Doctor Causes Homeschool Family Trauma By Notifying Social Workers

Home School Legal Defense Association ^ | HSLDA

[hsmomx3]

The M family of Frederick, Colorado, were successfully homeschooling their eight year old son. However, one afternoon, their son collided with another child on a playground, and fell on the corner of a "fort," injuring himself. The mother was sitting nearby with a social worker who was working with the family on an adoption. A day or so later the family visited their doctor for a reason unrelated to the accident on the playground. The doctor noticed a bruise on the child and when the mother and son explained, the doctor still stubbornly insisted on turning them over to the child welfare agency. The allegation was that the doctor found an "unexplained bruise."

The family was contacted by a social worker who insisted on interviewing the child, entering the home, and possibly even inspecting the child. HSLDA Senior Counsel Chris Klicka contacted the social worker and explained that the family had certain Fourth Amendment rights that prevented the social worker from coming into the home. Furthermore, there was no evidence that the bruise was indicative of abuse. Klicka provided a statement from a doctor who gave a second opinion and found nothing, a letter from the social worker who was an eyewitness to the injury, and three references of others in the community who vouched for the M family.

Klicka sent a letter along with the documents evidencing that no abuse or neglect had occurred to this child. The case is expected to be resolved in the near future without a social worker interviewing the child or entering the home.

[buffyt]

Oh my gawd! We are a fair skinned family of mainly N. European extraction. I barely bump anything and I get a bruise. The vacuum handle bumped into my arm the other day and I had a forearm that was one HUGE bruise. My kids were the same way growing up. I would ask them where they got the bruise and they usually didn't remember. We bruise easily or shall I say our bruises really show up. My sons were wild, climbed, jumped, played rough, tackled each other, their childhoods were a series of bumps and bruises.

[GluteusMax]

Wise move to keep the leeches out of their home.

[Prime Choice]

Who wants to take bets that this will be filed with Human Services as "unresolved" and will haunt the family until their dying day?

Considering the bureaucracy, it's practically guaranteed.

[Maceman]

My five-year old daughter attends a private school consisting of a 22-room converted mansion on ten acres of land, in which the 200 kids there (ages 5-18 with no age segregation) are given the virtually unsupervised run of the property and an unusual degree of freedom in deciding how they will spend their days.

Naturally, the little ones prefer to spend the days outside, playing on the playground, riding bikes, climbing rocks, sliding down banisters and generally doing all the kids that things used to do before the educational establishment decided to outlaw tag, dodgeball and other such diversions.

My daughter is really thriving in this environment, and my wife and I are very pleased with her physical and emotional development to this point.

A few nights ago she was in the bath and she and I decided to count all the bruises on her legs. We counted 18, and she thought that was really cool -- almost as if they were badges of honor.

[doodad]

My parents would still be in jail if these busybodies had seen me as a kid. We went out of our way to inflict as much damage as possible in our often stupid antics. Jumping tables on bikes comes to mind. Skateboarding into culdesacs and jumping off at the last minute also comes to mind. Took awhile to stop rolling, but sometimes before the trees caught you at the stream embankment. LOL

[candeee]

Is anyone warning this doctor's other clients?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Time to get a new doctor.

[The_Pickle]

Your story brought to mind an occasion when I was about 12 when I decided to tackle a killer hill on my skateboard. The result was that I flew off an embankment 15 feet down onto a paved driveway in full view of the homeowner. I was bumped, scratched, bruised but not broken and the only reaction that my parents had was "I bet you won't do something that stupid again will you?".

I didn't

[Ol' Sox]

The first week that my adopted sons were in my home, they decided to play helicopter on the swing set. Son 1 lay stomach down on the swing, while Son 2 wound him up as tight as he could and let him go. Son 2, turning about 200 rpm, smacked his head into the supporting 4x4 of the swing set.

At the hospital, the attending physician and nurses viewed our story with great skepticism until they found Son 1 wheeling a gurney around like a carnival ride in the ER. After that, they were profoundly sympathetic.

[steplock]

PUBLICIZE the doctor's name.

He is an idiot.

[skyman]

Why is it than in many cases like this the social workers come in with the police and take children on flimsy "evidence" and Michael Jackson gets to keep his kids even though he holds them out of windows...covers their faces with masks, is accused of molesting kids, etc.

Oh I forgot it's because he is rich and part of a protected group of people that pull the race card if you criticize them. Actually after all his plastic surgeries, I'm not sure what you would call him now?

[BabsC]

Precisely, my niece starting walking at 9 months. She's red headed, cream skin. Looking at that child hard seemed to bruise her. Fortunately she's also tough, healthy and has an extremely protective father.

[Gunslingr3]

Who wants to take bets that this will be filed with Human Services as "unresolved" and will haunt the family until their dying day?

Haunt them in what manner? The only way it would be noted was as a prior hotline call in the circumstance that a later incident initiated investigation.

[2Jedismom]

My kid's doctor is a liberal. He seems ok, but I trust him about as far as I throw him.

It's good to know the HSLDA is on my side. Worth the money to join just for that peace of mind.

[Marie]

WHERE IS THIS SCHOOL!!!!!

[Marie]

About three years ago I took my (then) 7 year old in for a physical so he could play soccer. When the doctor lifted up my son's shirt to listen to his lungs I was horrified to see my son covered in bruises. This kid seriously looked like he'd been beaten. The doctor calmly asked my son what happened to his back. After a quick puzzled look, my son broke out in a huge grin. "Well, first I put Cody in the box, then I got in the box, then we roooooled down the hill. Then we went back up to the top and I put Cody in the box, then I got in the box and we roooooled down the hill again. Then next time we did it I made Cody take off his shoes."

The doctor was teary-eyed and beat red from trying to hold the laughter back. When we were on our way out, he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to worry. He was a boy once. Thank God for this man. He was there for all the stupid stuff and probably saved my family until he was moved to another clinic.

[Maceman]

WHERE IS THIS SCHOOL!!!!!

It's the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, MA. It is the first of its kind (about 30 years old) but there are a few similar schools in other parts of the country that follow the same model.

You can find out about it here.

If you have any questions about it, feel free to post them here or freepmail me.

[Maceman]

Sorry, the link I posted in my last reply was no good. Here is the right link.

[Straight Vermonter]

Actually leeches will clear that bruise up nicely. LOL