I had a neighbor go through the exact same type of situation after picking his child up from a day care. There is no real science or proof, you are just at the mercy of a social worker and DA if they want to charge.
Sounds like a variation of the child abuse day care center stories that destroyed lives during the 1980s.
Years ago I had a friend who was traveling with her child. The baby fell asleep on his bottle while in the car seat. The next day you could see a reverse ‘Ger’ from the imprint on the bottle. The letters made a small mark.
The father’s mother called CPS and said that her son had hit the child. Even though you could READ the letters (I saw the mark), CPS took their baby.
Once CPS got their hands on the family, it was a nightmare to get the kid back. They had a cat. Two more weeks of review before they could get their child. Got rid of the cat, but the social worker lifted the toilet seat and found a small hair during an inspection. Two more weeks of review before they could get their child. There was a drip in their refrigerator. Two more weeks of review before they could get their child. A cup in the sink at the time of the unannounced visit. Two more weeks of review before they could get their child. The bed wasn’t made. Two more weeks of review before they could get their child.
My poor friend nearly had a nervous breakdown.
This hell went on for more than a year. If they had a perfect inspection, they still had two more weeks to get an answer. Ultimately, they’d fail the next unannounced inspection over something stupid and it would start all over again. And their cleanliness was never the issue!
How were the ‘abuse’ charges handled? The judge ordered the father to attend a four-day anger management class over two weekends, then the court was satisfied; but CPS wasn’t. (The judge wasn’t too concerned about abuse.)
Finally after two months of spotless inspections, they reluctantly let them have their child back.
Once the case was resolved, they had to leave the state to really get it to end. Even after they got custody of the child returned, they were to be subject to spot inspections by CPS until they did. No court order. No judgement against them. This was all up to CPS’s discretion.