
Britney Spears (R) and her husband Kevin Federline
arrive for the Sony BMG Grammy Party in Los Angeles February 8, 2006. (Chris
Pizzello/Reuters)
LOS ANGELES - Pop star Britney Spears and her husband were cleared of any
wrongdoing by child welfare agents who visited their home in response to a
hospital report of an injury to their infant son, her lawyer said on Wednesday.
The statement from attorney
Martin Singer did not give details about the mishap that led to Saturday's house
call by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, or
DCSF.
But according to published accounts by the Los Angeles Times and People
magazine, the Saturday visit to Spears' home in the beachfront enclave of Malibu
came after her 6-month-old son, Sean Preston, fell from a high chair and hit his
head.
People magazine said the baby slipped from his nanny's arms and fell to the
floor as she was lifting him from the high chair and "something snapped in the
chair."
A doctor examined the child that day, April 1, at the family's home, and he
seemed fine, the magazine said. But Spears and husband Kevin Federline became
concerned and took the child to a hospital emergency room six days later to have
him checked again, though no serious problems were found, it said.
"While there was an automatic report by the hospital to the Department of
Children and Family Services, DCFS immediately responded and determined there
was no problem and no reason to open a formal investigation," Singer's statement
said. "They determined that the parents were not involved in any injury and that
nothing improper was done within the home."
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has said its deputies accompanied
DCSF agents to the Spears home on Saturday and that the matter was settled at
the time of the visit.
In February, sheriff's deputies visited Spears' home at the request of child
welfare authorities after Spears was photographed driving a car with her son
seated on her lap behind the steering wheel.
Spears, 24, later issued a statement saying she had "made a mistake" by
failing to strap her son into his car seat, as is required by California law,
before pulling out of a parking lot. She said then that she was reacting to a
"frightful" encounter with "physically aggressive" paparazzi, although the photo
agency that took the pictures disputed her claims that photographers were
hounding Spears.
Spears, who had kept a relatively low profile since marrying Federline in
September 2004, recently returned to the spotlight with a guest appearance on
the NBC television sitcom "Will & Grace."