Chronic medical conditions are variable in their prevalence individually, but extremely common collectively. Data suggests more than half the population in the United States suffers from at least one chronic physical health condition. When you or your child has a diagnosed medical condition, it factors into CPS’ safety assessment…but how and what are the answers CPS is looking for?
Chronic medical conditions by themselves are not usually safety concerns, but as soon as some aspect of its management falls outside the ideal, it enters a murky area in CPS assessment that can be the difference between an unsubstantiated case wrapped up in less than 60 days and a substantiated case with years of involvement with varying degrees of intrusion- up to and occasionally including a termination of parental rights. When it comes to a parent or other caregiver with a chronic medical condition, CPS is looking for:
- How well your symptoms are managed
- Whether or not your chronic medical condition affects your ability to exceed the minimum standard of care.
- Whether or not your child(ren)’s care has ever been impacted by your symptoms.
- Treatment you are receiving or treatment-seeking behavior (e.g. devices, implants, medication, etc.).
- How your medication (if you take any) is securely stored and made inaccessible to your child(ren).
- How your medical condition affects supervision of your child(ren).
- What collateral supports you have in the event your condition impairs your ability to care for your child(ren).
When it your child(ren) with a chronic medical condition, CPS is looking for:
- How well your child(ren)’s symptoms are managed.
- How attentive you are to addressing your child(ren)’s health condition(s).
- Whether or not you are the cause of your child(ren)’s health condition(s) (Yes, CPS will look for signs of Munchausen’s by Proxy and occasionally alleges it erroneously).
- Treatment you have enrolled your child in (e.g. specialists, medication, school-based services, etc.).
- How you store the medication securely to ensure it is used responsibly.
- How you work with the child(ren)’s school to ensure they’re kept appropriately accommodated and safe (if applicable).
When CPS either suspects or finds out a household member has a medical condition, they will typically have a meeting with one of their medical consultants, with whom they discuss the case and recommendations are provided to them. The medical consultant is typically a pediatric nurse practitioner or pediatrician who has additional training in child abuse. You will not be privy to this meeting, nor do you have the right to be present. You will not meet this consultant and your CPS investigator will not likely mention it to you. The purpose of meeting with the consultant is so the CPS investigator doesn’t have to claim to be an expert and can say in testimony a mental health expert has been consulted in the event CPS takes invasive action such as removal or seeks a court order to force your compliance with services.
When you or your child have a diagnosed chronic medical condition, CPSprotect Consulting Services recommends you do the following:
- Ensure the diagnosed household member(s) are seeing a primary care provider at least annually and specialists as warranted.
- Ensure the diagnosed household member(s) is following their treatment regimen.
- Refuse to provide consent for CPS to access your or your child’s medical or mental health records (in most cases).
- Refusing to provide consent for CPS to speak with any of your or your child’s medical or mental health providers (in most cases).
- Request a signed letter from your or your child(ren)’s primary medical provider on their letter head detailing the last time your or your child(ren) were seen for an appointment and that they have observed no signs of child abuse or neglect. You can provide this letter to CPS (for particular medical conditions, it is advisable to get letters from the treating specialist(s), as well).
- Make sure you store any and all medications (especially prescription medications) in a lock box on a high shelf where it is inaccessible to your child(ren) without assistance.
- Make sure you have redundant community supports that can assist if you or your child are experiencing symptoms
If you don’t have good supports in place, CPS will likely try to push prevention services on you, which will either by provided in your home by a non-profit agency contracted to do so by CPS or be provided by CPS directly. CPS tends to be pretty aggressive at making sure services of some kind (they usually prefer their own contracted prevention services) are in place and may substantiate a case if there are not. This is why it’s so important to make sure you’re looking for services not provided by CPS if you don’t already have them and CPS is involved.
If you aren’t taking care of yourself or your child(ren) (depending on who has the chronic medical condition), CPS may decide the risk to your children, even if small, is too great and proceed to remove your child. CPS also looks for signs of Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy and this becomes more likely if your child has a rare or systemic medical condition that the medical consultant may never of heard of (at least not since they were in school). Continuity of supervision is always a major concern when a parent has a chronic medical condition and is at risk of becoming incapacitated, so having redundancies in supervision to point to are extremely important.
Generally speaking, CPS treats families that include someone with a diagnosed chronic medical condition with higher scrutiny than they do those without. Therefore, appropriate planning for these families before a CPS investigation occurs is even more crucial than it is for most. The key is to exceed the minimum standard of care as defined by CPS by enough that the chances CPS finds any concerns are minimal. Otherwise, it doesn’t take much for CPS involvement to become extremely destructive. If you need a free referral to a service provider in your area, please give CPSprotect Consulting Services a call toll-free at (844) 633-KIDS or e-mail us at contact@heartworkdefense.com.