Defamation, emotional distress...?

[riri7575]

I joined this forum in hopes of getting some advice regarding a recent incident with my foster childs daycare. I have a 2 1/2 yr. old foster child that has attended the same daycare for nearly a year now and have always maintained a great relatinship with the employees there. On Monday I dropped her off like usual and proceeded to work, around 9am I received a call from our case manager that someone had called in an abuse report for my child stating that her butt and back were severely bruised to point that she could not sit down, was screaming in pain and would not let anyone touch her and speak to her. The child had been with her uncle for the weekend and I had picked her up on Sunday evening and everything was fine, I didnt notice and bruising and she never made a complaint about being in any kind of pain. Her uncle did tell me that she fell down wooden steps while getting out of a jacuzzi but she didnt seem to be injured. I immediately called the daycare and spoke to the assistant director, I asked what was going on and I was extremely distraught and wanted to know what was wrong with my child and if she is hurt I want to come get her or at least come see her as she was fine when I left her there just an hour prior. The woman began yelling at me asking what happened to her and if I had even changed her in the past 24 hours and how on earth could I have not noticed anything was wrong, she said that the child was screaming and could not sit on her bottom or have her pull-up changed because she was in such pain. She told me I could not come to the daycare and not call back, the investigators were on there way to get my child. Hours passed and an investigator contacted me and I was followed to the daycare to get the child and take her to been examined by a doctor at DCF, when I arrived, the assistant director and the director were in the lobby area and the investigator asked for some copies of paper work, I asked where she was, the playground or classroom, the director didnt ever look up to acknowledge me, she aske dthe investigator "are you here to pick her up now?" he said "yes, we will be taking her now." and she replied "well Ill get her, you need to stay out here." When the child came out to me she was running and laughing and excited to tell me about the crafts they were making.She seemed to be in no pain whatsoever. Long story short, the investigation found no reason to believe that the bruises were a result of abuse and the case is being dismissed. The authorities involved said that the report filed by the daycare was exaggerated, although they did, by law, have to report and suspicious injuries. Now that the case is closed, Im still feeling extremely embarrassed by the accusations and the way the daycare employees spoke to me regarding the situation. I was accused and blamed for hurting my child and do not know what to do now. Im embarrassed to go back there because all of the teachers think that I hurt my child, or let someone else hurt her. Im stuck with no where to turn and am feeling like I was treated so unfairly by these people. Im glad they filed the report and were concerned for her, but there is no reason for them to accuse me and insult me for letting something happen to my child. Ive also had to explain the situation to my boss because I had to leave work for the day, imagine how embarrassing and emotionally painful that was. And advice on filing a legal suit against these daycare employees who emotionally and verbally abused me?

 

[dee_dub]

Yes - don't file it. The staff may have overreacted, but it doesn't sound to me like emotional or verbal abuse.

I was accused and blamed for hurting my child and do not know what to do now

From what I read, I don't see you being blamed, accused, or insulted. Not overtly. They asked what happened (loudly), and asked whether you had changed her and noticed the injuries, and called CPS like they're supposed to.

What do you you now? Put it behind you. If you care what the staff think about you, explain to them that the injury was fully investigated and you were exonerated. If they choose to disbelieve you, whatever - they're free to hold their own opinions.