Deliberate exposure to Hepatitis B Virus--Do we have recourse?

What is the name of your state? Oregon

I didn't know where to put this...hope this the right place.

We are a certified foster home in a small town. We are relatively new...6 months now, and the CSD here has very nice, capable people in it, except one.

She has given us 2 placements without paperwork, medical histories, and the other required documents.

This second placement is a teenager we were to watch during the day for two weeks...who is an Hepatitis B carrier...which we were never told about (to this day) and we found out accidentally.

The case worker had many conversations with us before bringing her, and the morning she brought her, saw the 14 month old we have and told us "she was being tested for STDs, we may want to keep the baby away from her."

That evening, she became a permanent placement, and we were told by that case worker she needed to go to the clinic the next day "for a shot."

We took her, and asked what it was for, and were told she was a Hep B carrier...but even then we were not told what Hepatitis B was, didn't know what it was, or that it was very contagious and can live outside of the body on surfaces.

We have a large home with 2 sets of parents, one adult and two children (7 & 14 months) None of whom have been vaccinated except the 7 year old.

The next morning the baby was taken for vaccination (the parents wanted to wait until she was 18 months for all shots as many do these days.) The vaccine, however, will not be effective for 6 months when the other two boosters are given.

We have since found she was tested 2 weeks ago, and was released from another foster home because of her HBV status. The case worker knew, did not tell us, did not inquire as to our vaccination status, nor were we taught or told to be vaccinated through our classes for certification, and we attended every class.

She has been here 3 days, (6 days by Monday) and we have since researched this illness on the CDC web site, the Hepatitis B Foundation, Health on the Net Foundation, and the National Foundation for infectious Diseases.

We need a full 6 months for vaccination to be effective, and may even be infected now as we just found out the full impact yesterday and reseached disinfectant methods, which we are now practicing.

We still have no paperwork (tried to pick it up yesterday...it wasn't ready), we still haven't been told of her HBV status by the case worker, however, her adoptive mother was told as she went to get shots, too.

This girl is very nice, was pulled out a bad situation, but has been a little deceptive as she knew also but, as she said, "was afraid to tell us." We feel terrible about this as she is Very happy here...but we are at terrible risk at this point.

Is this reckless endangerment? Breach of contract? (as the contract is very explicit as to what we are to be told and given.)

What recourse do we have? What should we do?

We sincerely need advice and help....has anyone been through this?

Thank you for any help....


Sincerely,

Lora

[kat1963]

Lora
Research the Hepa B. I'm enclosing a link (due to my own bias..sorry) so therefore do your own. Other then that, you'll need to seek the advice of a lawyer. Of course should SS find out, they won't place any more children with you. I feel what they did was completely wrong and just proves my point about how sneaky they can really be.
[url]http://www.909shot.com/Newsletters/hepbnlr.htm[/url]
KAT