If my son has hearing loss, can his school get in trouble for this (read details)?

Question

My son was complaing of ear pain in school one day (he is 4). When the teacher looked, she saw dried blood and called CPS (child protection). In CPS's line of questioning, my 4 yr old, developmentally delayed son, said he cant hear and it came up that his dad and i hit (spank) him.
So after about 2 weeks CPS contacts me for the first time to tell me about this. The man i spoke with was very nice and didnt by any means seem "out to get us" and was appauled that the school had never said anything to us concerning his hearing.
I feel like the school had a responsibility to report possible abuse (although he is NOT in any way abused) but my question is, how can they not tell parents immediatley that their child may have damage in his ear and says that he cant hear! My 5 yr old's (who goes to a different school) school calls if he so much as scraoes his knee at recess!!! the worst part is they wont even tell me an exact date so i can give his DR all the info!!

Answer 1

It is possible that both the teacher and administration thought you knew of your son's ear ache. Most kids tell their parents if they feel sick, have aches and pains etc. .They may have further believed that if they could see the dried blood in his ear with the naked eye that you must also be aware of it when you checked when he washed up for school( after all he is only 4 and most kids are a little careless washing up). Your son has probably learned coping tecniques so that you were unaware of his hearing loss. By the way had your family doctor ever suspected he might have a hearing loss when he went for check ups or had prior earaches? It seems odd that a child of 4 would not have had his hearing checked in preparation for school.(same thing with eye exam) On the schools behalf you should find some comfort in the fact they take their responsibility about reporting suspected abuse seriously. It is not unusual for people to suspect abuse and turn a blind eye. With respect to the school not notifying you, it may be a lack of or miss communication or policy to not notify the parents if C.P.S. has been notified.

Answer 2

Well, the school does not have an obligation to tell you if they suspect abuse and in fact if the parents are not together it is more likely that they will call CPS because they will not know which parent is causing the problem.

If they think that the child may have dirrect hearing loss from the problem that is a different story because the child needed to be examined by a doctor immediatly to make sure there was no other problem than a hearing loss.

Now that you know about the situation you need to take your child to the doctor and have his hearing tested and have his ears looked at. sometimes children get infections and because they do not complain of pain the eardrum will burst and cause the ear to bleed and that is what sounds like happen to your child, it usually does not cause a hearing loss though. I am not certain how to tell you how to handle this other than to take your child to the doctor and find out what is going on.

Answer 3

From a teacher's perspective, I can see why you weren't told of this. The immediate fear was that the child was being abused. If the teacher felt this were a possibility, she has a legal (not just moral) obligation to report it (seriously, we can be sued and get into bigtime trouble if we don't). If she reports it and then tells you she suspects there may be something wrong with his hearing, it's going to be really easy for you to put two and two together and figure out who reported you to CPS. Lots of people aren't as rational as you- they wouldn't be understanding of the initial reporting to CPS.
While I'm not saying the teacher/school was in the right, I am saying I can see why they would be hesitant to tell a potentially abusive parent about the potential abuse they witnessed. It does seem a little out of place that the teacher's first instinct would be to call CPS about dried blood in an ear. Perhaps this was not the only or first thing that led the teacher to consider abuse, or at the very least, negligence.
You didn't mention that your son actually said he couldn't hear, just that he had pain in his ear. He DID tell CPS that he couldn't hear. This makes me think that the teacher/school wasn't aware of the hearing problem, just the blood problem. To me, that means they're not liable for anything. If I were you, and I'm not at all suggesting you're a bad parent, I would be questioning myself. Why didn't YOU know he had dried blood in his ear and was having difficulty hearing? Best wishes as you figure everything out.

Answer 4

Wow, that was some dirty pool on the school's part! To automatically assume that the blood was from child abuse rather than an ear infection was careless and costly and has also delayed the healthcare of your son! I would suggest trying to get some help from the CPS, they should have a child advocate that will get the information that the doctor needs. First and foremost is getting him the medical attention he needs.
Next, I might contact a lawyer. The school was negligent in the fact that they did not tell you there was a medical problem.

