Cerebra has become increasingly concerned over recent years with an apparent rise in reports from families with disabled children which suggest that a significant number have been accused of creating or exaggerating their child’s difficulties. Instances of this kind are referred to as ‘Fabricated or Induced Illness’ (FII) and sometimes as ‘perplexing presentations’ (PP). You can find more information about FII and PP here.
We want to understand how many parent carers of disabled children have experienced allegations of this kind, when and how these happened and what the consequences were for the families concerned. So, we are carrying out a survey to gather more information about the extent of accusations of FII and PP and would like as many families with disabled children as possible to take part in it.
The survey will be anonymised and the responses will be analysed by our Legal Entitlements and Problem-solving (LEaP) Project Research Team under the supervision of Professor Luke Clements, Cerebra Professor of Social Justice at the School of Law, the University of Leeds.
The findings of this research will be published in the Spring of 2023. Previous research reports of this kind produced by the LEaP Project can be found here.
Please share the link to this article with any families with disabled children who you think may be interested in it.
The survey will close on 31 August 2022.
Please Note: we are sorry, but we are unable to provide any advice concerning individual cases where an FII/PP allegation has been made. The reason for the survey is to gain information for research purposes.
Accused of Fii maliciously by camhs, then by school because they clearly identified my children would be expensive to educate and then the paediatrician once the whole lot of them closed ranks.
I went through this and my son was diagnosed Autisum in the end . Had a awful experience .
It was suggested my Son was at risk of emotional harm as l wouldn’t accept he didn’t have Autism or ADHD. They reported me to Social care.
My Son is now diagnosed with a rare Chromosome syndrome, Autism ADHD and Hypermobility.
Accused of FII by SW. SS told CAMHS, education and Medical professionals to ignore anything I said about my children. Took 9 years and a move 500 miles south to get my kids diagnosed. They were 15 and 16 by that time.
Accused by children’s services in Cumbria, psychologist denied I had Fii but then started I pathologists my children claiming they had neurological issues they don’t out of over half my children are now confirmed diagnosis of Adhd or Asd or both!
Experienced this in Rotherham despite my children already having their diagnoses and both my husband and I sharing the same diagnoses. This only came about because we complained about CAHMS using their autism as an excuse to deny mental health support for their anxiety
Going through this right now in Rotherham all because CAMHS have refused treatment and have failed my child. It’s disgusting that these monsters exist in healthcare
Words are never enough to convey the damage done to my children, by so called professionals.
Trust no one, question everything, sign nothing and pick up your kids and RUN
Is this for UK only?
Hi Erica, it is, yes.
I had ‘concerns’ expressed and a subsequent referral to L.A from a paed neuro. She spent 55 mins talking about another patient, I lost the will with her consultation style so went to the U.S. diagnosed and treated son (since confirmed by U.K. specialists) the referral followed. My sons GP was a godsend, he was having none of it, he knew I wouldn’t harm my son, so too was our consultant nurse. The LA in fairness concluded nothing to see here.
My child’s life was put at risk from significant harm when a school nurse denied and advocated the denial ky son didn’t have epilepsy. I was accused of exaggeration and FII was found in some Dr Notes this resulted in a withdrawal of medication and Epilepsy diagnosis. The seizures got worse and my young person nearly died 3 times. Thankfully I moved to a different county with a different approach who listened and were very supportive. My young person is epileptic again and has the support in place. We had to move away from friends, family and a very corrupt multi agency system.
My sons school continuously told me they saw no problems, but also continued to place my son outside the classroom alone facing the wall in time out. I was told he was lazy, lacked motivation, was rude, disruptive, angry, and volatile, I had a teacher tell me not to worry they would “break him in” when he joined a new class. I was also told though it wasn’t medical, I was looking for excuses and he just needed discipline. They actually wrote on the forms from the paediatrician “nothing of concern here. Over exaggerated by mum”.
Eventually my son ended up hurting himself daily in the classroom and I was told social services would be informed as it was concerning behaviours and something must be causing it. It was suggested it was at home that was the problem.
I started to blog about how bad it was and how I felt unsupported and targeted and I received threats from the headteacher to stop blogging or he would have to involve the police. I hadn’t ever mentioned the school ot anyone and had don’t nothing wrong but it was another attack one me.
I was told again that I was exaggerating everything and there was nothing wring with my child.
Eventually a paediatrician decided to take some bloods from my son because she firmly believed something wasn’t OK and it wasn’t me. Thank god she did. My son (and subsequently myself and 3 other sons) were diagnosed with a rare chromosome deletion (24 cases in the world), ADHD, Autism, and situational mutism.
I removed my sons from this school and since then things have been much better.
My son’s school continuously told me they saw no problems…
That’s actually really common. Either the school doesn’t want to spend its limited resources on properly supporting children with extra educational needs, or (as in my case) the child masks much more at school than at home, meaning that the parents are the only ones to whom the child’s needs are apparent.
Accuses of Fii by peaditrican for- fighting the system to get 1x child diagnosed, 4 primary schools did don’t believe us as parents, long history of anxiety, ocd, tics, repetetive behaviours, rituals routines, aggression, independent assessment identified ASC..also has ADHD/PDA traits, low CSF5-MTHF levels (untreated), now has complex needs. Two other children had screening for ASC and both scored high for ASC, due to Fii allegations this is getting ignored by health and no referals are to be made. Family history of ASC and ADHD on both sides.
Accused of Fii along with my husband in 2018 child was removed on section 47 to fostercare I new nothing about removal and haven’t seen child in nearly 5 yrs child was complex needs under camhs since age 3 yrs she was nearly 6 when removed . School reported us as child was absent from school due to hospital admissions new SW made false reports and edited dla application from medical professionals leaving page blank ( I have original copy it isn’t blank) all childs medical notes show illness complex behaviour needs I paid to take LA to court myself as they refused a police investigation persue still ongoing it seems if you complain they throw so much false fabricated reports , I was left with my other children no risk at all I’m devestated my girl is growing up without us and us without her the whole system of fii pp is disgusting and disappointing that a child who is diagnosed is treated this way
I went through this, with Social Services taking me away from my parents on the basis that I was clearly not autistic and no medical professional had ever said I was. Here’s the thing: I was right fucking there when the leader of the autism assessment team said about me, “He’s either autistic or hyperactive.” This was when I was seven years old. Not only that, but years of ‘more appropriate upbringing’ didn’t take away any of my autism-related needs, and I now finally have an official label of childhood autism that I was given as an adult.