I called CPS yesterday :( ~~WEIRD UPDATE POST 103~~ - Page 2

[Talula Fairie]

That's horrifying, that poor baby You did the right thing.

I just can't even imagine that. I take my kids to the doctor if they've had a sniffle for too long!

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by ~pi

By the by, staph is associated with eczema, and a recent RCT suggested that baths with very dilute bleach may be extremely helpful. They actually closed the study early because the treatment arm was getting such great results that they couldn't ethically justify not providing the same relief to those in the control arm.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-a...ds-with-ezcema

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8015995.stm

Very interesting! I'd never heard of that. Of course, I'd never suggest it to this set of parents...

Originally Posted by sunflowers

I do have one question... as a child care worker, does your facility have any policy regarding staph infections?

Yes. They required her to stay out for 3 or 4 days while we cleaned the entire room and everything in it.They also required she have a dr's note when she returned. That dr note said that as long as the wounds weren't open she could return. However, since then the wounds have been opening. When we call the parents to pick her up they refuse to answer the phone or call us back. The next morning they claim the wounds are closed (and sometimes they are, but not HEALED... just waiting for her to bump/bite them again and break them open again) so they bring her back

Originally Posted by savvybabygrace

What has the director of the day care said about this? S/he is a mandated reported, correct? Do the other teachers/workers in the day care say anything about her parents treatment of her (or, better worded, neglect of treatment)?

Honestly- the director is out of the daycare for the last couple weeks because she has family in town. So she's left everything to the assistant director.... whom is not my favorite person and is very into not upsetting the parents. The other workers who work in the infant room (2 more other than me) are also very concerned about it but we've all been hoping it would get better. The grandmother of the baby has been trying to intervene and get the parents to let her care for the baby (there's a brother who is 4 at our daycare also and the grandparents do all the parenting of the boy- they drop him off at daycare and pick him up and do everything with him in between). But, for whatever reason, they won't let the grandmother take the baby girl. The grandmother comes into the infant room almost everyday to see the baby and most of the time she leaves in tears So I think us workers had been hoping the grandmother would be able to intervene and we wouldn't have to involve anyone else, but it's not looking like that's the case and things have gotten to the point where I couldn't let it go any further. If something happens to that little girl and I could have prevented it I never would be able to forgive myself.

However, I did not tell anyone else at the daycare that I called. Sad to think that I do have my job I don't want to risk I did tell the police and CPS what daycare it is though so who knows if they'll call on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, I probably won't hear anything further until Tuesday. I'm just going to try to relax this weekend and know that I did what I could and it's out of my hands now.

[PaigeC]

That poor baby. I find I don't know much about eczema - that baby that died - I had no idea eczema was that dangerous. The saddest part to me is that you said she stopped crying. poor baby.

[canadianchick]

[MeepyCat]

StephandOwen, it's possible that grandma feels that if she calls CPS, they won't let her see the grandchildren at all anymore. If that's the case, she's probably been hoping that someone at the daycare would do it.

I'm glad you called. That poor kid.

[EviesMom]

Guess this explains why DDs (controlled via diet; and with steroidal cream about 1/year when really needed) eczema has been doing so very much better in the last year. We've been swimming twice a week!

Now, you can't use the steroidal creams indefinitely or too much; they do have some risks IIRC. So that might be why they don't want the daycare using it. It's even possible that they blame the daycare for the extent of the problem, because overuse of the cream can cause thinning of the skin which can cause easier skin breakage. No diaper cream is ridiculous though, and she clearly needs something in terms of treatment!

I do think you made the right call, though. If the baby has been seeing the dr. and the dr. is the one who said no more cream or don't overuse the cream, give it time and air, etc. then CPS/police can find that out pretty easily. And the parents need to explain to the daycare what they're doing medically so you can help!

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

Now, you can't use the steroidal creams indefinitely or too much; they do have some risks IIRC. So that might be why they don't want the daycare using it. It's even possible that they blame the daycare for the extent of the problem, because overuse of the cream can cause thinning of the skin which can cause easier skin breakage. No diaper cream is ridiculous though, and she clearly needs something in terms of treatment!

I totally agree with that. But it wasn't a steroid cream they took away from the daycare. I can't remember what it was called but it was something the grandma actually bought (not the parents). One of the other workers in the infant room had a child with eczema and this cream worked wonders for her. She told the parents (and grandma) about the cream and the grandma bought it. The mom DID approve it's use (obviously we can't use anything without a parents permission). Whether grandma's pressure had anything to do with it or not... I don't know. Anyway, we used it at the daycare for about a week and she was healing SO MUCH. Then, for whatever reason, the parents decided to take the cream and not bring it back. The grandparents are also the ones who brought in medicine, gauze, tape and those little baby mittens (she sucks on her thumb which makes the wound on her wrist/thumb area break open so the baby mitten was to try to discourage her from sucking on it.... they won't let her have a pacifier either to discourage the thumb sucking) a couple weeks ago when it got really bad and we couldn't get ahold of either of the parents (we, obviously, have gauze and bandages and such at the daycare but were told BY THE PARENTS we weren't to bandage any of these wounds. But if the kid is bleeding and oozing everywhere and a parent won't come get her... what are we to do?). So the grandma came and bandaged her up. At one point (before she was diagnosed with staph) they (mom with grandma's encouragement) told us to put vasaline on all the wounds. That lasted one day until the dad picked up the baby and took the vasaline with him and refused to return it.

