Parents can’t care for their kids 24/7, so it’s necessary to trust caregivers with them from time to time. Naturally, it’s every parent’s worst nightmare for something bad to happen to their child when they’re not around to help.
Lots of kids go to daycare.
It’s usually the first extended away-from-home experience for a kid. Some kids in daycare are just out of infancy, while others are nearly ready for kindergarten. It takes a skilled caregiver to manage the group.
Alice Bryant has a serious complaint with one daycare.
This mom to a 15-month-old recently moved to Tucson, Arizona with her husband. She recently dropped her daughter off at a local daycare, but she was shocked by what she saw when she picked her daughter up.
Here’s her story.
Bryant detailed her version of events in a Facebook post . At 15 months, children are basically helpless and the thought of something like this happening is a horrifying prospect.
The pics aren’t pretty to look at.
Bryant’s daughter has red welts all over her back. If what Alice alleges is true, it’s hard to imagine an infant being able to do anything to fend off such an attack.
Her story provoked a reaction.
An enormous amount of trust is placed in daycares, and they can be held legally liable if something goes wrong under their watch. If something bad happened to my kid at daycare, I’d absolutely sue.
Bryant hasn’t announced any intent to sue.
The story is sure to develop, but apart from her original Facebook post and a few comments to local media, she hasn’t followed up yet. What she has done is report the incident.
Bryant’s post has gone viral.
Parents expressed all kinds of emotions. It’s the kind of story that resonates for anybody who has a young one. From compassion to borderline threats of violence, a wide range of commenters chimed in.
It’s bad publicity for the daycare.
We’ll probably know more as the story develops, but in the meantime, Bryant’s allegations against the daycare are likely to hurt it — after all, keeping kids safe is literally their primary responsibility.
What about the daycare?
Creative Beginnings Daycare in Tucson told reporters that Bryant’s claims were “unsubstantiated”. The daycare reportedly had ten citations issued against it last summer in an annual compliance inspection.
Are police looking into it?
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) said in a statement: “ADHS is investigating the incident at Creative Beginnings Daycare and working with law enforcement. The investigation is not completed and ADHS cannot comment on pending investigations.”
Some doubt the story.
It’s really tough to get a true sense of scale, or even the severity of a wound, from a series of still photographs. A good number of commenters speculated that it was lipstick on the baby’s back.
It raises questions.
It’s important to note that Bryant says she picked her daughter up only to find these marks. She doesn’t know for sure what happened. It certainly makes sense that she’s looking to get some questions answered.
Fair enough.
At the end of the day, no one on Facebook can definitively prove or debunk something like this. All we can do is take Bryant at her word and trust that investigators will get to the bottom of this.
What do you think?
It’s tough for any parent to contemplate having this happen to their kid. We don’t know exactly what happened at this point, but what do you think is most likely?
