Do you consider this child neglect?

Question

An 8 year old girl breaks her arm riding her bike. The mom doesn't necessarily know it's broken, but the girl is obviously not using her arm. It's just hanging limp and she's using her left hand to do everything even though she's right handed. The mom doesn't take her to the doctor until two weeks later and the X-rays show it is broken and she has to have a cast. Is there something wrong with this? Is this neglect? Thanks!

Answer 1

If the child is not complaining of pain, and the child seems relatively unaffected by it then not really.

At 8 years old a child can verbalize if they are hurt, if the child is not doing that and is otherwise a normal healthy child then no.

Answer 2

If the child is failing to use her dominate arm, i.e it is hanging limp then there is an obvious problem. Children don't always complain when something hurts and they may even deny when asked. Several times children have had hairline fractures and don't so much complain about pain as much as they do a feeling of "fattness or tightness and weakness" Also the area in question may feel either cool or hot to the childand when touched by another will feel hot (fever in the area) I can see waiting a day but if the lack of use has continued then a trip to the doctor is in order. However, parents aren't all doctors so they wouldnt know what to look for. Their child could be a "dramatic" child and looking for that extra comfort. I wouldnt call it neglect so much as lack of knowledge. Now the parent will know what to look for in the future

Answer 3

Depends on how much the child complained to the mother that the arm hurt. If the child didnt say it hurt alot or all the time then there really isnt much the mom could do but wait to see if it was just sore and would get better on its own. Since it didnt after a few weeks and she did take her to the dr. I would say no its probably not neglect. The mom could have asked the child some more questions about the arm not being used as much if she was more observant.

Answer 4

It sounds as though the kid didn't say anything. Kids are quirky, I've seen kids go weeks without using a hand just because someone else broke an arm or because they wanted to. My four-yr-old son develops a limp every other month or so for no apparent reason. After the first couple of trips to the doctor, I don't take him anymore, if he broke it now and didn't say anything, it might be months before I knew. At eight, you don't watch your kids as closely because they talk. Who in their right mind would think that a kid wouldn't mention a broken arm? The school didn't notice or say anything either. I don't think it was neglect unless it happens all the time. Its hard to understand unless you've had kids, but kids are REALLY weird, they do weird things and you are never sure why.

Answer 5

Well, 2 weeks shows that the mother is not that observent....I am not sure if it is neglect. It would depend on what the mother was doing and if anyone else brought it to her attention. I broke my arm when I was three, I fell of a porch trying to rush inside the screan door while it was raining. My mother found me on the ground crying but did not take notice to anything being broke. She gave me lunch, then had me lay down for a nap. It was not until later that afternoon when I awoke that she noticed that my arm was huge and discolored. She took me to the ER asap and the doc's actually called Social Services on my mother. this was a pure accident, but this woman who has not noticed in two weeks there must be something wrong with that picture.

Answer 6

If the child didn't complain to much about the arm then the parent wouldn't of known it was broken. All kids fall off their bikes, so its only natural thats parents are not going to run to the ER every time they fall. If the child showed a lot of discomfort, and complained of being in pain, then that could be neglect, but it sounds as though the parent didn't know, and the child didn't show any pain.

Answer 7

If you are concerned that there may have been neglect, you should share your concern with an authority. Every state (if you are in US) has a Department of Child Welfare. In my state it's the Department of Social Services. You can file anonymus reports over the phone. It's their job to make discoveries of abuse and neglect. If they find there has been neglect through carelessness instead of maliciousness they will most likely develop a plan of service for the family, and help the mother and father with parenting skills and advocacy. I encourage you to make this call. Good luck!

Answer 8

I don't think it is necessarily neglect if this is the first time it's happened, and the mother didn't really know. I think she should have taken notice and asked her daughter about it and taken her to the hospital when she noticed, but she did take her to get medical attention, and two weeks isn't that long. I know my mom would wait to take me to the hospital because it was usually just a bad sprain or something that would heal on it's own. So, I wouldn't really call it neglect, but I would tell the mother to take more notice if their child seems hurt.

Answer 9

I would not consider that neglect necessarily, especially since everyone now a days says that you shouldnt freak out if your kid hurts themselves and that parents worry to much, i personally would have done something if i saw it all limp. . . .. and especially if she didnt use it at all, i would have only given it 1 day or so. . .. I also think that people jump to child neglect way to quick. People have nothing else better to do then to start **** in other peoples business. . .it would have been a lot different if the mom broke her arm.

Answer 10

If the injury was obvious - the arm hanging limp - the mother probably shouldve noticed or at least asked the child. It depends - the dr will have to make the call on whether mom shouldve known to seek medical treatment or not.

Answer 11

YES and child services will most likely be called my the hospital. Those are tell-tale signs that the arm is broken.