Help Lauren fight injustice
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Hello I am fundraising for Lauren to help her with her legal fees. Here is her story;
On March 25th 2022, my 3 year old son was at home with my boyfriend. My son was jumping on his Little Tikes trampoline when he tripped and fell, his face landing wedged between the baseboard heater and the wooden frame of his toddler bed. He cried and my boyfriend calmed him down and alerted me by text that he had fallen, but that he was okay. When I got home shortly after, I found my son sleeping peacefully. The next morning, we noticed bruises had developed on both sides of my son’s face. Although he was acting normally and not complaining of pain, I took him to an urgent care where he was examined and the doctor told me she saw no obvious signs of serious injury. While at the urgent care, my son was happily singing and chatting to the doctors and nurses. The doctor directed me to take my son to the ER, saying she wanted them to double check for head injury. Little did I know, the doctor then called CPS, who called the hospital and advised them to be on the lookout for us as there was suspected abuse. Oblivious to the suspicions of the doctor and under the false impression that my child might be seriously injured, I called my boyfriend and asked him to come with me to the children’s hospital. There, my son was examined individually by two different doctors who noted that he appeared to only have superficial bruising. One doctor asked my son how it happened and he told them he fell off his trampoline. By this time, the doctors had observed the natural interactions between me, my boyfriend, and my son. They ran blood work to double check for anything that would raise red flags. Having done this full assessment, both doctors agreed this was not a case of abuse. The doctor told me and my boyfriend the real reason we were there, and was apologetic about the misunderstanding. Because a CPS case had been opened, a CPS worker spoke with us and my son, as well as with the two doctors. He also called our pediatrician to verify that they had never had any suspicions or issues. He was also satisfied that this was not a case of abuse and assured us the case would be closed as soon as possible. The next day, as my son’s father picked him up for a visit, video from the doorbell camera showed us having a conversation in the driveway about what had happened at the hospital, and my son can be heard saying “daddy I did a faceplant” and his dad laughed and said, “you did a faceplant, I see that.” Little did we know, a Child Abuse Pediatrician (CAP) at the children’s hospital, had observed photos of the bruises after we had been discharged, and said that they looked “suspicious.” On March 30th, I received a call from a detective at the Special Victims Unit asking if my boyfriend and I could come to the local Safe Center immediately for an interview. We complied and there I was told that they suspected my boyfriend of hitting my son. I assured them that was not the case. A couple days later I was asked to bring my son to the Safe Center as well for a forensic interview. I wanted to be compliant and was confident that he would set the record straight just as he had at the ER. It did not even occur to me to contact a lawyer. Upon arrival, I was informed that I was not permitted to be present for the interview nor was I permitted to observe it via video, but a detective and a CPS caseworker would be observing via live video. The interviewer interrogated my 3 year old for 90 minutes. In the video recording (which was only made available to my attorneys months later), my son can clearly be heard telling the interviewer that he fell. After 20 minutes he was asking to leave. During the interview, he said he did a faceplant, the same term he had used before to his father. When asked to describe what a faceplant was, he acted it out by demonstrating a fall. Going directly against child interviewing protocol, which states that leading questions must not be asked, the interviewer began telling him that someone told her my boyfriend hit him and is that true. During the interview my son disclosed that he had had a bad dream about a monster locking him in a closet (“daddy monster” which is a character from the TV show Dora the Explorer). The interviewer asked a series of questions to determine whether he was a reliable source; for example she asked him if he was 10 years old. He said yes. By the end of the interview he was so desperate to get out that he was saying “yes” or “I don’t know” to everything, in clear hopes that they would just let him go back to his mommy if he agreed. Towards the end of the 90 minutes, totally confused and exhausted, visibly falling off his chair and sucking his thumb, he eventually agreed, clearly unwittingly, that my boyfriend dropped him. After the interview, the CPS worker wrote in her notes: “he kept saying that he ‘faceplanted’ but couldn’t explain what that meant or show what it looked like. He disclosed that [my boyfriend] hit him, locked him in the closet, and threw him. He refers to [my boyfriend] as ‘daddy monster.’” I was accused