North Carolina mom Kaylee Doss who brought baby to emergency room over knot in shoulder is forced to wait 550 days to get daughter back after nurses called CPS when they found up to 13 unexplained fractures

A family has regained custody of their child more than a year after a nurse called CPS when they found fractures in the baby's collar bone.

Kaylee Doss and husband Landon had decided to take their baby girl, Rowan, to the emergency room when they felt a knot in her collarbone.

'I'm thinking cancer or something crazy. We do have some bone issues in my family. So we decided to just go ahead and take her to the hospital,' Kaylee told People Magazine.

At first, the nurses were comforting Kaylee, assuring her that her little angel would be OK. But after her baby was checked out, the nurse's tone completely shifted.

'She looked at us and asked, "What have you done to this baby?"' said Kaylee. 'She said, "In order for a child to sustain injuries this severe, something serious had to have happened."'

Kaylee and Landon Doss took their daughter Rowan to the ER when they noticed a knot in her collarbone

The couple learned that the 6-week-old had multiple fractures an was referred to CPS as an abused and neglected child

A child abuse pediatrician revealed that Rowan had between 8 and 13 fractures, and told Kaylee and Landon to prepare to speak with a social worker 

The parents were informed that CPS was called and they were not allowed to leave the hospital until they spoke with them.

'And she just walked out. She didn't tell us what was wrong with Rowan, didn't specify her injuries. She just told us ... we "needed to get our story straight."'

The nurse made Kaylee sign to consent to further testing. 

'We signed, thinking we were getting genetic testing done. And they did not. Instead, she received rape kits and full skeletal surveys, as well as some extensive CT scans and MRIs,' she said.

A child abuse pediatrician revealed that she had between 8 and 13 fractures, and told Kaylee and Landon to prepare to speak with a social worker. The nurse told the parents that Rowan was referred to CPS as an abused and neglected child.

The family was then placed under a 'safety plan,' which included a hospital room that had large windows so they could be monitored by staff.

They stayed overnight with Rowan, but the next day they social workers informed Kaylee and Landon that their baby girl would be placed in foster care. Kaylee's grandmother was offered as possible kindship.

When Kaylee and Landon noticed their child was hungry, they began feeding her a bottle. The nurses hastily took the child from her arms and left the room.

'I had never faced a trauma like this in my life. I've been through some things, but nothing compares to having your child ripped away from you and grieving a child that's alive,' Kaylee says.

'And that's what we were doing. We were grieving the loss of a live child that we were able to see, but we couldn't raise. There was a lot of just sitting and staring.'

The family was then placed under a 'safety plan,' which included a hospital room that had large windows so they could be monitored by staff

They stayed overnight with Rowan, but the next day they social workers informed Kaylee and Landon that their baby girl would be placed in foster care

The couple met with a social worker, who told them that Rowan 'did not look harmed or abused or neglected' but they needed to 'let the investigation run its course, which typically takes between 30 and 45 days.'

Although Kaylee's grandmother was able to stay at the hospital after Kaylee and Landon were forced to leave, Rowan was eventually given to a hospital employee as a foster parent.

Three days later, kinship placement was approved, and the couple was able to start seeing Rowan as long as she was in the grandmother's care.

'I just remember how blessed I was because most people in our cases, they don't get to see their kids at all. And if they do get to see them, it's an hour a week, maybe two hours a week if they're under the age of two. So I did get to see her, but I wasn't allowed to give her a bath. I wasn't allowed to take her outside,' said Kaylee.

The couple visited Rowan at Kaylee's grandparents home from June to November 2022 as they waited for developments in the case.  

'We would feed her, we would change her, we would play with her. We made sure that we were there as much as we possibly could, but we still missed her first laugh and her first crawl, and the first time she ate solids,' Kaylee said.

'It felt hopeless as we missed those prime moments in her development and felt so stripped of everything you're supposed to have after becoming a parent.'

The couple eventually went to court, fighting to get their child back. Kaylee refused to take responsibility for her child's injuries.

After her statement, the couple signed a stipulation brought forth by the DSS, which 'contained the facts that the child abuse pediatrician believed to be true. It was her finding and allegations, and they wanted us to acknowledge them.' Their lawyer reiterated that this was not an admission of guilt.

While the judge adjudicated Rowan as an abused and neglected child and that she would remain in state custody, they would continue forth with a reunification plan.

'They wanted us to do parenting classes, sexual assault prevention classes, get a cognitive clinical evaluation, a parental capacity assessment. They wanted us to go to individual counseling and marital counseling,' said Kaylee.

'I was in fight or flight mode. I don't know how I managed. We had to go to DSS once a week to have a supervised visit with a social worker, which was disheartening in and of itself because of the conditions.'

While undergoing the state's protocols, Kaylee searched for medical answers that explained her daughter's symptoms. 

The couple met with a social worker, who told them that Rowan 'did not look harmed or abused or neglected' but they needed to 'let the investigation run its course, which typically takes between 30 and 45 days

It took the family more than 500 days to regain custody of Rowan

'I had done so much research and I found this article. It was 72 infants in a study that had fractured bones and metabolic bone disease-like issues. But they all ended up having,' she said.

'I plastered this article everywhere and I said, 'I swear this is the same thing.' It was the same fractures, same number of fractures, same placements.'

She managed to get in touch with the same doctor who conducted the study, Dr. Michael Hollick. The parents were granted permission to bring their daughter to meet the Boston-based doctor.

'He did a genetics screen. He tested me and my mother and Rowan, and all three of us passed the Beighton Scoring System. I had eight of the nine markers. Rowan and my mom had seven,' said Kaylee.

'It explained all of our medical problems and vitamin deficiencies. There was not a single thing in Rowan's medical records that I had called a doctor about, concerned, that wasn't connected. It explained the fractures that early in infancy.'

Kaylee and Landon continued to cooperate throughout 2023. In December, the case was finally closed after more than 500 days. 

The judge apologized to the family of three.

'I felt like it was a breath of fresh air to get an apology from somebody acknowledging the fact that we had been put through hell and back. But it was a little bitter because I didn't want to be told congratulations for winning my daughter back from the state,' Kaylee said.

'I finally feel like the calm after the storm. We can finally breathe and we're walking down our path of healing as a family.'