What are our obligations to notify DCP?
I was recently conducting a home visit with my supervisor to see a child who was almost 12 months old and was severely delayed in his motor development. He was as yet unable to roll between supine and prone, was only just starting to sit independently.
The child is the youngest of 6 children (aged up to 17) and all children are still living at home. The 17 year old female recently had a child who is now 2 months old and is also living with her partner in the family home. 3 step children lived in the area and would occasionally stay. The family’s financial situation was very poorly and on initially entering the house I observed a lot of rubbish and old mail and broken furniture that would be dangerous to young children.
As we continued our assessment of the child, I noticed a dark spot in the child’s fair coloured hair. On closer look it was a flea. We found several others on the child’s body. The mother was extremely embarrassed by this and apologetic. We completed our assessment and left.
Following this I was discussing with my supervisor if the family accessed appropriate support services and whilst they were known to local services the family often did not attend appointments. I continued to ask further questions as to what our obligations to notify services such as Dept of Child Protection about the living conditions and the fact that flea’s were found on the baby. My supervisor defended the mother as she believed she was trying to do the right thing by her family but wasn’t getting help from her partner that had led to this situation. Despite this I continue to be concerned by what I saw…maybe there are other families living in worse conditions (I was recently in Derby and did some worse housing conditions) however I did not feel it was safe for a child to live in that environment.
Since the subject was closed in my supervisor’s mind I couldn’t ask the question…what are our obligations to notify DCP?
Weeks later and I still wonder about this poor child.
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1 comment:
Lisa
I agree with your supervisor, its quite a complicated situation and to my understanding, you have done your best by discussing this issue with your superior and if she decided that no further action is needed regarding, then that is that. However, if you really concerned about it and wanted to know what exactly you should do in the future if you yourself is the sole physio to face the similiar situation, maybe ring the DCP and seek advice.
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