Think Accident Happened As Said?

[mrsnj]

Child arrives this morning with Gmom. She brushes it off that she fell and changed subject. I pull hair back and see this. I talk with her about what happened and she tells me they have a screen door and the screen is missing. That the child went to push on the door and fell through cause of the missing screen.

She tells the mom, gmom was opening the door for her daughter (the aunt) to leave for school and the child here fell out the door onto the patio. The patio is a 'brick' porch. Ball park story but not the same. I would think brick would leave brush burn type of scratches and/or lines from the brick. None. I look her over and see no red marks, scratches, etc on her elbows, knees, feet, fingers or hands. Even if she didn't put her hands out to stop herself, I would THINK a brick patio would leave a scratch or mark on other parts like her legs. None.

The mark is a complete circle and 'hallow' in the middle. No knot. Almost like a ring worm form. I would think if she hit her head full front that the center would be the part that took the brunt. And the edges would be jagged. Not a complete and perfect circle.

I told the mom what happened. Gmom did not. I took pics and sent to mom and sent to myself in email to document the time and date. But it really bothers me.

Thoughts???? Think she fell on brick?

[lovemylife]

First OMG!!!! That's a HUGE bruise!! IMO that is NOT from falling! It honestly looks like someone threw a baseball at her. That's a difficult situation! It may have been an accident but I don't think that's from falling.

[daycarediva]

Does she mark up easily?

I had a blondie (my own son) who marks up super easily fall on concrete and his his knee and it looked like that. (almost zero bruise on the center of his knee but all around was bad) He had scratches on his hands, though.

I dislike the inconsistency in the story and I probably would have questioned the absence of scratches or other bruising.

It's ALWAYS possible. I assume dck is too young to ask?

[Willow]

I saw a bruise like that during an abuse prevention/identification training, was caused by a mom who got mad and clobbered her child with a soda can.

If you've got one around you should check the diameter. There's no way if she hit brick that hard there wouldn't be an abrasion, and it makes no sense that it's perfectly circular.

[mrsnj]

It is huge! There is no knot which I think is odd for hitting brick. The Gmom says it happened two hours before coming here. But that knot would not fade that fast. Like I said no other red marks. She is two. I would think she would have put her hands out or taken it on her knees too or something.

[Play Care]

That does look like a classic head bonk mark to me.

[Heidi]

I'd say it doesn't matter. You just need to do what you did; document and inform mom (although since it didn't happen on your watch, you didn't HAVE to). You should document only what GMA told you. What mom told you GMA told her is hearsay.

If there's abuse going on, which is unlikely based on one injury alone, there will be a pattern of documentation.

Poor thing...it does look pretty bad!

[mrsnj]

I saw a bruise like that during an abuse prevention/identification training, was caused by a mom who got mad and clobbered her child with a soda can.

If you've got one around you should check the diameter. There's no way if she hit brick that hard there wouldn't be an abrasion, and it makes no sense that it's perfectly circular.

YES! That is exactly what it reminds me of! I am gonna check!

Playcare- really? I have had kids fall on cement and tile. Didn't look like that and I got knots. Never had one fall on brick. Why I am asking

Heidi- see thats the thing. The child is always coming with marks on her. She fell into the coffee table. She tripped over a toy. She jumped off the sofa. Etc. I don't think the parents really watch her well honestly. I have kinda been like "hummm' when she comes in with another bruise but nothing has looked like that. The Gmom already isn't sitting well with me (if you read my other post) so nothing would surprise me.

So just document.

I am going to mention to mom at pick up though about it seems odd no scratches, etc. Kinda let her know I know something if off.

[Unregistered]

My daughter did have one similar after leaping from a couch and smashing her forehead into the concrete basement floor.

If you need to document, perhaps ask for the story again to log in writing. See if the story remains consistent or alters again.

[Leigh]

I can't say, myself. I work very closely with a local social worker (I do a lot of drop-ins for foster care)...if a child showed up with that on her face, I would probably email the photo to her, along with the story you were given.

In gmom's defense: My son has pretty much the same mark on his knee after falling at his grandma's home this weekend (though he did have some scraping, as well).

[lovemylife]

I have seen. Lot of kiddos fall with a lot of boo boos. Never have I seen that kind of mark on a child from falling on concrete/bricks. Now my daughter took a fall in June and hit her head on an octagon end table that was in my room. We didn't have padding around the edges because dck aren't allowed in my room. Anyways she hit it hard. She needed 3 stitches by the bone and 4 stitches on the top of her skin. Even will all that the bruise was very minimal. My few thought when I saw the picture was/is abuse. Whether its intentional or not. I could post a picture of it. But it's pretty gross.

[Cat Herder]

Looks more like a doorknob to me...slammed as she tried to enter.

Bedroom or bathroom since the turn lock is not present.

[craftymissbeth]

Looks more like a doorknob to me...slammed as she tried to enter.

Bedroom or bathroom since the turn lock is not present.

That's what I thought it looked like also.

[Heidi]

Hey, I know we are mandated reporters, but we do have to use caution when jumping to conclusions.

OP, we know you don't like GMA, and obviously with good cause, but I would be careful about get too excited about one head bump. It IS a nasty one, I'll admit, but it's still only one injury.

:hug: I hope your day has gotten better than when it started.

[lovemylife]

Looks more like a doorknob to me...slammed as she tried to enter.

Bedroom or bathroom since the turn lock is not present.

I could see it being a door knob too, but doors move. So the door would have to be shut and her run into the door??? I can get pretty passionate about kids getting unusually marks. I had a child that always came with a new bumb, little bruise, exc. nothing to big. I didn't worry about it to much. It turned out the step father was abusive. It had been going on for a few months. The step father got very violent one night and broke the child's arm. I still regret not reporting it sooner. I should have listened to my gut.

Also I would rather report it and be wrong then not report it and the child continue to be hurt.