Non-Accidental Injury

Advice on NAI cases

If you have been wrongly accused of causing an injury to your child, you will need legal advice from experts committed to providing justice and supporting you through the legal process.

Family Law Group have dedicated Non-Accidental Injury (NAI) experts in this specialist area of family law. We represent parents who have been wrongly accused of causing injury to their child or Fabricated Illness (FII). Being experts, we also know what medical conditions to look for, which medical experts are needed and which barristers to instruct, including QCs.

What is a Non-Accidental Injury?

Non-Accidental Injury is a term that is used to describe a number of different physical injuries or abuse to a child. The term describes any injury that is said to have been inflicted. This means that it cannot simply be an injury that occurred unintentionally or unexpectedly.

Some common types of non-accidental injury include:

• Head injury – sometimes referred to as Shaken Baby Syndrome
• Skin injuries, such as; bruising, blistered, burns, and bites
• Bone injuries, such as fractures including greenstick, skull and depressed
• Brain injuries
• Fabricated or induced illnesses, including poisoning

Whilst sometimes these injuries are deliberately inflicted, sometimes there can be other explanations, such as:

• Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a genetic connective tissue disorder which may predispose the sufferer to easy bruising and/or easy bleeding
• Unknown causes including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Vitamin D deficiency, where there are causal links between Vitamin D deficiencies and fractures in young babies

Medical Experts

Sometimes, it requires other medical experts to be able to tell the difference between an accident and something more serious. With non-accidental injury cases, there are a number of different types of medical experts that can be used and the expert required will depend on the injury to the child. These experts include; radiologists, paediatricians, neuro-radiologists, haematologists, ophthalmologists, and geneticists. We work closely with experts on NAI cases and know how to choose the right specialist for your case.

It is vitally important that if you are facing allegations of non-accidental injury, you seek urgent legal advice to ensure you are properly represented during this process.

Why choose Family Law Group?

Any type of injury can be linked to a NAI, if you are unable to explain how the injury happened or medical experts think that the explanation given appears to be inconsistent with the injuries displayed. It is in these types of situation where there is the possibility of you being accused of inflicting an injury.

It is vital that you get legal advice at this point and that is where we can help. We have vast experience in this type of case, and of working with experts to analyse the case and find out whether the evidence does or does not point towards abuse or NAI.

We have a number of legal experts throughout our offices who work in this complex area of law and who will be able to help you put forward your case. For further information, please call 08000 320999