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And the Saga continues! The child was GONE on the 10th. Several days AFTER the 30 days expired.... She kept trying to get us to keep him for "just a few more days." She couldn't find a place for him. We agreed to wait until Friday, that was it. So, finally she came and got him.
We were totally cleared of the Dog Bite. Yeah. Ya can't really argue when the Dr says "this was not a dog bite, no punctures noted." But she didn't say anything else. The short version - The Review (make sure you catch that it'll come into play in moment), was on 2/14/14. They determined from the information - no dog bite. However, the school nurse seems to have indicated that the first time she it (36 hr later or there abouts) the wound was infected. NO WAY!
We did not take him to the Dr immediately because the kid fell or something. He had 2 abrasions and a small cut on his palm. Sorry, I don't run to the ER for bumps / bruises, scrapes. Unless they're very bad, for lack of better wording. I do the normal, comfort the child, clean the wound and clean it, etc.
Here's what we did. Comforted the child through out.... Immediately cleaned the wound, washed it, peroxided it, rubbing alcohol'd it and applied a large band aid. This was done twice a day, morning and returning from school. We also "eye balled" at bed time.
The school nurse called him over to look at his hand because of the band aid. She's the one who yelled "dog bite." However, we know it wasn't. Apparently, though nothing was EVER said to us, she thought the wound was infected. She never commented to us about that. That same day, we took him to the ER (to avoid any problems..,famous last words, right?).
The Dr said no dog bite, and it looks good. X-ray came back clean too. She advised to keep doing what we're doing and to keep the wound uncovered to let it breath and dry out. The child wanted a band aid, she said that was OK as long as the band aid came of when he got home. It did. We cleaned it as described above twice a day. The site was probably cleaner than the child (lol).:p
The Review (!) cleared us formally of the Dog Bite. HOWEVER - again not known to us until the review, they haven't made a decision about the infection. Was it or wasn't it? If it was we're guilty of Medical Neglect at which point our agency and CW would continue to fight this, but so far we're waiting to hear what the outcome is.
Here's the interesting thing. We got "hate" mail (lol) from Texas dept of Family and Protective Services. Basically it says that since we didn't respond the the mail/letter of November and haven't requested a REVIEW (uh, hello?) we're about to be placed on some sort of Central Registry? Which will basically curtail any employment around children or to be foster / adoptive parents! Oh, and we have 14 days to respond. *sarcasm*
Did you catch that? We already had the Review! It was several weeks ago, BEFORE this letter was generated. We're waiting for the result of some absurd possible infection. I called my case worker and her boss (personal friend) and copied/emailed this letter to them. They're going to talk to the individual whose supposed to be making a determination of any infection as well as the department that sent the letter.
My hubbies all upset saying we're done, it's over. We're never gonna get another child or a possiblity to adopt an older child (like we've been trying to do for YEARS). Ahh, my hubbie the pessimist. :hissy: But seriously, we're both over here scratching our heads and chewing our nails. We didn't do anything wrong, yet look at what's going on. We haven't heard a thing yet from anyone. This just happened on Friday....
Has this ever happened to anyone?
Oh, and we're still waiting for another placement. Been waiting since 1/10/14. Not overly concerned yet as it seems to take about 3-4 months here (Region 8) to get a placement.
Oh, and now we're being told it may be taking a long time because we're NOT in the city limits. Why does that matter? We can be in SA in about 20 or so min. We don't live THAT far out....
Are we being strung along? What are y'all feelings / opinions / thoughts?
We have had, I think, 2 calls? Both teenagers. Nothings panned out. Which also makes me wonder.... We said yes to both.... We wouldn't mind a teenager, we have two beds, but we'd still like to get a young one 6-9 to adopt. So, a teenager and a young one would be fine.
Our son has stated he's OK with 2 foster kids provided they're NOT related.... :-D And that he get's to keep "his own room." He's 15 next month.... Privacy is very important to him....
