How to Write a Complaint Letter

So now that your child is in treatment, what do you do if there is a problem? When my foster daughter was in the hospital, they couldn't seem to give her medications properly. I know how frustrating it was to have to check daily to see that she received her regular medications on time and was given the right ones. I was recently reading about another case where the hospital had neglected to get proper medical care for a child, and the child suffered a ruptured ear drum as a result. It is so hard to find good psychiatric care that parents often feel at a loss when something goes wrong. It is often difficult to separate what is in the best interests of the child in a situation like this.

Therefore, it is best, as a first step, to decide what your child needs medically. If your child is in a psychiatric hospital or RTC, they should have staff available to address the medical problems. This should be your first priority. Once the situation is being handled, you can make a formal complaint. Remember that you are still your child's parent, and even if you have a social worker involved, nobody will care for your child like you would. That is why it is so important to stay involved with your child's treatment.

The first step in making a formal complaint is to keep track of the people that you talk to. Write everything down. Make sure that the dates and times of conversations and visits are jotted down in case you need to remember them later. This can come in handy even when you aren't expecting to have a problem. It is also good to have a complete record of events in case there is a problem with getting your child's records at a later date. I had a problem getting copies on time from the hospital and was very happy that I had a complete listing of the drugs my foster daughter was on when we went for an emergency trip to the hospital. I could give them a complete listing of the drugs they had already tried at the other hospital and give accurate information so there was no duplication of services. I also used this information later when I had to make a complaint. I had made a note of the staff who were on duty at a given time, and this was invaluable later when I had to suddenly make a complaint against one of the staff members.

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