klutz of a kid and she also had a situation where she was investigated, but it all turned out ok, but yes unfortunately she said that there is now a file and that has depressed her a bit and she does think twice about going to a hospital now, but at the end of the day she realises that they are trying to make sure her kid is ok and she does appreciate that side of it.

I can find out for you if the file is permanent if you like.

[moonwildflower]

I hope this all sorts itself out quickly and turns out okay for you. I can imagine it would be incredibly difficult for you knowing you've done nothing wrong.

:hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

[dancingchipmunk]

:hugs: for you. Its good to know that the system is working and that they do investigate even the little things. It will be all fine for you. You know your a good mother and they will be aware of that very soon.

[Leisa21]

:hugs::hugs::hugs::hugs:

[Luna Lovegood]

Im not worried that they will find anything and I know we will be cleared, its just so stressful, upsetting and yes a bit humiliating especially since they have to interview kindy teachers especially :(
I tell you what it really puts me off taking the boys to the hospital for injuries now :no:

Out of curiousity do they contact the kindy and notify them of you being cleared once you have been? To me it would seem a bit unreasonable not too...

I understand how you feel about going to the hospitals when your child is injured, my DD recently had a horrible bruise to her head, and DF had to brng her up to the hospital while I was in there. He got so nervous someone thought he was beating her up.

I understand they're (Hospital staff) priority is patient care, but 2 accidents, 2 occassion, 2 different children just doesnt seem consistant enough to complain. :confused:

[Sunnygal]

Im hoping they let them know when I am cleared!
Its just so fustrating to know that it is going to be on our record permanately, I know that it will say on our record that we were cleared, but I still don't think it looks good, that we were 'suspicious' enough to be child abusers :no:

Not much I can do now other than just roll with it...

[bada]

I tell you what it really puts me off taking the boys to the hospital for injuries now :no:

OMG what a horrible situation to be in! And I totally agree with the above, makes me terrified of taking my DD to hospital if anything happened which is a terrible thing. I wonder how many ppl avoid taking their kids to hospital because of this and in turn potentially risk big problems, this is just terrible

[Uniquey]

:hugs::hugs: to you Sunnygal, what a horribly stressful predicament to be in, and I can only imagine the undue stress and embarassment (re:Kindy etc) it's causing you. :(

With Social work you will have to provide Federal Police checks/background checks, sometimes psych tests, suitability card etc, (depending on which state you're in). As far as I know, if a report has been found to be unsubstantiated then it still remains on a permanent record, but will be stated as 'unsubstantiated' because it is a child protection issue.

Good Luck, I hope it all ends for you soon so you can start to breathe easy again.

[iamLilysmummy]

ahh u gotta love it.!!! NOTTT...

i hate them...

someone made false complaints about me last`year. everythings been prooven wrong. and i go to court on the 8th of march so they will **** off...

i got accused of herting my DD they inspected her body and found one spot and startd questioning me.. and im like "EXCUSE MEEE" "thats her birthmark" its on her left side...

theyv been involved for nearly a year.. im sick of it.. they dont call or visit. so i dont see y the case is still open.. haha


good luck with everything....
they try to twist things.. so be careful what u say.. lol..


xxkatii

[Sunnygal]

:hugs: Iamlillysmummy.

Thats a bit of what I am worried about, is things getting twisted around as well...
I just want it to end!

Thanks so much everyone for your support, it really means alot to me :shakehands:

[bronny-jane]

oh i would be p!ssed and freaked out... im always in the emergency department with my kids.. ok i do freak out at anything though..

this year my dd had her finger jammed in the cupboard door, and lost her finger nail.. they have bruises, bumps..because they are active kids..

i hope its all settled soon

[mummeeto2]

A friend of mine went thru something similar a few years back. She had someone visit her every few days (I think it was twice each week) for about two months. After the first week they knew there was absolutely no problem with her parenting but they had to continue cos everything was in the system. She had to do a parenting course which she said was good & she learnt alot from it. She looked at it as a learning experience & "what could I gain from this?"

Good luck, hopefully they will see pretty quickly that there's no problems

[bgbgbb]

I recently took my 2 youngest 2 hospital because we noticed one of our vitamin bottles and some other medications missing. To cut a long story short, my 5yo DD had put them in her handbag, but we suspected the worst and took the youngest 2 (into everything) to A&E. After 9 hours and multiple blood tests later they were presumed ok.

We got so much support, they were very grateful that we made the effort to come in rather than run the risk at home.

It's sad to think that a parent like you does the right thing and brings a child into hospital and some do-gooder makes your life hell by suspecting the worst. I'd be pretty wary of hospitals myself too!

[OneBabyBoy]

What a horrible situation, it sounds like a nightmare. I really feel for you and am thinking of you :hugs::hugs::hugs:

[Myztiks#1Fan]

Out of curiousity do they contact the kindy and notify them of you being cleared once you have been? To me it would seem a bit unreasonable not too...

yes, they let the appropriate people know. when i went though them, they let the daycare know that my case was closed.

Sunnygal, if they were really worried about the safety of your children, they would of taken them by now. when coop went into foster care, i was originally told by the police that he wouldnt have to go, then the doctors at the hospital told me he would go for max of 2 nights at the most and then he was gone for nearly a month.

:hugs: for you having to go through this. its not a nice experience at all to go through

[DJWebb]

wow that seems a bit extreme...your son hurt himself you took him to hospital..like you should!! and now child services is treating you like a criminal?? wow. So is this somthing they always do? And you said it happened in October and they didnt contact you til now :confused:

[julietv8]

I'm so sorry you have to go through this, it makes me really paranoid because I have a very active toddler who is forever covered in bruises.

Best of luck with it all.

[Sunnygal]

Hi, I know this is a bit old now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I received my letter stating that I have been cleared :)
Thanks so much everyone for you support, it really means alot to me :yes:

[sunnyflower]

yay for you,you must be soo relieved:)

[ladybugblue84]

I have only just read your thread now but that is great! Sounded like a pretty uncomfortable predicament to be in so I am glad you are out the other end now & proven to be the great mum that you are :thumbsup:

[just her chameleon]

Hi, I know this is a bit old now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I received my letter stating that I have been cleared :)
Thanks so much everyone for you support, it really means alot to me :yes:

:yelclap: Woo hoo! I read your OP, but TBH didn't really know what to say to make you feel any better.

Well done. You're an awesome mum :thumbsup:

[rae1976]

:hugs::hugs::hugs: Great news, i bet you are so relieved and happy.

[MimiGrace]

Thats awesome :D
i knew you couldn't get in trouble for something as innocent as taking your child to the hospital to get fixed :no: :hugs::hugs::hugs:

[Uniquey]

Hi, I know this is a bit old now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I received my letter stating that I have been cleared :)
Thanks so much everyone for you support, it really means alot to me :yes:

Sunnygal, that's wonderful, a happy ending and rightly so.:)

[Sunnygal]

Thanks guys, yep very relieved! I knew they wouldn't find anything - I would never hurt my boys! Its just nice to know that part is over now :yelclap:

[moonwildflower]

Hi, I know this is a bit old now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I received my letter stating that I have been cleared :)
Thanks so much everyone for you support, it really means alot to me :yes:

That's great!!
:smiliedance:

Not that we didn't already know you'd be cleared but it's still great :) bet it's a huge weight off your shoulders!