Child Welfare Officials Visit Britney
Child welfare officials and a sheriff's deputy were at the home of Britney Spears last Saturday, but have not released any details about why they were there.
Spears and her husband, Kevin Federline, are the parents of an infant son, Sean Preston.
The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services and the Lost Hills sheriff's station declined to give details of Saturday afternoon's visit by child welfare officials.
"It's a very standard, routine patrol request," Lt. Debra Glaskides said Tuesday. "We just roll out with them. We stood by, we took no action, no report or anything."
Star Magazine, on its web site, reports child welfare officials went to the Spears-Federline home on April 8th to check on Sean. The magazine reports the child welfare officials were following up on the baby's hospital visit a day earlier, when he was found to have a blood clot and a minor skull fracture the parents believe happened a week earlier in a fall from his highchair while in the care of his nanny.
A photographer who saw Federline Tuesday night asked him whether Sean Preston is all right. Federline nodded "yes," according to the photographer.
The magazine says Sean Preston, who is almost 7 months old, had been rushed to the hospital a day earlier when his parents became alarmed at realizing he was sleeping more than usual.
Spears' attorney, Martin Singer, confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that child welfare officials went to the family's home in Malibu, as a result of the hospital – as required by law – reporting the baby's injury to authorities.
"DCFS immediately responded and determined there was no problem and no reason to open a formal investigation," Singer told the paper. "They determined that the parents weren't involved in the injury and nothing was improper within the home."
The Sheriff's Department said it cannot release any information on what is a DCFS matter. Lt. Glaskides said there may not even be a DCFS investigation, and added that it may have been only a welfare check.
In February, DCFS visited Spears' home after publication of photographs showing the 24-year-old singer driving with the baby in her lap, instead of in a car seat, as required by law.
Spears later apologized, saying she did it because of a "horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi."
The incident even caught the attention of U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.
"Recent photos of Britney Spears driving with her infant son on her lap are troubling," said Mineta, who chided Spears during a Feb. 13 Philadelphia event marking Child Passenger Safety Week. "And while Ms. Spears has acknowledged her mistake, her actions still send the wrong message to millions of her fans."