Child Abuse Concerns

[MissGreen]

I work at a daycare and had the unfortunate job of reporting my supervisor for child abuse last week. I witnessed her spray Lysol directly into two childrens' faces because she would not listen to her. One of the girls she sprayed again. There are several classrooms in the center, and this is the only one that seems to have problems with the staff behaving inappropriately. Another employee threatened to beat two children with a belt. I'm sure she wouldnt have carried it out, but that doesn't mean anything. It's a reputable place that has been there for over 20 years, and I'm really surprised at how they are handling this. When I went to the administrator, all she said was, "I'll handle it," and left. Not even an "is she okay." I went to another administrator and told her about this, and this time wrote everything in an email - times, dates, other adults in the room at the time. I called CPS the day it happened and Licensing called me the next day for details. They havent been down there yet, and it's been 5 business days.. I'm wondering when they are coming. The administrator said that she is "initiating disciplinary action" but that the other adults claimed not to see anything (and one of them that absolutely saw the kid get sprayed with Lysol was the one that threatened to beat those two kids). She told me that she knows I have never had any disagreements with the staff and she doesnt have any reason to believe I've been dishonest, but that there is no evidence or anyone WILLING to corroborate it. I'm studying to get my M.Ed and was just doing this part time for extra money, and as an undergrad did an internship with a child protection agency. I don't know how I can prove anything without anyone willing to come forward or any long-term damage to the child.. and if I only work there part time and saw her do this twice in one week, who knows how many times she did it or what else could be going on? The two girls that got sprayed are barely three, don't speak well, and their first language is Chinese. The other kids in the class can barely remember what they ate for breakfast sometimes, and are totally unreliable. There was a five-year-old in the hallway when she went out there to spray Lysol because "it smelled," and I was hoping he could tell them that she at least had the can in her hand and was spraying it around around the time of the incident because she totally denies everything (of course). I don't know what else I can do. I complained to the admin, and she was back in the classroom the next day! I know she gets due process, but this seems ridiculous to me.

[gbcc]

Wow, that is absolutely crazy. In NY CPS only has 24 hours to respond. Is it possible since you work part time they came while you were absent and no one at work is letting you know? If the girls main language is Chinese then cps should accomodate an interperter. Do you have access to the parents information? My only other suggestion would be to come forward to the parents and let them know what happened and your concerns.

If anything like that happens again I would call 911 at the time to report it and let them forward the report to cps. That way the children get the medical attention to make sure they are ok and no damage, the parents are notified, and cps realizes it's not just a troublesome employee.

[TGT09]

I am outraged that no one is helping you! Absolutely ridiculous that a child would have to endure this!
Lysol has side effects when inhaled and shouldn't even be used while children are still there! How dare an adult spray any child in the face!
I'm almost speechless! I'm sorry I don't have any real advice!

[MissGreen]

Yeah, it bothers me on a lot of levels. I think one of the most nagging is that other adults definitely saw what happened both times I saw her do it and they didnt come out about it when interviewed. And a couple of them are in college getting teacher certificates. I think they just didnt want to get involved. Here CPS has 24 to 48 hours to report to licensing and then licensing has to make "first contact" with the reporter w/in 24-48 hours as well(maybe 72). When I talked to the licensing lady on the phone about what kind of timeline to expect with the investigation she said they wouldnt visit yet bc "it takes time to build a case." I'm very disappointed with how this was handled. My administrator of course treated it like it was serious when she talked to me, but I got the distinct impression she didnt think it was such a big deal. Maybe it's unrealistic but I expected them to pull her from the classroom and put her on leave or take a vacation day or whatever and nothing happened. CPS could have come by when I wasnt there - good point. But usually someone says something (gossip mill) when licensing or anyone else important shows up. Also stupid - I told the administrator that there had been that 5 year old outside the door ... He said he didnt remember anything about it. The administrator said that he wouldnt forget something like that because he's so bright he even remembers what kind of cupcakes they had at his birthday party last weekend! does she seriously believe a 5 year old over me? And its that it got in her eyes that its worst bc thats pretty caustic. She could have eye damage if it happens often - which it might if the same kid was sprayed in the face twice in one week. I requested a transfer and luckily they were good about it. I know CPS has to contact the parents and I expect them to pull her out, but havent seen anything change yet.

[QualiTcare]

that's crazy. people always talk about CPS not doing anything and how they should do more. this is the exact reason they can't do anything a lot of times - nobody will come forward.

i worked in a daycare before where this woman would bring in her kid (always at naptime cus she just woke up) and i could tell she was messed up on pills. i told my co-workers about it, but they just blew it off cus they didn't know. i KNEW she was messed up cus i've seen enough pill heads to know.

a few months later...i came back from my lunch break and everyone was talking about how a CPS worker had just been there asking questions about the mom i mentioned. i was like, "so, what did you say? did you tell them she comes in here f'ed up outta her mind?!" NOBODY said ANYTHING. i was so mad that i missed the worker. the kid was always dressed nice, the mom had money, etc., and the fact people couldn't tell she was high as a kite (besides me) didn't help.

a few more months pass by....and guess who is on the front page of the newspaper? this lady crashed her car into a tree with her son in the car with her...and they found all kinds of pills on her. i didn't have to say anything cus i knew everyone felt stupid and wished they would've said something when they had the chance. actually, i should've called CPS and told them i had something to say, but i was gone when they stopped by.