Non-Accidental Injury
If you have been plunged into the nightmare of being accused of physically abusing your child, you have come to the right place. The NAI department is committed to providing justice for parents who have been accused of physically harming their children.
Please call us today to discuss your needs and how we may be able to help
What Is Non-Accidental Injury
Non-accidental injury (NAI) is a term which is used to refer to many different types of physical injury or abuse, for example:
- Non-Accidental Head Injury (NAHI also sometimes referred to as Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma)
- The Triad (a term used to describe a combination of injuries suggestive of NAHI, although it is known that not all NAHI present with the triad)
- Brain Injury (e.g. bruising, bleeding or various kinds of damage to the brain)
- Eye Injury (e.g. bleeding to the eyes. This can be retinal, pre-retinal, intra retinal, sub-conjunctival etc
- Bony injury (e.g. fractures, dislocated joints etc)
- Skin injury (e.g. bruising, petechial markings, blisters, bites, burns etc)
- Fabricated or Induced Illness (also sometimes referred to a Munchausen’s Syndrome and can include poisoning)
- Infant Death
Due to our years of experience, we have developed working relationships with medical experts, who, with the Court’s permission, we can instruct to provide valuable medical opinion within proceedings as to the nature, causation and mechanism of injuries sustained by a child.
Where a NAI is suspected, there are many issues that will need to be considered including the timing/age of the alleged injury, the degree of force needed to cause it, how such an injury can be caused (the mechanism), the presentation of the child and, most importantly, the differentiation between natural causes (medical conditions), accidental causes and non-accidental causes.
When an injury has been identified, either with no explanation or with an explanation that the doctors do not accept explains the injuries sustained, it is likely that social services will become involved for the protection of the child whilst investigations are ongoing and the Local Authority will start care proceedings.
It is vital that parents seek legal advice from an experienced care solicitor who specialises in this field as soon as possible where non-accidental injury is suspected.
Some injuries to a child can show obvious signs whilst others are discovered upon further medical exploration. What is not always so obvious are the underlying reasons why the injury may have presented itself or the real circumstances which lie behind it.
Choosing the Right Expert
There are many injuries that can give the appearance of having a non-accidental origin. Sometimes it takes more than a general paediatrician to be able to tell the difference.
Sometimes the child’s injuries themselves may give rise to suspicions on the part of medical professionals. Other times, while the injuries may be quite innocuous, the explanation given by the parents as to how the injury may have occurred may seem somewhat suspicious or may not be consistent with the injuries displayed. It is in these circumstances that you can find yourself accused of causing Non-Accidental Injury and child protection services called in to take action.
Almost any type of injury can be attributable to a Non-Accidental Injury if the parents cannot adequately explain how the injury came about: from the most minor, such as bruising; through fractures and head trauma—so-called “shaken baby syndrome”; all the way to tragic instances of infant mortality.
Parents cannot watch their children all the time. Even when they are watching, it is hard to monitor all the tumbles, bumps and mishaps that can befall a toddler. The fact that a parent cannot immediately and effectively explain away every bruise that their child has sustained is not necessarily an indicator of foul play. Sometimes, a bruise is just a bruise.
There can also be a number of congenital conditions that can make a child’s body susceptible to injury which can give the appearance of Non-Accidental Injuries having been inflicted. Sometimes it can take other experts—not just a paediatrician—to spot the symptoms and see what the facts truly are.
Fortunately, we have the experience to know that such can occur. We also have the experience to know which experts to call upon to analyse the case and show that the evidence does not point to abuse but to something less sinister.
Types of Non-Accidental Injury
Below are the most common types and signs of Non-Accidental Injury
Please call us today to discuss your needs and how we may be able to help
Testimonials
Rebecca Ward’s attention to detail and ability to build a close working relationship with the client and the barristers she instructs makes her an obvious "go to" solicitor for complex Non-Accidental Injury and Fabricated or Induced Illness cases. She works exceptionally hard for her clients, has a forensic approach, and always goes the extra mile in case preparation. The breadth of Rebecca’s specialist knowledge in these cases makes her really stand out.
I was very happy with the outcome. Sometimes I found things very difficult and thought that the process was long but in the end I got the result that I wanted.
Amazing. Rebecca was and is amazing. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about how great she is and how hard she has worked for us. ………. I’m sorry for getting emotional but Rebecca has treated us as though we were her friend, she has always been there for us. It isn’t just a job to her, this was all just as important to Rebecca as it is to us. I would highly recommend Rebecca to anyone.
Rebecca was amazing and she went out of her way to help her. Rebecca would contact me whether it was evenings or weekends and whether this was a small enquiry she always helped if she could. She would always ask how I was and how the children were and I felt that she could approach Rebecca and speak to Rebecca about anything. I felt that I was not just a client and that Rebecca was very friendly and showed all interest in aspects of her life not just on legal matters.
Thank God we have solicitors who will work for us! I felt really happy with the appointment and felt really reassured by Rebecca and Brendan. I couldn’t sleep the night before, but felt much more at ease after the appointment. Both were really helpful and, by the service so far, I would thoroughly recommend Brendan Fleming Solicitors to others
Rebecca is fantastic and very good to work with. I would recommend Rebecca to anybody who needed help. If Rebecca was unavailable she would either get back to me as soon as possible or if she was in Court she would get another member of staff to speak to me. Rebecca is very honest and she would not tell me something that would not happen. She was straight down the line and any information or documents needed she would send these out promptly.
Rebecca is brilliant and is very professional and is an asset to the company. I have used other Solicitors in the past and you are far better than any other. I admire Rebecca and she put herself out when the Local Authority kept sending and delaying important documents she went to the offices and collected them herself. I would recommend Rebecca and the firm to anyone who needs help.
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A major part of our job as your solicitors is to listen to you and help you to provide the evidence needed to explore your side of the story. All too often professionals dealing with injuries to children jump to conclusions that the injury must have been caused non-accidentally if they are told that the injuries to not fit with the explanation provided. That very often includes getting new and impartial professionals to review the evidence, photos, doctors reports and reports from social services to get all the data about what happened. Sometimes we even get totally new examinations done, where considered necessary and through the process of getting all that additional evidence we can often show a different story to what a parent is being accused of.
Brendan Fleming Solicitors have been at the forefront of providing representation for non-accidental injury cases for a number of years. We have a specialist department headed up by Rebecca Ward.
Case Studies
Final Care Order Success
Having successfully secured the children’s interim placement at home for the duration of the Court proceedings under an Interim Care Order, the Local Authority at
Local Authority Withdrawal
The Local Authority applied to the Court for removal of two young children, aged 5 and 4 years old, from the care of their parents
12-Month Supervision Order Victory
In this matter, we represented the first respondent mother who had given birth to her third child. Her eldest two children were, at the commencement
Critical Care Order
A case where the Court found, at a fact-finding hearing, that the mother had encouraged the children to make allegations against their younger sibling of
Accreditations
Contracted with the Legal Aid Agency.
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