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Here’s How You Can Help
We are gathering stories from families affected and from professionals with experience.
If you have been affected by accusations of FII, either as a family member or as a professional, there are a number of organisations who provide further information and support
Family Rights Group
Telephone advice line and online support
Fiightback
Facebook-based active peer support group
Parent and Carer Alliance CIC
Based in Gloucestershire, but providing support nationally for parents accused of FII
Support not Separation
Provides monthly Self Help Mums meetings going through social services or family court proceedings. They also have trusted lawyers that they work with.
FII Awareness
Resources and stories; supporting FII awareness week by Sunshine Support
Disabled Mothers' Rights Campaign
Campaign from WinVisible providing support and lobbying for change
Guidance on Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) and Perplexing Presentations brings unrelated situations under suspicion — from parental advocacy and clinical disagreement to rare acts of falsification or induction — despite no evidence that they share the same causes, risks or required professional response.
This directs professionals to interpret complexity, uncertainty and parental advocacy through a “Lens of Suspicion" that results in:
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Family Trauma: Innocent parents (often mothers) of children with SEND, complex, or rare conditions are more likely than other parents to be investigated and experience invasive and distressing suspicion or allegations, sometimes having their children removed.
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Diagnostic Gaps: Doctors stop looking for medical answers once they suspect a parent is "fabricating" symptoms, delaying much needed support or diagnosis.
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Systemic Bias: The system focuses on policing caregivers to 'safeguard' children, rather than providing support for vulnerable children and their families. FII does not make children safer. It blurs the difference between extremely rare concrete acts of falsification or induction and the ordinary realities of caring for a child whose needs are complex, disputed or not yet understood.
The ulminate goal
We are working for a future where there is no need for the FII concept because children and families get the right response for the situation they face.
The areas currently swept up under FII each have their own strengthened, co-produced guidance and practice, managing:
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clinical investigation,
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disability support,
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shared decision-making,
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second opinions,
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complaints processes,
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and safeguarding responses to specific acts of harm
A Collaborative Clinical Framework that prioritises parents and professionals working as a team to understand complex symptoms, ensuring every child gets the right diagnosis and understanding in a safe, supportive environment.
The logic in a nutshell
IF we replace FII Guidance and associated "parent suspicion" with “expertise, evidence, care and support"
THEN professionals can respond to the individual, properly addressing rare concrete acts of falsification or induction, but stopping the trauma of wrongful accusations
SO THAT children receive better care and loving families stay safely together