of having coached my 3 year old to use the word faceplant, and they said they reached this conclusion because he had been unable to explain what that word meant. Yet they failed to mention that he acted it out for them. After the interview, another CAP was shown the pictures of the bruises and this CAP advised that if he had fallen face first, he would have to have had bruises on the front of his face. Because this CAP had not spoken to me, nor my boyfriend, nor my son, nor the ER doctors nor the CPS caseworker who had been at the ER, she was unaware that the explanation for the bruises only being on the sides of his face was because he fell with his face wedged in between the bed and the heater. On the basis that he had no bruising to the front of his face, the CAP told the CPS worker that his bruising was consistent with abuse. Orders were put in place requiring my boyfriend to leave our residence. Police came to our home next day to carry out a well check and asked my son about the bruises on his face so he led them to the spot in his bedroom and even demonstrated how he was jumping on his trampoline and fell. He repeated the same story twice in the presence of the officers. This did not do anything to halt the abuse investigation that was already underway. My boyfriend was later arrested and charged with second degree assault against a minor. My son’s dad got custody and supervision requirements from CPS were put in place for my visits with my child. I was not even present when the bruises were obtained and was not being suspected or accused of hurting my child at any point, but was still being treated like a criminal who couldn’t be trusted to be alone with my own son. I’m Irish and have no family in the US, so I made repeated requests for one of my parents to be allowed to fly from Ireland to supervise time with my son. My requests were initially refused and a month went by where my only contact with my child was on facetime while his dad had custody. My boyfriend’s criminal case eventually resolved favorably without any criminal conviction or findings of abuse, although he had to waive his right to a trial. He was advised by his attorney that the deal they offered would be better than waiting potentially a very long time for what would have been an expensive trial to prove innocence and it would close the criminal case more quickly to hopefully pave the way for me to get custody back. As part of the deal, he was required to agree to a 2 year stay away order from my son. I contacted an organization who helps families wrongly accused and was referred to a CAP who could provide her unbiased view on the matter. According to this CAP who I had review the video of the interview, the interview was not conducted under the proper protocols. I was also referred by the organization to a forensic interview expert who agreed that my son’s interrogation was improper and unethical in the way it was conducted. The video of the interview belies an entirely different reality than the one stated by the CPS worker. The CAP who had been referred to me reviewed all of the records and agreed there was no abuse. She commented that the situation was “ridiculous” and later stated that it was one of the worst injustices she had seen (as someone who routinely testifies in these types of cases). During the family court proceeding, this CAP testified that the bruises were not consistent with being hit or slapped (as the other CAP had said). There were no visible handprints. This CAP stated that the bruises were consistent with his face being squeezed between a bed and baseboard heater. She testified that the lack of bruising to the middle of his face was explained by there being a small gap between the two objects, causing the middle of his face to not have touched the floor. The original CPS worker also agreed to testify on my behalf, as did the doctor from the ER, and the police officer who conducted the well check. On December 13th, 2022, CPS withdrew their petition against my boyfriend, and his portion of the neglect proceeding was dismissed entirely. However his 2-year stay away order from the criminal court remains in place. On February 15th 2023, almost a full year later, my custody was finally reinstated. The repercussions of this nightmare will be felt for the foreseeable future. Our legal fees alone are six figures. I am hopeful that there won’t be long term impacts to my son’s emotional health as a result of being removed from me, but the full impact remains to be seen. After all, at the tender age of three, he was needlessly removed from his mother. As a precaution against any future false allegations, I now have surveillance cameras throughout my house, something I wish we would have had when the fall first happened as then we could have proven it was an accident. I also wish I had known that no matter how innocent you may be, you should never, ever, speak to police or CPS without first retaining a lawyer and knowing your rights.
As a parent we all know how energetic and clumsy toddlers can be. To falsely accuse a person of child abuse is traumatic for everyone involved. Thank you for reading my message.
