Recently, my grandson (2yrs) had an accident, where he came off his little quad bike. Having hurt his arm, he whinged a little but nothing much at all.
Having seen him, via ‘FaceTime’, I too saw no obvious cause for concern. He was being a typical boy, running round with his siblings and doing everything that a child his age does.
A little over a week later, he had been at Play-school for a few days and here, there was no problem, until he came home and my daughter noticed him not using his arm and it looking “bent”.
She took home to her doctors and then to hospital. At A&E, the doctor their made her assessment of his arm and suggested, to my daughter, that she would be contacting Social Services and report her for ‘abuse’.
This left my daughter in a great deal of stress, she could not believe what this doctor had said.
Off to the broken bone clinic, where he would get an Xray and treatment. The X-ray showed a serious double break, of both bones in his arm. He would need some manipulating of the arm but that would be enough. He has a cast from his wrist to his shoulder, but still showed no concern or upset about any of it.
The specialist doctor, suggested that he must have had a “green” break (a cracked bone). The time playing at Play-School must have caused the “weakened” arm to break through. Still no sign of pain was noted.
My daughter had complained to the doctor there, about the A&E and he had assured my daughter that she could not have known about the break, nor could she have seen the bone break.
Today, the Social Services visited the PlaySchool and questioned the teacher, who was astounded about the inferences made by the SS Officer. Teacher confirmed how well the children were cared for and how my grandson had been.
Having completed her ‘investigations’ the SS Officer called my daughter and suggested no further action would be considered but having heard the children playing, in the background, she fealt it relevant to say “ watch what he’s doing, because if he breaks his arm again, YOU WILL BE IN BIG TROUBLE.
I believe that remark was totally uncalled for and was quite threatening. Apparently, her name will remain on an ‘at risk’ register, until they are sure.
Steriotyping when visiting a single mum, with four children, is poor practice and has caused far too much worry and strain, on a hardworking mother who loves her children and cares for them with every fibre in her body.
If this is a demonstration of Social Care, I worry about the future and effectiveness of the Social Service, to support and protect as they should?
‘grandadknows.com’ 