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So crazy and they wonder why they don't have enough foster parents. I have heard several similar stories. It's just crazy and usually the result of someone who can't admit a mistake was made. I knew of one social worker who got fired because he was actively trying to only place legally free kids out of state so he would not have to do visits and such. He would refuse to consider anyone instate interested in adoption. If they were foster only he was great, but would find reasons to keep those who wanted to adopt from even getting licensed or staying licensed, but he wasn't in your region and this was years ago.
We're still waiting. They've decided to "allow" us go do a review. Apparently the review done in Feb was for our agency, NOT us. We only found this out late March. That's when we found out we were found "guilty" of the med abuse / neglect. Since there was a lot (!) of confusion and miscommunication, they're "allowing" us to do a review.
Allow my fanny! THEY screwed up NOT us. They never even contacted us to tell us we were found guilty of anything. I found out through a retired friend who still has contacts who made discrete inquiries.... What's up with that??
Apparently what we're being "charged" with is "failure to seek, obtain, and follow through with medical aid." Uh, hello? Two Doctors.... It was 48 hours later, but he didn't need the attention until AFTER school.
Let me explain, sorry, prob be a bit long:
The morning he went to school - hand was fine, no swelling or discoloration, just two minor healing scratches and one tiny cut. Phone call at noon. I wanted to go pick him up and run straight to ER. Was told "no need, the nurse has already attended to his hand and he's been sent back to class." Interesting, don't you think as they first assumed it was a dog bite.
He got home just before 5 (bus...). I quickly took off the over done wrapping / bandaging the nurse had done. It was so freaking tight I'm surprised he had blood flow to his fingers.
Here's where it gets interesting - his hand/palm was now puffy and discolored (reddish/pinkish). And the child was scratching and poking at his hand. I had to gently clean his hand 3 times (!) to get the goop off. Looking at his hand and observing him poking at it and trying to itch it, I thought "contact allergy."
And (the best part) the wounds had changed! The scratches now had small cuts on them at the top end. Bare in mind, 3 days prior we had to remove sharp edges/utensils from the kitchen for fear the child may "do himself harm." That's from his therapist....
Getting back to it - If I had not been already going to run to the ER I would've definitely gone now....
As already stated, the ER doctor said no dog bite. However I just found a copy of the actual report... it does say "soft tissue infection." DRAT! I would sware on a stack of Bibles the infection was NOT there that morning. I did some research - soft tissue infections manifest within 4 hours. He was NOT in our care 4 hours prior. Also in the paperwork from the hospital there's also a comment stating the even properly cared for minor abrasions (the technical term used to describe his wounds) can become infected. Those two things will work in our favor.
Also, the bandage was air tight. Let me think...air tight, dark, moist, warm. Hm? Doesn't that sound like a super environment for growing germs? And goodness knows what he used to.... change/add to his wounds. He must've found something on the bus that morning. Certainly something before the nurse saw him.
His wounds continued to change...or rather "new" wounds were added over the next several days. The lady that came to interview us stated in her review that his wounds were not the same as described by the ER doctor, but now it looked like he'd punched a wall... Now he had wounds on his knuckles and the back of his hand and even a puncture on his middle finger. These wounds were NOT part of the original wounds. Unfortunately we didn't have a working camera for several days. But, c'mon? Who takes pictures of a few scratches and a small cut? We certainly never took pictures of our son's wounds....
(Heck I've hurt myself worse than a couple of scratches and a small cut making dinner.)
We've gone through the proper channels and have requested their total records. We've been waiting for over a week now.... I only hope they get here BEFORE we're called to do the review.... We'd like to "see" what they think they have to have determined that we never got him medical aid. If they simply say we didn't get him aid, we're good. But if they bring up the infection (again, I'd sware there was NO infection that morning), then we may have a problem. But again, possible contact allergy? Wounds changing or being added to? The fact that the infection manifests in 4 hours, also that even properly taken care of abrasions can still get infected.... With this information I am hoping we're OK.
Regardless, we're not doing Foster Care anymore. This idiocity has done it for us. We did foster care previously (from the time our son was 3 - 8 years old, he's now 15). We started the foster care again in the hopes of finding another child for our family.....