On March 25th 2022, my 3 year old son was at home with my boyfriend. My son was jumping on his Little Tikes trampoline when he tripped and fell, his face landing wedged between the baseboard heater and the wooden frame of his toddler bed. He cried and my boyfriend calmed him down and alerted me by text that he had fallen, but that he was okay. When I got home shortly after, I found my son sleeping peacefully. The next morning, we noticed bruises had developed on both sides of my son’s face. Although he was acting normally and not complaining of pain, I took him to an urgent care where he was examined and the doctor told me she saw no obvious signs of serious injury. While at the urgent care, my son was happily singing and chatting to the doctors and nurses. The doctor directed me to take my son to the ER, saying she wanted them to double check for head injury. Little did I know, the doctor then called CPS, who called the hospital and advised them to be on the lookout for us as there was suspected abuse. Oblivious to the suspicions of the doctor and under the false impression that my child might be seriously injured, I called my boyfriend and asked him to come with me to the children’s hospital. There, my son was examined individually by two different doctors who noted that he appeared to only have superficial bruising. One doctor asked my son how it happened and he told them he fell off his trampoline. By this time, the doctors had observed the natural interactions between me, my boyfriend, and my son. They ran blood work to double check for anything that would raise red flags. Having done this full assessment, both doctors agreed this was not a case of abuse. The doctor told me and my boyfriend the real reason we were there, and was apologetic about the misunderstanding. Because a CPS case had been opened, a CPS worker spoke with us and my son, as well as with the two doctors. He also called our pediatrician to verify that they had never had any suspicions or issues. He was also satisfied that this was not a case of abuse and assured us the case would be closed as soon as possible. The next day, as my son’s father picked him up for a visit, video from the doorbell camera showed us having a conversation in the driveway about what had happened at the hospital, and my son can be heard saying “daddy I did a faceplant” and his dad laughed and said, “you did a faceplant, I see that.” Little did we know, a Child Abuse Pediatrician (CAP) at the children’s hospital, had observed photos of the bruises after we had been discharged, and said that they looked “suspicious.” On March 30th, I received a call from a detective at the Special Victims Unit asking if my boyfriend and I could come to the local Safe Center immediately for an interview. We complied and there I was told that they suspected my boyfriend of hitting my son. I assured them that was not the case. A couple days later I was asked to bring my son to the Safe Center as well for a forensic interview. I wanted to be compliant and was confident that he would set the record straight just as he had at the ER. It did not even occur to me to contact a lawyer. Upon arrival, I was informed that I was not permitted to be present for the interview nor was I permitted to observe it via video, but a detective and a CPS caseworker would be observing via live video. The interviewer interrogated my 3 year old for 90 minutes. In the video recording (which was only made available to my attorneys months later), my son can clearly be heard telling the interviewer that he fell. After 20 minutes he was asking to leave. During the interview, he said he did a faceplant, the same term he had used before to his father. When asked to describe what a faceplant was, he acted it out by demonstrating a fall. Going directly against child interviewing protocol, which states that leading questions must not be asked, the interviewer began telling him that someone told her my boyfriend hit him and is that true. During the interview my son disclosed that he had had a bad dream about a monster locking him in a closet (“daddy monster” which is a character from the TV show Dora the Explorer). The interviewer asked a series of questions to determine whether he was a reliable source; for example she asked him if he was 10 years old. He said yes. By the end of the interview he was so desperate to get out that he was saying “yes” or “I don’t know” to everything, in clear hopes that they would just let him go back to his mommy if he agreed. Towards the end of the 90 minutes, totally confused and exhausted, visibly falling off his chair and sucking his thumb, he eventually agreed, clearly unwittingly, that my boyfriend dropped him. After the interview, the CPS worker wrote in her notes: “he kept saying that he ‘faceplanted’ but couldn’t explain what that meant or show what it looked like. He disclosed that [my boyfriend] hit him, locked him in the closet, and threw him. He refers to [my boyfriend] as ‘daddy monster.’” I was accused of having coached my 3 year old to use the word faceplant, and they said they reached this conclusion because he had been unable