Another head lice; I want to help this child

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I know the topic of head lice has been discussed over and over and over. The other school nurse and I are working on revising the head lice policy. We are changing it to basically allow kids to stay in school with head lice. We are putting a clause in it though that says that we will handle head lice on a case by case basis. We have a girl who has had chronic head lice. I know she's had it since at least October (I started this job in October) so it has probably been much longer. It is really bad at this time. You can see the live lice crawling on her head without even getting too close to her. There are TONS of nits. She says she was treated for it a few weeks ago, but I question whether that is even true. I have a feeling other kids have noticed and probably aren't being very nice. Regardless, I cannot get a hold of the mother via the phone number provided to the school. I'm not sure if it is not a working number or if she just has us blocked. Numerous notes have been sent home with the student. The other school nurse has mainly dealt with it (we switch schools every month) so she has been the one sending notes home. I sent a note home with the student yesterday. Student came back today without any treatment. Student states that money to get treatment is the issue. They do have a medical card however, and can get a script and it'd be covered. Not sure if the mother knows this, so I have said in my note to call the school so that we can discuss options if finances are the issue. I'm sending another note home today basically stating she cannot come back to school until she receives treatment. Though I guarantee she will come back tomorrow untreated. The student spent yesterday in the office per the principle. I sent her back to class today though as I don't think it's beneficial for her to sit in the office and plus how do I justify leaving her in the office when research shows we should not exclude kids from school for lice. I know she is embarrassed and is miserable. I do not know how to help this child. The parent is even supposed to be taking GED classes so we have called there and even stopped at her classes, but she has never been there. I want to help her. This is a student who will likely consider dropping out in high school (the brother is in high school and is wanting to drop out). How can I help her??? What would you do at this point? CPS has been contacted, but I know nothing will come of it. I feel helpless.

Thanks so much for the resource! It was reassuring to me to know that it will be very unlikely for the this child to spread lice to others in the school and to know that the lice don't really "bother" her. It still upsets me that she will have to live with head lice, but over all I feel better about the situation than I did before. I just pray that none of the other students notice that she has it.... but she does have some rather large, crawling lice so whoever is sitting behind her or near her in class will probably end up noticing at some point. I hope not though.

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I really hope CPS is able to do an intervention. If this parent is not taking the time to clean this child and protect her from vermin then they dont need to have a child. This just makes me so sad.

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Specializes in med/surg, clinic, school.

Not sure if you have a Robi Comb available but if so you could have the child come to you daily to get a treatment. While this will not stop the new little buggers from popping out it will remove the large, live, crawly critters that are making her head itch, crawling around on her scalp for all to see and falling out of her hair. May make her feel better as well to think that someone would take the time to help her each day. Just a thought.

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I really hope CPS is able to do an intervention. If this parent is not taking the time to clean this child and protect her from vermin then they dont need to have a child. This just makes me so sad.

CPS will not intervene for head lice alone. Head lice are not considered a health hazard as they are nothing more than a pest, they do not cause or spread disease.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
I really hope CPS is able to do an intervention. If this parent is not taking the time to clean this child and protect her from vermin then they dont need to have a child. This just makes me so sad.

That seems like a pretty extreme statement.

CPS has real issues to deal with, having them focus on things like this ties them up and takes them away from the cases that are really important.

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CPS...also contact the department of health. This is a health problem. CPS should answer...tell the dept of health they won't respond. Make noise! God bless you for caring!

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Specializes in Short Term/Skilled.
That seems like a pretty extreme statement.

CPS has real issues to deal with, having them focus on things like this ties them up and takes them away from the cases that are really important.

In my opinion, if a child is being so extremely neglected that they've had an ongoing lice infestation for going on 4 months, there is cause for an investigation. If there isn't money for lice treatment is there money for food and clothing? While being poor isn't reason alone to remove a child, its not OK to let a child live like this. I'd call that a "real" problem until proven otherwise (by a home visit from CPS)

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How old is the student? Do you think she is old enough to help in her own treatment? As unfortunate as that may sound, if she is capable of using the comb herself at night and then maybe even washing her bed linens at home by herself, maybe you could treat her at school and then the rest she could take care of herself. I wish her parents would buck up and be her parent, but since they won't, maybe she can help herself with your assistance. I'm sure she'd be grateful to get some kind of help and relief. It's just a thought though.

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Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.
Thanks so much for the resource! It was reassuring to me to know that it will be very unlikely for the this child to spread lice to others in the school and to know that the lice don't really "bother" her. It still upsets me that she will have to live with head lice, but over all I feel better about the situation than I did before. I just pray that none of the other students notice that she has it.... but she does have some rather large, crawling lice so whoever is sitting behind her or near her in class will probably end up noticing at some point. I hope not though.

Are you allowed to just comb her hair out? Not with any treatments, just wet her hair, condition, & go to town. Time consuming, yes. But it'd better than nothing. And it sounds like maybe she's old enough to throw her bedding in the wash?? Or is it an issue of access to a washer & dryer? If she's a little older, she can hopefully help herself a bit as far as the home situation goes.

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Specializes in School nursing.
CPS...also contact the department of health. This is a health problem. CPS should answer...tell the dept of health they won't respond. Make noise! God bless you for caring!

Head lice have been shown to not spread disease and personal hygiene at home may not come into play. It actually isn't a health issue and public health does have much bigger concerns.

That sounds harsh, of course, for this poor child because head lice is certainly uncomfortable :(.

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