I think CPS/DCFS is coming.

[WindyCityMom]

Not sure where to post this.  A month ago, DD2 tested with high levels for lead.  The finger prick was just above normal range.  The blood they drew from her vein was just below the cutoff, just a few points lower than the other blood draw.

I got a letter in the mail Friday saying that they attempted to contact me by phone and that I need to call to schedule a visit from the Public Health Nurse.  Okay, fine.  I called this morning and left a voicemail.

Then I went upstairs to my GMILs house to eat (she made lunch for everyone).  GFIL comes home and hands me a bright pink door hanger from the City of Chicago Department of Health and it says that they were sorry they missed me, that they need to talk to me about my DD2, and that I need to call a number to schedule an appointment.  

I'm freaking out because my DD1 is partially vaxed and my DD2 is completely unvaxed.  We've also missed a few of her WBVs because her doctor is always busy delivering babies, etc.

We live in an illegal basement apartment, renting from MIL.  (Meaning only one exit).  We have no stove or kitchen sink down here though.  DD2 also cosleeps- do I need to get a crib?  I have a pack-n-play... would that suffice?  I actually do have a crib but it is missing hardware so I can't put it together.  My DD1 has her own bed.

What should I prepare for??

[Super~Single~Mama]

The department of health, and DCFS/CPS are not the same thing.  Not even close.  I would not worry at this point.  But yes, the pack n play is considered a safe sleeping space for a young child (CPS came to visit me, and thats where I told them DS sleeps - they were fine with it)

[scottishmommy]

Ok I'm not totally sure about this, but I think that residences with high levels of lead are entitled to money from the city to repaint/ re window. They paid for my brother's new windows because there was lead in the paint and frames. This may actually be a good thing for you. They want to figure out where the lead is coming from.

[Peony]

Public health is not CPS ( I am an RN for my local heath dept), they more then likely are trying to do a follow up for your DD2 and assess the lead situation.  I would line out what you can, so put up the pack and play because every nurse is different and we are mandated reporters for abuse. not that cosleeping is abuse in my book obviously but every nurse considers different things to be "out there".Not vaxing doesn't bat an eye with me but then again I'm not your average public health nurse. Get an appointment scheduled for a WBV so if they ask, you can say we are going in on x date, with vaxing, "we are following a modified schedule per our pedi". And as far as the apartment goes, do you have to say you are renting? Can you just say you live with MIL, as in the kitchen you use several times a day is upstairs, and you just sleep downstairs? I don't know how strict they are on legal vs. illegal places to reside. Here we are often just happy a family has a place to stay regardless of where it is. 

[fancyoats]

i'l just echo the pps and say that the dept of health and cps are not the same thing.  my dd had high lead levels at her first screening (in our state it is mandatory to screen yearly up to the age of 6) and the social workers who came were super nice, they just wanted to give me a bunch of info and help to determine what the source of the lead was in the environment (windows, doors, paint, furniture, soil, etc -- in our case, it ended up being the paint on our ancient refrigerator from the 60s which we immediately replaced), and nutritional info to help protect against further exposure (load her diet up with iron and calcium vit c/d/magnesium to help absorption, etc -- they might also recommend a supplement).  they also had me look at a big long list of stuff (toys, jewelry) that had been recalled due to lead to see if we had any of that stuff. 

all in all, it was not a big deal.  i just tried to make sure the house was clean and tidy and that i seemed informed about the situation in general.  i knew they were here to help me.  (((hugs)))  i hope you can get the situation sorted out.  i found it really stressful and worry-inducing to have to think about the possibility of lead everywhere for the few months until dd's retest.  the retest confirmed that her level was way down, so that meant we had successfully eliminated the source of her exposure.  feel free to pm me.  i think there is a tribe somewhere around here for mamas who had high lead level kids, too.

[cappuccinosmom]

Tidy up and be polite.

Otherwise, I think you're overanalyzing this.

For one thing, you're living with relatives.  So you pay some rent.  No biggie.  If it's part of the main house, and you can enter the other part of the house through yours, they'll likely not consider it a seperate "apartment".  And yes, the health dept. is not the same thing as CPS.  If there's lead, they're concerned.  They'll want to test, and probably help your MIL fix the lead problem. 

[gbailey]

I believe the department of health is coming to find out the source of the lead and to make sure the child is no longer being exposed to it. I don't think it has anything to do with CPS. When you call to reschedule an appointment they can tell you the nature of their visit. Everything is going to be okay.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Ds tested high for lead.  Health department came out, well they tried to come like 8 times before they actually got into the house, but that was partially me avoiding them and mostly the fact that they never called first, just showed up. They used this "zapper" thing to test everything for lead.  They were not really concerned about anything else.  At the time we had a side-carred crib and they didn't say anything about it. 

They did give me a bath mat (the kind that goes in the shower to prevent slipping) and it was the slipperiest thing I've ever used!  I nearly killed myself 4 times before we threw it away!  And they gave me a smoke detector (although we have hard wired ones) and a night light?  I dunno why those things, but anyway.  I tried (very hard) to get the grant money to get some of our lead paint dealt with, to no avail.  I will try again to persue them in Jan.  Where I live they will do up to $5000 worth of lead abatement.

[WindyCityMom]

Thanks everyone!  I called and got an appointment for them to come, it's next Monday.  They somehow convinced me to allow them to let a student doctor watch and observe.  The man said that he's an "inspector".  I got another letter in the mail that said so also.  I'll keep everyone posted.  Thanks again.

Megan

[Smithie]

How did it go?

[heatherdeg]

Yeah--how did it go?  My son tested high for lead but under the "reportable" level.  In NJ, if you test above a certain level on either test, they have to notify the local health department to help nail down the source and get it remediated.  We didn't qualify for special funding but there was some kind of abatement program you could go through for help (I was facing the replacement of 30 3'x6' 150yo windows  :(  ).  Between helping nail down the source, figuring out if it needs to be removed or encapsulated (in-place abatement), finding out what contractors you can use, and how it could be paid for--the local health dept. is the place for all of that.

[Kidzaplenty]

Curious.