KRISTEN | PENNSYLVANIA

“It happened to us.

On 11/1/21 our 3 year old daughter, Grace, fell on our hardwood steps and split her chin open. As we were tending to her and getting ready to take her to the ER for stitches, our 10 month old, Luke, decided he would pull himself to stand (for the first time ever) on a soft piece of children's furniture on the floor and fell face-first on the hardwood. Those few moments couldn't have gone that way again if we tried. They replay like a loop in my mind.

We immediately rushed both children to the children’s hospital ER for care. After a few tests, we were told that Luke had a small brain bleed and that he would be admitted to the PICU overnight for monitoring. That news alone was traumatic enough.

Given my profession in education and my husband's in healthcare, we are mandated reporters and familiar with the reporting process. When the doctors told us that given the nature of his injury and his inability to tell them what happened, they had to make a report to CYS, we completely understood their reasoning. We never knew what would happen next.

The next day, a doctor from the Child Advocacy Center interviewed me about what happened. They spent a total of 5 minutes looking at Luke and taking pictures of him. They NEVER interviewed my husband. They said they had all they needed and left.

Then the doctors told us they wanted to run a few more tests on Luke- including an eye exam, full skeletal x-ray, and an MRI. Later that evening, an on-call case worker from CYS came into the PICU and told us that we must sign a protective order indicating that we are not allowed around our children unsupervised and that we were being investigated for child abuse.

For the next FORTY-SEVEN days, we had to be supervised by a family member in our home or we were told the children would be placed in protective custody.

We couldn't do anything with our children unsupervised. We had to tell Grace's preschool about the investigation so that they understood why two adults were dropping her off each morning. I had to tell my employer that I needed a new space to work with my students so that I could be seen and/or heard with them. The shame was unbearable.

It was during this 47-day investigation that we learned that the child abuse pediatrician on our case had a theory that we shook our son, thus causing his head injury. This accusation came from a doctor that NEVER MET US OR OUR CHILDREN.

This doctor not only refused to meet us, but she ignored medical recommendations from other members of the children’s hospital network. She had the fate of our lives in her hands and she didn't even know us.

We sought out second opinions from renowned specialists in Philadelphia and when they learned this child abuse pediatrician was involved in the case we were told ‘we don't get involved in a case when she's involved.’

We spent hundreds of dollars on medical research journals and publications that showed statistics about the type of fall our son had that lead to his injury. When we presented them to our case worker we were told that our accusing doctor has published articles too and it didn't matter what other research we had.

Our voices didn't matter. References from our family and friends and professional references didn't matter. Once this doctor decided we were at fault, there was no convincing her otherwise. We learned that this doctor had actually been removed from medicine in FL and NY because of these same instances. We couldn't believe that it was now happening to us.

On 12/21/21, just 2 days before a scheduled court hearing in which lawyers would decide if our children were dependent on the state for care and only 4 days before our first Christmas with our son, we got the call that the investigation was over, the case was dropped, and that it would be recorded as an unfounded case of child abuse.

Our children were never taken from our home and for that we will be forever counting our blessings. This doctor and CYS did, however, remove any semblance of peace from our home.

The trauma that we went through for those 47 days, paired with the aftermath of it, has changed our lives forever. Instead of watching our children play and think ‘look how much fun they're having.’ It’s ‘what do we do if one of them gets hurt by accident? What will the doctors say this time?’ There is always the looming fear that something else could happen (because kids are kids) and that they could be ripped from us.

For a while now, we have wondered what we can do to get this doctor removed and these practices at this children’s hospital and CYS reviewed. Seeing the news stories about families accused by this same doctor speaking out still feels surreal. To be validated. To be believed. To know there are other people out there.

But seeing those testimonies only showed me how easy we had it in comparison. We were able to have our babies at home and still do. Our level of hell wasn't nearly as bad as others.

As an educator and with my husband's background in healthcare, we are in complete support of mandated reporting and protecting children from abuse. However, this doctor is abusing her power, tearing families apart, putting children through unnecessary trauma and continuing to get away with it.

This problem is rooted in misuse of power.

Parents should not be fearful to bring their children to the ER for care. Second opinions should be mandatory in these cases to protect against bias. A deeper investigation into this doctor’s practices and an individual review of each of her cases must be done.

To the other families, we stand with you. You are not alone. And your bravery in sharing your stories finally gave us the validation and bravery to share ours.”