advice please.

[tamtrasam]

Hi, just need some advice please. I rushed my lil boy to hospital with blue blotches on his face. 3 of them on one side. When I got him there I was sent up to ward taken into a room and told they had informed social services as these are bruises and he is unable to do them to his self. He is 3 months old. I fully understand the reason behind the hospital having to inform them. I work in an enviroment that we deal with ss a lot. They arrived the next day asked me about the previous evening and what had happened. Me and my husband have no idea. How this happened that's why I took him up to hospital. They told my husband he was not allowed to stay in our home with our 3yr old lil girl and I had to arrange care for her till my parents were able to get back to her. They then put in place that we were to sign a section 20 and give my children to my parents while this carried on. They tried to tell us he had a fracture and then when they re-checked he hadn't. They put him through full body xrays, ct scans and eye tests. He was held down crying for over an hour in the xray. The next day me and my husband noticed bruising on his arm which we think happened during the xray but they didn't care. They brushed it off then even had cheek to make out it could have been me. We have had no dealings with ss before. Our lil girl has had no problems and goes to a regular nursery who have said the same, our hv is behind us and so is everyone else. I'm a paranoid mum as it is who if anything is wrong I take them straight to gp. My lil boy also they found had broncilitus and on the lead up to all this had episodes of stopping breathing. I so worried for my baby and my lil girl. My main reason for this post is I have no idea what happens next. I have a solicister and my husband has a seperate one -advised to do this. But what is the next step. They talking care orders etc but I don't understand it all. They said that everything came back clear. The bruises are unexplained and we know we haven't done anything. They are saying its impossible for our lil girl to have done it as we wondered if she had dropped a toy on him etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[tamtrasam]

Forgot to add I had to stay in hospital as my lil man was suffering with his broncilitis so we stayed in for few days. Also we can see our children supervised for 5 hours a day between certain hours.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi Tamtramsam

Welcome to the board.

Sorry to hear that you are having such a distressing time in relation to Children’s Services involvement with regards your children, and your baby having receeived a possible non accidental injury.

Because there is unexplained bruising to your youngest child, as part of the section 47 enquiries, you have been asked to sign a section 20 agreement, for them both to live temporarily with your parents. You have been fully cooperative with this request.

This means that you (and not the Local Authority) have parental responsibility, therefore, you should continue to be involved in key day to day decisions about their care, and arrangements will need to be made for you to have safe contact with them.

Under a section 47 investigation, the Local Authority have a duty to investigate child protection concerns about children living in their area to see what, if any actions they need to take to keep your children safe.

This means you would be advised to continue to cooperate with this, or any other assessments being undertaken, as this will help to go in your favour as part of the investigation. Particularly, as you have been advised that the Local Authority may now be issuing care proceedings, which if successful, could mean the court agrees to grant them shared parental responsibility.

This suggests that until the outcome of the child protection enquiries, (and how the injuries were caused), to your young children, there will be doubts about the explanation being given at this time.

As a result, Children’s Services will continue to have concerns about your children’s safety in either you or your partner’s care, but may wish to consider if any additional family support should be offered to you. May I suggest you do not consider withdrawing your consent for the section 20 agreement, (and requesting that the children return home), without at least speaking to your solicitor first.

Therefore, it is important that you continue to work closely with your solicitor, as they are best placed to give you legal advice about the best way forward at this time.

Best Wishes


Suzie