to explain what that word meant. Yet they failed to mention that he acted it out for them. After the interview, another CAP was shown the pictures of the bruises and this CAP advised that if he had fallen face first, he would have to have had bruises on the front of his face. Because this CAP had not spoken to me, nor my boyfriend, nor my son, nor the ER doctors nor the CPS caseworker who had been at the ER, she was unaware that the explanation for the bruises only being on the sides of his face was because he fell with his face wedged in between the bed and the heater. On the basis that he had no bruising to the front of his face, the CAP told the CPS worker that his bruising was consistent with abuse. Orders were put in place requiring my boyfriend to leave our residence. Police came to our home next day to carry out a well check and asked my son about the bruises on his face so he led them to the spot in his bedroom and even demonstrated how he was jumping on his trampoline and fell. He repeated the same story twice in the presence of the officers. This did not do anything to halt the abuse investigation that was already underway. My boyfriend was later arrested and charged with second degree assault against a minor. My son’s dad got custody and supervision requirements from CPS were put in place for my visits with my child. I was not even present when the bruises were obtained and was not being suspected or accused of hurting my child at any point, but was still being treated like a criminal who couldn’t be trusted to be alone with my own son. I’m Irish and have no family in the US, so I made repeated requests for one of my parents to be allowed to fly from Ireland to supervise time with my son. My requests were initially refused and a month went by where my only contact with my child was on facetime while his dad had custody. My boyfriend’s criminal case eventually resolved favorably without any criminal conviction or findings of abuse, although he had to waive his right to a trial. He was advised by his attorney that the deal they offered would be better than waiting potentially a very long time for what would have been an expensive trial to prove innocence and it would close the criminal case more quickly to hopefully pave the way for me to get custody back. As part of the deal, he was required to agree to a 2 year stay away order from my son. I contacted an organization who helps families wrongly accused and was referred to a CAP who could provide her unbiased view on the matter. According to this CAP who I had review the video of the interview, the interview was not conducted under the proper protocols. I was also referred by the organization to a forensic interview expert who agreed that my son’s interrogation was improper and unethical in the way it was conducted. The video of the interview belies an entirely different reality than the one stated by the CPS worker. The CAP who had been referred to me reviewed all of the records and agreed there was no abuse. She commented that the situation was “ridiculous” and later stated that it was one of the worst injustices she had seen (as someone who routinely testifies in these types of cases). During the family court proceeding, this CAP testified that the bruises were not consistent with being hit or slapped (as the other CAP had said). There were no visible handprints. This CAP stated that the bruises were consistent with his face being squeezed between a bed and baseboard heater. She testified that the lack of bruising to the middle of his face was explained by there being a small gap between the two objects, causing the middle of his face to not have touched the floor. The original CPS worker also agreed to testify on my behalf, as did the doctor from the ER, and the police officer who conducted the well check. On December 13th, 2022, CPS withdrew their petition against my boyfriend, and his portion of the neglect proceeding was dismissed entirely. However his 2-year stay away order from the criminal court remains in place. On February 15th 2023, almost a full year later, my custody was finally reinstated. The repercussions of this nightmare will be felt for the foreseeable future. Our legal fees alone are six figures. I am hopeful that there won’t be long term impacts to my son’s emotional health as a result of being removed from me, but the full impact remains to be seen. After all, at the tender age of three, he was needlessly removed from his mother. As a precaution against any future false allegations, I now have surveillance cameras throughout my house, something I wish we would have had when the fall first happened as then we could have proven it was an accident. I also wish I had known that no matter how innocent you may be, you should never, ever, speak to police or CPS without first retaining a lawyer and knowing your rights.
As a parent we all know how energetic and clumsy toddlers can be. To falsely accuse a person of child abuse is traumatic for everyone involved. Thank you for reading my message.
Organizer and beneficiary
Lien Schuller
Organizer
North Bellmore, NY
Lauren Hughes
Beneficiary