Answer 5

We all know out of the mouths of babes.This sounds to me like an incompetent teacher for not noticeing your sons hearing loss .I'm from N.C. and they do intial hearing test at school and teachers are supposed to be able to reconize these things maybe after he sees a doctor and if he has a hearing problem this could be why he is developmentally delayed if he can't hear he can't learn.As far as the school goes about telling you yea they should have but since the smart elic teacher called cps she was probly trying to hide from you.Sometime I think teachers put their nose where it does not belong and I would tell her and if by chance the doctor finds a problem which he should maybe your son won't have to be in her class anylonger.I whipped my daughter at age 14 for doing something that I told her not to and cps came to my house and talked to all 4 kids and found out that they were disiplined but not abused and the cps guy told me he would have done the same thing if it was his daughter.I know that cps nosing in your business can be very nerve racking but you know how you treat your kids and I'm sure things will work out to your advantage and if your son has to remain in her class I would wait till the end of the year and tell her a thing or two,she's no cps person by anymeans and she should not judge you or anyone for that matter.Good Luck and things will work out I will keep you in my prayers!

Answer 6

The problem with today's society and schools is that they no longer know how to differentiate between a disciplined child and an abused child and always assume the worst and in your case the school went running to social services without first trying to find out what was wrong. If there was something wrong with your son, first they should have called you, then they should have called the doctor that they have on file for your child is is part of their emergency procedures. It would then be the doctor that would determine how the injury occurred. They have to make sure the child is safe yes, but they went too far. I think that you should contact an attorney and find out. Most will give you a free consultation. The reason I say that, is because their priority should have been to call the parents and inform the doctor right away before calling protective services. They should not have been called until an evaluation was done, and only if the injury was suspicious. And who knows if he got hurt at school. My friends daughter was going to school with my daughter at a preschool. I got there to pick up my daughter, and my friends daughter was crying and said her arm was hurting. The teacher right away started saying " You better call her mom right away, I want to know why her arm hurts, if she did something to hurt her or if she got bruised" I couldn't believe that she was accusing someone I knew for 15yrs of abusing her daughter. Both my daughter and my friends daughter ended up telling us in front of the teacher and her aids that one of the Teachers aids had grabbed her arm really hard and hurt her. After a while of talking it out, it turned out that my friend daughter wasn't listening and the TA got frustrated and grabbed her and pulled to her classroom. (We ended up changing schools) Point is, the school is also jumping to conclusions that you are responsible for an injury that happened, when they have no evidence that you did it, it could have happened at school. That's why they should have investigated and treated your son first before getting CPS involved. I just can't believe that they didn't let you know to take him to a doctor, even if by law they had to report it, they should have also told you so you could take your son to the doctor. Their lack of doing so could have resulted in a worse problem since it took you so long to get him to the doctor because you didn't know. Talk to an attorney!!
When something like an injury happens to a child, the school is supposed to fill out an incident report and contact the parents according to my Older daughters elementary school handbook.

Answer 7

I have had hearing loss for many, many years and I have never had this problem.
The school is not qualified to be a doctor and they should have just had suggested that your son get a ear doctor.
I do not know where U live but the HOUSE Institute in L. A . is the best. They can take care of any problems that are occuring with your son.
As far as the school you may very well be able to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law providing that what you say are true accounts. Take care of your son first, then follow up on the other.
Good luck

Incedentally, I wear hearing aids on both ears and I am glad that I do. I wish my parents had forced me to do so when I was that age. It would have benifited me greatly in school.

Answer 8

I think its time to remove your son from that school he is in and file a complaint to the school board against the overzealous teacher.
They won't even inform the parent just in case its true. Which is crock abused kids rarely make it to school. If the teacher had any brains she would know an ear infection can have blood and pus coming out of the ear. Some kids dont' feel the pain of an ear infection. But I would not let it go.. and I would pull your child from school and tell the principal why in no uncertain terms!
Bunch of busybodies with no idea what childhood diseases and their symptoma are.... teacher doesn't have a medical degree and she did this to you .
They all jump on the abuse wagon nowadays. And parents let them get away with it!

Answer 9

i think that is awful. i understand that the school had to contact CPS, but it is unbelievable that they did not tell you your son may have a hearing problem. just like the teacher/school has a responsibility to call CPS if they suspect abuse, they have a responsibility to let you know if they think something may be wrong with your child. you need to go in and talk to the teacher, the principle, the superintendent -- whatever it takes to get some straight answers about your son. and they need to understand what a big deal this is.

good luck with CPS and your son's hearing!!

Answer 10

That is really wrong. They should have contacted you right away. I still don't see any reason for them to call CPS. was there something other than the blood in his ear? It sounds like he had a bad ear infection and if not treated he can end up with hearing loss. They might not be totally at fault for that but they should most definitely brought it to your attention right away so you could have it treated. I would change schools as soon as possible.