IF/when we get cleared of this ridiculous charge, were gonna look OUTSIDE the bloody state for a child between 6-9.... But my hubbie is 58, 59 shortly. We've decided to look only until he reaches 60, then we're done. Oh, I'm 47, 48 in a few months.
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I'm sorry this is still ongoing without resolution after all this time.
It sounds like he had a reaction to whatever the school nurse put on his hand.
I am sorry that you feel the need to go out of state to find your next child. But maybe the one you are meant to have is in another state and just waiting for you. If the next one is in the state, I pray that everything resolves quickly and CPS admits their mistakes and has the perfect placement for you already in mind (OK, this is a long shot). I believe that the child(ren) that we are meant to have will find their way to us, even if it is through the nonsense of CPS.
No updates yet. We had the "review" (finally) a week ago yesterday. We hope and pray she (the lady who did the review) will see through all the crap and clear us.
I can't believe all of this because a kid fell (something kids do all the time). I'm sure I've said it before, but we're done with CPS/Foster Care. IF/when we're cleared and our name is removed from the list we'll prob look OUTSIDE the state for a child 6-9 ish to adopt, but we're staying as far away from CPS as possible.
It really gets me that they're begging for foster homes and family and such, yet they treat us like criminals. It doesn't matter what the parents say, or what their proof is, whatever the child says is gospel.... Something as innocent as a child falling and we're "convicted" of med abuse / neglect...? It's just insane. It's also no wonder that they're losing families left and right. Sadly, our situation is NOT the worst I've heard either....
Sad, Sad. I/we hope to hear soon. She said she'd have a decision by the end of the week (this week), so we're hoping. Keep your finger and toes crossed. tee hee Thanks bunches y'all!
I hope that's the right word.
Got the word today, via a letter that the ruling of being guilty of med abuse / neglect is being overturned!! Happy Dance.
Seven months of CRUD! We should be off the "bad" list now. I'll wait a few days and double check. Now we need to look for a Foster/Adopt situation.
That's the ONLY way I'll work with CPS again (if in Texas)....
I still think we should get the first kid (6-9) avail for adoption....
Any suggestions of where to "look" for these kids? We'd love to have one more.
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Well you know you won't get the first one. The chances he/she would be a match is slim. Obviously TARE, heart galleries, adoption photolisting, or any other state photo listing site networking with various workers, CASA, etc would all hopefully eventually work.
Last update on November 15, 6:44 am by Sachin Gupta.
Well you know you won't get the first one. The chances he/she would be a match is slim. Obviously TARE, heart galleries, adoption photolisting, state photo listings, networking with various workers, CASA, etc would all hopefully eventually work.
Last update on November 15, 6:44 am by Sachin Gupta.
prime40
I hope that's the right word.
Got the word today, via a letter that the ruling of being guilty of med abuse / neglect is being overturned!! Happy Dance.
Seven months of CRUD! We should be off the "bad" list now. I'll wait a few days and double check. Now we need to look for a Foster/Adopt situation.
That's the ONLY way I'll work with CPS again (if in Texas)....
I still think we should get the first kid (6-9) avail for adoption....
Any suggestions of where to "look" for these kids? We'd love to have one more.
prime40
I hope that's the right word.
Got the word today, via a letter that the ruling of being guilty of med abuse / neglect is being overturned!! Happy Dance.
Seven months of CRUD! We should be off the "bad" list now. I'll wait a few days and double check. Now we need to look for a Foster/Adopt situation.
That's the ONLY way I'll work with CPS again (if in Texas)....
I still think we should get the first kid (6-9) avail for adoption....
Any suggestions of where to "look" for these kids? We'd love to have one more.
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Sorry, I thought I'd updated here already. We were vindicated (?) on the 16th. We had our review.... Had to wait another 3 weeks for the result. The individual overturned or reversed the "guilty" verdict. YEAH! I still think we should get some sort of... recompense. I don't know... An adoptable "basic" kid would be nice. They only took us out of everything for 8 months! (sarcasm) It was a nightmare. Now I am checking sites daily to see if there are any kids I can "check out." I just can't get past the fact that I think CPS should do something for us after treating us so badly. Not that that's gonna happen, but my mind keeps going back to that.