ADVICE RATING |
 4.87 (Highly recommend) from 17 votes (769 Visits) |
Mongolian spots are a child protection workers best and worst calls. Their our best because it's a false alarm and their our worst because we've wasted time, energy, and emotion on a false alarm.
A Mongolian spot is a birth mark that can look exactly like a bruise. They
are more common among ethnic groups, but can happen to anyone. Because these birth marks occur most on body parts that don't readily get bruises, and because they can be very pronounced, these marks often get reported to Child Protection staff, as people think they are actually bruises. I've been aware of at least once child that was reported several times for bruises when it was a birth mark.
Unfortunately, because they do look so much like a bruise, there isn't much we can do to rule out a birth mark without contacting the parent directly. So, a parent could get repeated calls from workers about thier child's birth mark, and since there is no registry of these birth marks, there is no way to prevent these calls. However, there are a few things I can recommend to make things easier.
First, if your child has a mongolian birth mark, ask your doctor to document it on the child's chart. Ensure that every medical person involved with your child is aware of the birth mark. Also, tell babysitters, daycare, school staff, and anyone who could possibly see your child's birth mark that it is a birth mark. This way, it is less likely there will be a call in about it, and if there is the answer is as simple as the worker calling your child's doctor. If you do have a call from a worker about this, ask if it is possible for an alert to be put on the file that your child has a mongolian birth mark so that this does not have to be repeatedly disruptive to your family. However, if the worker requests to take your child to a doctor to have it looked at, agree to this and accompany the worker with your child. You may be asked to travel with the worker- if so, you can request that they either bring you home again, or pay for your travel home. The more cooperative and helpful you are about this, the better. If you make a fuss, it is just likely to make the worker worried, and worried workers stick around.
So, I hope I've helped somebody, and if there are any questions, feel free to contact me through Minti.
(September 2008) (
the mum didnt speak english and I was worried for the baby. The child services lady was very nice tho, she said its better that i reported it then leave incase it had been a bruise as it was quite big