[EviesMom]

Oh no! So sad! i was truly trying to think the best of the parents, but its just so sad! I think you def did the right thing!

[sweetest]

You did the right thing.

[Brisen]

How sad And how odd that they don't want you doing anything. My dd has eczema, and has reacted badly to some things that are supposed to be safe; I would also understand if it were steroid cream, maybe wanting to use it only at home so I could monitor its use. And dd sometimes resists even the lotions that help her, because they sting a bit at first. But not wanting you to use anything, not even diaper ointment? And not letting you bandage her? I just can't even fathom it.

Is the girl on any kind of special diet? Could they be trying to figure out what is causing it so they can cut it out, and so they don't want to interfere with how it manifests, so they can know if it's starting to heal because of diet changes, and not the cream? I know, I'm reaching, but I can't stand to think that they are just refusing such simple help that would make such a big difference.

[LittleBlessings]

That poor baby. You did the right thing

[Quindin]

There is no doubt this situation warranted a call to CPS!
You are wonderful for helping this baby girl!
I cannot imagine how you feel seeing her suffer every day- I cried Reading your post :

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by Brisen

Is the girl on any kind of special diet?

No, not that the parents/grandparents have told us (and I've asked). Heck, half the time I have to beg the parents to bring in food for the girl as it is. She is supposed to be eating baby food/solids 3 times a day (as per the mom- breakfast, lunch and snack) but they usually only bring in 1 jar of food, sometimes 2, sometimes none per day The grandma said she's been trying to convince the parents to do allergy testing on the girl, but the parents don't want to deal with the hassle.

[MeepyCat]

Steph, I'm amazed that the daycare you work at has put up with this child's parents for so long. Because seriously, you have listed a bunch of offenses (no working emergency contact, no/insufficient food supplied for child, child with major and insufficiently treated infection - which means antibiotic resistant staph in a daycare setting, child with open wounds or sores, untreated diaper rash...) that would have gotten a child bounced from the daycare my son goes to. And I don't think my daycare is being at all unreasonable.

It is really not appropriate for a child with an untreated infection to be in care. It is not appropriate for parents to drop a child off without appropriate food, or without making arrangements regarding food with the DCP. It is not appropriate for parents to be generally unreachable. All of these things make it impossible for the center to provide reasonable care to that child, and to other children in the center. It is just, oh so very, not okay. Part of my DCP's policies, which are given to parents when they sign up, is a clear set of statements about what happens if these things are done, including under what circumstances the DCP will call CPS. It's not the first step, and I don't think they do it often (I have never heard of them actually making such a call), but it helps them to have it stated.

[mntnmom]

I'm not a wohm, but I wanted to let you know, you did the right thing! My, at the time, 3yr old DS had horrible cracking oozing excema. We were at the doctor every other week until we found something that works. He was on antibiotics for the better part of 6mnths, to prevent a staph infection.
It absolutely breaks my heart that this baby isn't getting the care she needs! It can be a major condition, and if the parents aren't on top of it... well someone else needs to be!!

[pixiekisses]

Oh, that poor, poor baby, my heart just broke from reading about it, and the part where you say she stopped crying almost had me in tears.
You did the right thing, I hope she gets help. Weird that the social worker didn't know about the state of this poor child.

[mysticmomma]

Hoping for a good update on Tuesday.

[kimiij]

I am so glad you called. I just don't understand why they took away the cream and why they don't want to do anything about it???

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by MeepyCat

Steph, I'm amazed that the daycare you work at has put up with this child's parents for so long.

I obviously can't speak for the director/assistant director but I think it has something to do with if the kid is in our care than we can at least keep an eye on her and, should it get worse, do something about it (like I did on Friday). If we had booted her from our care 2 weeks ago (when it started getting really bad) what would happen to her? Would ANYBODY around her be willing to stand up for her?

I know that excuse kinda sucks but.... at least we knew that while she was in our care (for 10 1/2 hours a DAY 5 days a week) she was being cared for as well as could be, ya know? We know she eats when she's in our care (we always have bananas around so if she doesn't have enough food for that day we'll mush a banana for her). Who knows what would happen if she were at home that whole time

[jeliphish]

As a CPS worker...thank you for calling. If they do in fact have an ongoing worker, then they definitly need to get on the ball!!!