I live in Florida. My son is 7 years old and his father has significant time sharing (40%) on a rotating schedule because he does shift work (24/on 48/off). He will not stop giving him food he is allergic to, and he won't give the medication he needs. I denied visitation after several issues when he came home swollen from an allergic reaction, then involved CPS/DCF and had a stipulation entered into to return his visitation in exchange for him stopping this behavior. CPS/DCF said it didn't rise to the standard of medical neglect - basically because he didn't end up in the hospital. He did for awhile, and then started again. I have filed a modification seeking to change the time-sharing schedule, but the judge is an unpredictable one and even if he changes the schedule and tells him to stop, what is to say he will comply with this order when he didn't comply with the other one? How can he be stopped? I am considering a guardian ad litem to attempt to ensure that the judge doesn't get this wrong, but I don't know what else to do. I just want him to stop giving him food he is allergic to, and give him the medication that he needs. What can I do?
Father giving child food he is allergic to
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Proserpina
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I absolutely recommend requesting a GAL.
You can petition the court to request that a GAL is appointed - do this as soon as you can.
You can petition the court to request that a GAL is appointed - do this as soon as you can.
Thank you for the prompt response! We have a trial date for March 10th so I'm hoping we can schedule a hearing to appoint a GAL and have them be able to have the report by then. What else can be done? Anything? It's awful to sit here and only be able to cross my fingers and hope that the game of Russian Roullette holds out until something can be done.
Proserpina
Moderator
Assuming that Dad has been very clearly made aware of your son's allergies (I do have to ask - are these true allergies, or is your son intolerant of certain foods?) and that your son needs to take XYZ medicines at specific times...the best you can do at the moment is abide by your court order and explain everything to the GAL when the time comes.
You can actually request the GAL before the next hearing although it may result in the hearing being postponed.
It is unusual for CPS to ignore blatant medical neglect (example: your ex, for example, fed your child peanuts when the child has been diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy and your ex has been aware of this). Also, was the CPS recommendation incorporated into the visitation order?
You can actually request the GAL before the next hearing although it may result in the hearing being postponed.
It is unusual for CPS to ignore blatant medical neglect (example: your ex, for example, fed your child peanuts when the child has been diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy and your ex has been aware of this). Also, was the CPS recommendation incorporated into the visitation order?
Yes, he has true food allergies, dairy being the worst, followed by peanuts and shellfish. The weird thing is that he will not give him something with peanuts or shellfish, but will with the dairy. Dad has known about these allergies since C was 10 months old. Didn't start doing this until after we were divorced (C was 5). Because C hasn't ended up in the hospital (yet), CPS said they didn't have sufficient proof to have it meet their standard for medical neglect and closed the file. The only recommendations they made was parenting coordination (which he now refuses to go to) and play therapist for C (which he goes to every 2-3 weeks) since Sept 08.
Also, C has moderate level reflux so he is on Prevacid 30 mg solutabs once/day at dinner, and he has stopped giving it to him on his days. Because it is a time-released medication, this causes a resurgence of symptoms such that it damages his esophagus and he starts having problems again. Dr finally recommended that I give it to him on the drop off day in the morning so at least he will have had it once that day, and then regularly on schedule the other days to avoid Dad having to give it to him at all. Problem solved, right? Wrong. He had the prescription mailed to him instead of me, and is holding the medication hostage for those days he has him. So...he won't give it to him, but he doesn't want me to either.
I think part of the problem is that everyone finds it so hard to believe that he would do this to his child, especially since he is a FF/Paramedic, but he is. It's awful.
Also, C has moderate level reflux so he is on Prevacid 30 mg solutabs once/day at dinner, and he has stopped giving it to him on his days. Because it is a time-released medication, this causes a resurgence of symptoms such that it damages his esophagus and he starts having problems again. Dr finally recommended that I give it to him on the drop off day in the morning so at least he will have had it once that day, and then regularly on schedule the other days to avoid Dad having to give it to him at all. Problem solved, right? Wrong. He had the prescription mailed to him instead of me, and is holding the medication hostage for those days he has him. So...he won't give it to him, but he doesn't want me to either.
I think part of the problem is that everyone finds it so hard to believe that he would do this to his child, especially since he is a FF/Paramedic, but he is. It's awful.
I lost my last reply for some reason. Yes, Dad has been aware of C's (yes, true) food allergies since he was 10 months old. He is allergic to dairy, peanuts, and shellfish, more to dairy than the others. He doesn't give him the latter two, just dairy. He didn't start to do this until after the divorce (C was 5 by then).
CPS said they didn't have sufficient evidence to constitute medical neglect because he didn't end up in the hospital (yet). They closed the file and only recommended parent coordination sessions for us (he is now refusing to go), and play therapy for C (has been going since Sept. 08).
Also, C has moderate level reflux which requires him to take medication every day at dinner, which he has not been giving him. Since it is a time released medication, that caused a resurgence of the reflux and caused damage to his esophagus. Dr. recommended I give it to him drop-off day in the morning, so he wouldn't have to give it to him at all, thus solving the problem, right? Wrong. He mail-ordered the medication, and is now refusing to give me enough to give to C. So he won't give it to him and now won't let me give it to him either.
This is awful and particularly ridiculous given that Dad is a FF/paramedic.
CPS said they didn't have sufficient evidence to constitute medical neglect because he didn't end up in the hospital (yet). They closed the file and only recommended parent coordination sessions for us (he is now refusing to go), and play therapy for C (has been going since Sept. 08).
Also, C has moderate level reflux which requires him to take medication every day at dinner, which he has not been giving him. Since it is a time released medication, that caused a resurgence of the reflux and caused damage to his esophagus. Dr. recommended I give it to him drop-off day in the morning, so he wouldn't have to give it to him at all, thus solving the problem, right? Wrong. He mail-ordered the medication, and is now refusing to give me enough to give to C. So he won't give it to him and now won't let me give it to him either.
This is awful and particularly ridiculous given that Dad is a FF/paramedic.
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