Currently being held prisoner in hospital...

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Afternoon all,

Our 11 month-old started nursery this week and on Tuesday came home with a small red mark on the back of her leg. We thought nothing of it and carried on as normal, as you do.

Wednesday she came home and the red mark had developed into a bruise and on further investigation we found a total of 5 small bruises on her body. She’s non-mobile at the moment and the location of the bruises are in areas which wouldn’t be easily accessible while she’s sat.

Yesterday my partner went into the nursery to have an informal chat with the manager about it..she’s was completely calm and made no accusations, we just wanted to flag it as a concern. We left it that they’d investigate and get back to us.

Wind forward to 5pm and we get a call from the regional manager telling us they have to report it to the local authority and to wait for. Then just as we’re putting our daughter to sleep, Social Services call and tell us we have to take our daughter to A&E to get her checked out! Basically nobody at the nursery is admitting fault which means we’re just as much in the frame as the nursery are.

So we’re on a paediatric ward and have been since 7:30ish last night and we’re not actually allowed to leave with our daughter until Social Services say so! They’ve performed blood tests, they’ve done a CT scan and she’s due to have a full set of skeletal xrays (25 of them!!) but they can’t do these until Monday now. They’re waiting on a call back from SS, but they close at 5pm!! There is no way we’re staying another night!!

As much as we’re impressed that the “system” is taking things so seriously, we can’t help but feel that things are being taken to the extreme. My partner has worked in childcare for donkeys years and has been on the other side of these investigations many times, but has never seen this kind of reaction from SS.

There is no way we’re staying in here all weekend, but if we don’t then we risk being visited by the police and having our daughter removed from our care! All because somebody else has caused harm to our baby girl

 

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People are looking out for the child with its best interests at heart. Parents reaction = RANT.

Imagine if these injuries were reported and nobody did anything. Oh hello baby P. I remember you...

You obviously missed the part where I said I’m glad they’re taking it so seriously. If there’s any hint of ranting it’s at the situation we were left in, not the process we became part of.

I challenge you to not be frustrated with the situation when you’re got an 11 month old baby and a sleep-deprived epileptic partner whose seizure triggers include stress and sleep deprivation, all when you’ve done nothing wrong.

Anyway, SS finally got back to the hospital and let us leave for the weekend. They’ll be out to visit over the weekend and we’ve got to take little one back for her xrays on Monday.

 

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Keep in mind if something does go the legal route any posts on here may be held against you.

Thanks for the advice but as I’ve done nothing wrong there’s nothing to use against me.

 

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I am a social worker in adult SS. As others have said, they are trying to protect your child, but don't let the system back you into a corner. Just explain everything and get evidence for everything that happens. Things can spiral out of hand very quickly if they think you are trying to hide anything, or are trying to deceive them.

Neither SS nor the hospital can actually prevent you from leaving with your daughter. You still have parental responsibility, and I assume from what you have said, that there is no legal reason to stop you from leaving. The difficulty will be if you do leave, it might give them more cause for suspicion because you aren't being "compliant". The best thing would be to try and negotiate with SS and the hospital to leave, and to get their permission to do so.

SS did close at 5, but there will be an emergency duty team who can take calls. Call in, explain the situation (which should all be recorded on the computer anyway) explain plainly and honestly why you want to leave and that you will come back when the hospital can do the scans. Make sure you take the name and department of who you have spoken to, and ask to speak to the duty manager if you want to to make sure it is clear. Also ask for the conversation and agreement to be sent in writing next week so you have it as evidence of the conversation, in case it is an issue and you need to prove what you have done and why. Make sure you keep a written record of all the convos you have had with the doctors/health staff/ss, so you can refer to it later. I know it will be a massive pain to do, but if it all gets a bit stressful it will be difficult to recall things later on and it will be much easier if its written down at the time.

Thanks for the useful info matey. The gf called the out of hours MASH team to give them a nudge and I’m not sure if it made any difference but they let us go an hour or so later.

 

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Just to update you all, the police came round today to take a timeline of events and we’re expecting a Social Services visit early next week.

Apparently the reason for the rapid response is that it’s being treated as a Section 47 incident, so the highest category of risk to a child.

 

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So is anybody from the nursery being investigated and/or questioned or are they just trying to offload the blame onto you, the parents?

The police suggested that official investigations into the nursery should start tomorrow due to SS being closed over the weekend.

Did the radiographic screen demonstrate any other injuries?

The CT was clear and the skeletal xrays should be taking place tomorrow.

 

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Any update, scratch?

The skeletal survey took place yesterday and it was all clear. Social Services also visited to assess our home and we passed with flying colours.

The social worker advised that a Section 47 needs to be closed out within 5 days so they’ll now visit the nursery along with the police to interview the staff. If nothing comes of their investigation then it’ll be passed back to the nursery for them to action.

We’re in the process of finding somewhere else to take our daughter; it’s only 2 days a week but understandably it’s proving difficult to find good childcare with the availability we require at such short notice.

 

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I wonder why they didn't visit the nursery first or at the same time?

A Section 47 investigation is all about the parents. Once SS are content that the child is safe with the parents, they start their investigations elsewhere.

 

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Glad it's looking like being resolved at your end, at least. Good luck finding a new nursery.

Thanks bud. We've thankfully managed to find another nursery with the availability we require and our daughter starts her settling sessions as early as tomorrow!

We really liked the manager and staff team and the nursery itself is set in 1.5 acres of woodland which allows the kids to get outside often, something our daughter loves. The location is less convenient for us (especially as my other half isn't driving atm) but it's worth the extra travel time to know she's not going back to the same place.

From what we understand police interviews at the old nursery are ongoing but nobody has admitted to anything yet. I'll let you all know what comes of it.

 

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Just to keep you all updated, SS have come back and advised they’re taking no further action against us, which is a weight off our mind.

The investigations at the nursery are still continuing though and we likely won’t have the outcome from that until next week at the earliest.