Names: Cassie and Nate
Allegations: Bone Fracture, Environment Injurious
Penalty Avoided: 5 Years on State Registry, Children in Foster Care
In the early afternoon of February 3, 2015, Cassie S., mother of 13 month-old Hannah and 8-year-old Maya, noticed Hannah wasn’t putting weight on her left leg. When Hannah continued to avoid using the leg, Cassie and her husband Nate called their pediatrician, who advised them to give her Tylenol, keep an eye on her, and bring her to an appointment the next day.
Cassie and Nate decided not to wait; Cassie brought Hannah to the emergency room at Central DuPage Hospital at about 6:15 p.m. while Nate stayed home with Maya, who was recovering from the flu.
X-rays soon showed Hannah had a fractured tibia and fibula, two lower leg bones that commonly break together. Because Cassie couldn’t say for sure how Hannah got the fracture, the hospital staff called the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS).
Unfortunately the x-ray findings, which naturally concerned the parents, marked just the beginning of the family’s nightmare. Though Hannah was not seen by an orthopedist or the hospital’s in-house physician who specializes in child abuse, and Nate was not interviewed, DCFS decided to take both children into protective custody. A relative was made the children’s temporary foster parent. It was the first time either child had slept away from their parents.
The family’s 15-week long separation was especially traumatic for the oldest daughter who, due to her special needs, could not understand what was going on. Maya’s removal from her parents caused hardship because she required special transportation to school, which became unavailable during the foster care placement. And Cassie was forbidden from transporting her own daughter to school because the Court that her contact with her children be supervised.
The next day — still without talking to the hospital’s child abuse pediatrician, the family pediatrician, or Maya’s teachers — DCFS filed a petition to take custody of both children from the S.’s in the Juvenile Court of Kane County. Based on second-hand reports of the emergency room doctor’s opinion, the judge ratified the rushed decision that DCFS had made. Consequently, the S.’s were indicated for abuse under Allegation #9, “Bone Fracture,” and Allegation #10, “Environment Injurious.”
The Family Defense Center stepped into the case six weeks later, with a trial date then set for June 2. The Center argued for dismissal of the petition against the family. It was the first time, according to the Kane County Judge, that such a motion had been filed in that courtroom for parents. The Judge granted the motion to dismiss, but kept the children away from their parents while the State had to re-file an amended petition that set out facts supporting the conclusion that Hannah was abused.
Eventually, at a deposition in preparation for trial, the same emergency room doctor who had been involved in calling the Hotline admitted that, had he known there was an older sibling who sometimes played a bit roughly with Hannah, the hotline might not have been called at all. Even so, the State refused to back down, insisting that it had to investigate the opinions of other doctors.
Ultimately, the State’s Attorney of Kane County agreed with the family that there was no evidence that made abuse a likely explanation for Hannah’s fracture. At this point, the family also learned that Hannah’s fracture is considered to have “low” suspicion for abuse, according to two pediatric orthopedists and well-known medical literature. In May, the State’s Attorney voluntarily withdrew the petition and returned the children to their parents.
This case marked the second time in The Center’s history when the State conceded it did not have a case it could take to trial. And Nate and Cassie were told that their case was the first the caseworkers had ever seen in which an outside attorney advocated for the parents in that courtroom.
Just a few months later, Cassie and Nate learned that the indicated findings from DCFS had been expunged, removing their names from the state’s child abuse register. Previously, Cassie’s career as a nurse and Nate’s as a police officer had been threatened by the findings; with this resolution, the S.’s were able to continue their work as parents and support their family.