I haz fast internet!!!

Getting the package was an adventure. It wouldn't fit through my letterbox so was left at the Royal Mail processing station. Great, I thought, since it is walking distance from work. Can you PARK there, however??? No, you cannot, and as I did not leave enough time on the first morning I tried to pick it up to both park at work and walk there and back, I had to go back the 2nd day. Which turned out fine, as that was April 8 and that's the day my broadband actually went live. I had to call Talk Talk to verify that before setting up. Once I had the go-live verified, I got the router set up and was online in about 10 minutes. Et voila!!! Now I can start catching up on internet activities, especially this blog!!!

It's been a very eventful couple of weeks since I last wrote. I saw the NHS doctor March 29 and he ordered a chest x-ray to see if I even have cardiomyopathy, as he doesn't think I have hypertension. On March 31 I caught the case of a 3MO baby girl who was at the hospital with suspected nonaccidental trauma. After spending half the day on the phone I got out to the hospital about 2:30. At that point I was just going to supervise baby's contact with parents. I sat with them and extended family members until about 4:50, then decided to leave as dad wasn't back from his police interview yet and I had said I would be back at the office about 5. As I was in the parking lot, my mobile rang and I was able to answer it as someone had pulled out in front of me and stopped, so I wasn't technically driving. It was Penny Jed, the child protection nurse specialist, informing me that the baby had MULTIPLE fractures and I needed to get back in there and establish with medical staff that baby wasn't to be alone with any family members. Neither my team leader nor I were able to get the police to commit to go back inside with me, but Penny was able to and the police showed up about half an hour later, Trevor and Michele, both of whom I've come to know well doing this work.

The specialist pediatric consultant showed us the x-rays on her computer and, since I've been in the medical field off and on since I was a teenager, I could clearly see that the baby had broken ribs. We estimated at that point plus or minus 9 fractures. The left arm, the fracture for which she was presented, was one of the worst breaks I've ever seen.

Trevor, Michele and I spoke with nursing staff, parents and extended family. I drafted an agreement for no unsupervised contact of any family with the baby and no attempts to remove her from the hospital either, which they signed. Left the hospital about 8:00.

The next day I finalized a foster placement for the baby (which I'd started on the day before) and did paperwork to establish her placement. The parents arrived downstairs in the Civic Centre, where I work, bringing car seat, comfort items and clothing as they knew she was going into foster care. Deborah, my team leader, and I talked to them about the agreeent and why it was best for both themselves and baby Scarlett.

Two police officers arrived, at which time I went back upstairs to get ready to go to the hospital and move the baby into her placement. Meanwhile, the parents were arrested and bail conditions were set - - basically what we'd agreed to in the prior night's written agreement plus no unsupervised contact with any children under 10.

I got up to the hospital about 5:30 and didn't get out of there with the baby until about 8. I fed her, changed her nappy, and waited for her discharge instructions. I brought the car seat up to her room to strap her into it, then carried her down and strapped her into my car. Which, I discovered at that point, did not have a dome light and I couldn't see what I was doing very well, but I strapped her in with the shoulder strap and wedged the front seat up against her car seat.

Off we went to the tiny village of Hawkinge, which is near Folkestone. It turned out to be a lovely home with a foster mum probably about my age, 2 Labradors (one golden and one black), and a 5YO girl with cerebral palsy who is one of the most beautiful children you could ever see - - besides baby Scarlett, that is. Scarlett managed the ride beautifully. She never does cry - - I fear it's because she's learned it doesn't help. She whinges a bit when she's hungry or needs a new nappy, but other than that she's perfectly happy and falls asleep as soon as you start her on a car ride.

Got home about 9ish, unloaded the car and realized I'd forgotten to have foster mum sign the required paperwork, so I went back the next morning and got that done. Needed to leave a copy of it with her anyway as it contains medical info.

Scarlett weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces at birth and was just over 11 pounds when she came into care. At that time we figured she'd had a fracture about once every 10 days - - alive for 90 days with 9 fractures. (I ran into another of the child abuse investigation unit police officers at the local home improvement store over the weekend and we talked about that figure.)

