Parents Accused of Exaggerating Illness in Children
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Calls for a cross party inquiry into claims that a growing number of families are being accused of inventing or causing their children\\u2019s illness. It\\u2019s called Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) and used to be known as Munchausen\\u2019s Syndrome By Proxy. It\\u2019s a rare form of abuse where parents exaggerate their child\\u2019s medical condition \\u2013 or even cause it. Campaigners and charities say many families have been wrongly accused and want the inquiry to look at what they describe as a \\u201cwave of false allegations\\u201d and the current guidelines around FII. 5 Live Investigates first looked at this in March when we spoke to mums and dads threatened with having their children taken off them after being accused of FII. Following the programme, we have been contacted by other families who say this has happened to them. We\\u2019ve also been told about many other cases. One involves a mother accused of poisoning her two year old daughter and ordered to live apart from her for almost a year until the case was dismissed.
Photo credit; Getty/Katarzyna Bialasiewicz
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