MWM, I know that it is what CPS told you. I am sure that it is true where you live. It is NOT true everywhere. My bro, while a difficult child to me, is a really good dad and a FAR better parent than his alcoholic, drug addicted, bulimic exwife who is bipolar and will NOT take any medications except opiates that she steals from anywhere she can find them. She called CPS and said that my bro had child porn on his work computer and was abusing niece. It took seven MONTHS for a judge to call her on her BS. At the FIRST hearing my niece said that mommy told her to tell them that daddy hits her and touched her but he didn't and did they know why mommy wanted her to say that? My parents took my niece for the times bro was to have custody. Half the time, plus they were FREE sitters for exsil for many years, and NEVER said a word against her to her face or to niece. Finally they had to. Nice is not stupid and wants to know why mommy yells at her when she won't tell the judge that daddy hurts her. Daddy does NOT hurt her. I firmly believe this. Exsil cannot even be bothered to get her to school on time, to let her spend the full day at school (picks her up 2 hrs early because she is in the neighborhood?) and often just doesn't send her.. Exsil will be passed out at home and niece will wander MILES from home - my folks found her three MILES from her home last summer. Age 8. One her bike, on a busy five lane road with her little dog on a leash. Totally LOST. Niece has a cell phone for "emergencies" but is not allowed to call anyone but mommy and mommy yells if she calls.
Right now we have not reported mommy because we are pretty sure that she is building up to a breakdown because she did NOT win her case. Gee, skip three court appearances on YOUR complaint and then wonder why the judge dismissed it and made comments about her unsuitability and even gave my bro/parents' atty some tips on how to get her out of niece's life. Also said that if she told her daughter to lie in court again he would put her in jail and not just for a night or two. It was UGLY. There was NO proof of ANYTHING. But they turned my bro's life upside down (kept him from hassling me, which he then returned to until just after J's birthday when my mom told him she would sell his home for $5 to any stranger who came along if he traumatized my kids anymore, which I jsut learned. She won't, but he will wonder, lol.) and embarrassed him at the university. The univ where he is a grad student and who owns the computer he had, which had NO porn of ANY kind except a link in an email from his ex that he did NOT open - and if he had would have landed him in a pornado. She almost ruined any chance of a career for him with ONE call to CPS.
So they do NOT need bruises or marks. MANY areas have different rules for CPS. Heck, we got investigated for various things Wiz said that were so stupid and unbelievable that it was amazing. Like we made him eat lit firecrackers. Gee, kid has NO injuries, no lack of appetite or other symptoms of ANYTHING but being a difficult child, and gee, we didn't even own any. So NOT all CPS places ignore everything but bruises. I know it bothers you a great deal, MWM, but I promise if you move to where I live they would act if you called. Heck, they still check on my neighbor because seh was having her then 5yo supervise her then 2yo outside after dark running around a pond with no lights or fences. It has been 3 years and other neighbors have called about it and they even filled in the pond, but then the husband, Mr Shoot a Mole with a Rifle (he seems to think it is a good idea to kill moles by shooting at the ground - while his kids are running around him. So they pop in every few months to supervise the house, see that the guns are locked up, ask neighbors what is going on and if the kdis are safe.