SERIOUS CHILD ABUSE REFERRALS
by Atty. Michael H. Agranoff

The surest way to have your child removed is an allegation of physical or sexual abuse of the child. Any person who commits this type of abuse deserves to have their child removed. But what if an untrue allegation is made? Who determines if the abuse actually occurred?

Technically, the Judges do. However, for all practical purposes, one of two institutions will often make the determination.

If DCF, or a physician, or another mandated reporter suspects physical or sexual abuse, then a child in Connecticut will usually be referred to one of two places: Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford; or the Yale Child Abuse Program in New Haven.

Pediatricians and other specialists will examine the child. There is a new sub-specialty entitled “Child Abuse Pediatrics”, due to issue its first board certifications in 2009.

If the child is examined for physical abuse, the physician will ask for the cause of the injury. The physician will then opine that the injury is one of the following:

Suspicious of intentional infliction; Diagnostic of intentional infliction (possibly intentional, but less certain than suspicious);

Indeterminate;

Probably accidental;

Almost certainly accidental.

The physician arrives at his or her opinion by examining the injury, getting the parent’s explanation of how the injury occurred, and consulting with other doctors as needed. “Unexplained injuries”, in the jargon, nearly always give rise to suspicion of intentional infliction of physical injury; hence, abuse.

The problem is that by the time the parent speaks to the doctor, he or she may already have been grilled by one or more social work investigators and by police detectives. These can be very confusing and stressful times, and the parent may not give full attention to the doctor. Very often the parent assumes, naturally but incorrectly, that the social worker or detective has “already told” the explanation to the doctor, especially if the social worker or detective said that he would.

The result is that many innocent parents have had children removed simply because they did not give an adequate explanation to the doctor. This is especially likely to happen, in that doctors are usually not as high-pressure as social work investigators or detectives. Many persons believe that the doctor/patient relationship means as much today as it did in the 50’s, and may relax their guard. The parent may assume that there is no problem, as the “explanation has already been given”. The parent, already stressed out, may relax and not be quite as vigilant with the doctor. Then the parent winds up having the child removed on “suspicion of intentional infliction of physical injury, due to inadequate explanation of the injury.”

While the doctors at CCMC and Yale are extremely dedicated, they make a living primarily doing DCF referrals. Since child abuse is so abhorred in our society, it is not difficult to believe that, in a close case, the doctor will err on the side of caution.

And Judges seldom overrule doctors in these matters, whatever the other evidence.

This is simply another way of saying that, at the very instant that DCF contacts you, you should contact a DCF defense lawyer.

That is not an admission of guilt.

It is recognition of the fact that social workers, police detectives, and doctors all do their jobs differently, and all look at things from a different perspective; and lay persons seldom understand those perspectives. If you go it alone without qualified legal representation, relying on your innocence, you may end up adding incredible expense and aggravation to your life.

An investigation of physical or sexual abuse of a child is an extremely serious matter. Hoping that it goes away, and waiting to call a qualified DCF defense lawyer only if it gets into court, is a questionable strategy.

Please also see:  The Problem of Unexplained Fractures.