On Tuesday (we were off Monday) I learned that the baby had 12 fractures, not 9, and some were reinjuries - - i.e., they had callus formation, had either healed on their own or started to heal, and then been refractured. I learned that I had to supervise a parental visit, so I filled out paperwork to take to them (since we were going to court Friday) and we took separate cars to a neutral meeting point in Folkestone. I did NOT want them to have any opportunity to follow me into Hawkinge so I waited until they were well on their way before leaving - - the sat-nav took me a different route but it was still nervewracking. Especially since after I picked up Scarlett, I couldn't find the meeting place in Folkestone. I did get there eventually though and supervised the visit.

She was supposed to have visits Wednesday and Thursday but didn't - - foster mum had an appointment for her older child in London on Wednesday and took Scarlett with her, and Thursday the police were reinterviewing her parents when her visit was supposed to take place. OK for me as I actually got some other work done during this time - - had a strategy meeting for another case which is now going to conference in about 2 weeks. I also had a lot of paperwork to prepare for court.

Deborah and I were at court in Folkestone by 9:30 a.m. for a scheduled hearing at 10, which didn't happen until 1 - - which I'm well used to as far as delay in court hearings from Texas. I didn't end up having to testify as the parties came to an agreement long before our actual court time. The case is being transferred up to the county court, as the baby has such serious injuries, and will be heard next Wednesday. As of EOB Friday it was to be transferred to the long-term care team. I arranged supervised visits for next week and booked the room at the neutral meeting point in Folkestone for the next month.

I like going to court. Deborah is actually leaving our team and transferring to CAFCASS, which is a court advisory service, as she likes it too and wants to spend more time doing that. I can imagine following her there in due time. We had a chance to talk about why I was assigned to the duty team - - I told her I had not been consulted as to what type of team I wished to be placed in and she told me she'd never seen my CV. Talking to other Americans that came over when I did, it sounds like we were all slotted in on the basis of, well, we don't know. It's such a large county, whoever assigned us looks like they just put us where they thought the need was greatest and it was more or less of a fit. I haven't talked to any Americans who felt like "oh yeah, this is precisely what my experience suits me for." Even those who've had extensive CPS experience in the States, the procedures are very different over here. We've all had huge learning curves and are by no means at the bottom yet.

Next week I look forward to catching back up on other cases. First thing Monday I have a child protection conference. I have not even observed one of these yet, much less been the social services rep. My other team leader Andy is going with me. Fortunately it is an established process whereby there is a person whose job is to chair these conferences. I did have to go present the papers for the hearing on Thursday. My colleague Michael, to whom the case is going to be transferred on the long-term team, came with me, both as a learning exercise and so I wouldn't be going alone, as I warned him it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience, and indeed it wasn't. Suffice it to say that I emailed the conference chair after the home visit that if dad's mum showed up, I wanted her read the riot act and if she misbehaved at all she wasn't to be allowed to stay. The conference is for an unborn who is at serious risk from his dad, who is only 16 years old. We had a pre-birth planning meeting and when mum goes into labour, I'm to be called to be at the hospital. She's not to take the baby home to her partner, the unborn's dad. She's agreed to go live in Margate with her mum, but we will discuss all this at the conference and put the final plans in place. I did want to have the pre-birth planning meeting earlier in case she had preterm labour, which fortunately hasn't happened, but as she is only 18 that was a possibility.

Also I'll have a chance to catch up on the family that's going to conference soon. Will probably spend most of the day in Tunbridge Wells on Wednesday meeting up with family members, school, Health Visitor, etc.

There are some other cases that really need attention but the office is closed weekends. As time goes by I may do some weekend work, but then again, I already work late every night pretty much. The duty team are usually the last to leave the office.

This is what I came here for though and I'm not complaining at all. I feel blessed and privileged to be here. Catching a glimpse of the English Channel shimmering in the sunlight the other day as I crested a hill toward the M20 made up for all the ugliness to which I stand witness. Besides which, someone has to stand witness to it and I'm grateful to be someone who gets to do that.

Now I have my beloved cat, a car, my shipment, fast internet and a tight group of colleagues. Life is getting better every day!!!!!