BROWNSVILLE – The Guatemalan child injured at a Rio Grande Valley government shelter went back to the doctor's office at the request of his attorney.

The child's legal counsel said they don't know exactly when the boy fractured his femur, but they do know he wasn't taken to a doctor for days.

In March, a federal judge in Brownsville ordered the Office of Refugee Resettlement who has legal custody of the child consider releasing him to a sponsor family from Austin selected by the boy's parents.

The boy was separated from his father nearly eleven months ago during the enforcement of the Zero Tolerance Policy.

After the decision in March, the boy returned to the shelter.

Over a week ago, according to statements made to the child's attorney, the boy fractured his femur – an upper leg bone – while playing soccer.

At first, his lower leg was bandaged by a nurse practitioner, and later placed in a cast by an orthopedic doctor.

The attorney requested the court release the child immediately. In those documents, Dr. Amy Cohen who works with the attorney gave a statement to the court in the form of an affidavit.

She wrote she believed a pediatric orthopedics doctor was necessary to treat an injury of a child who is still growing.

Ricardo de Anda, the attorney representing the child, said, "ORR sent him to a pediatric orthopedics specialist yesterday. Dr. Cohen will speak with him and communicate with his parents with respect to his condition."

As a result of the boy's injury, the attorney requested he be immediately released from custody. That request was denied Thursday.

The ORR still has a deadline of May 1 to assess and process the application submitted by the prospective Austin sponsor family.