REALLY Suspicious

Tina - posted on 05/19/2011

Alot more action and investigating should have been done it is a serious injury. It is a serious issue that has been brushed off it's not like it was just a grazed knee and the mother should have been better informed and the staff should have reacted quicker and called an ambulance and not just waited for the mother to pick her up.

Krista - posted on 02/23/2011

That's what would worry me as well -- the lack of documentation, the fact that they're giving her the runaround, the fact that they have two separate stories -- it could very well have been a simple accident, but like Loureen said, the way they handled it makes it look even WORSE than what it might actually be.

I'd be lawyering up.

Bonnie - posted on 02/23/2011

I don't know what to think exactly. Her daughter fell over an ironing board? What in the world is an ironing board doing in a kindergarten classroom? Perhaps a play one? Hmmm. My son is in junior kindergarten, he is 4 years old and there is the teacher and at least one teacher's assistant in the room at all times. I'm also trying to figure out why she was bleeding from the vaginal area if she fell on her bum. I think the paramedics should have been called either way. The child was injured and bleeding from a very sensitive area. It also doesn't make sense that the mother was given two different stories.

~♥Little Miss - posted on 02/23/2011

This is very odd...I think the only way she is going to find out answers is by pulling her kid out of the school and getting a lawyer,,...once they are contacted, answers will follow.

Why is a 4 year old in kindergarten? Shouldn't that be pre-school age?

Nikki - posted on 02/23/2011

My real concern with the story is that the management seems to be brushing the mother off. Why are they brushing her off? Was the centre under staffed? was this staff member forced to work in conditions where proper supervision was difficult? Were relief staff who didn't know the children and parents working? Had management not trained all staff in their injury and accident policies? Did they not have supervision plans and policies in place? Did she even know the incident occurred? Was the staff member qualified? Or the staff member could have just been a lazy bitch?

If the staff member was in the wrong I cannot see why the management would not cooperate with the parent and try to offer her support. The last thing a centre wants is a bad reputation, bad things (traumatic accidents) happen at most centres from time to time but most management staff handle the incidents professionally.

I think the fact that she hurt her vagina and not her arm, everyone jumps to the conclusion that foul play maybe involved. I know it must be traumatic for this mother but accidents do happen in child care. Yes the fact that the correct procedure was not followed may look suspicious but to be honest it does happen. Staff cannot watch every child every second of the day. Sometimes children hurt themselves and do not tell the carer, I have lost count of the fuming parents I have had storming into my office complaining about a small injury they were not informed of. But these carers are human, if they do not see the accident are are not informed by the child or a witness they cannot follow procedure. Granted this situation is sensitive and more serious in nature than a scratch or bruise. It is possible the staff member didn't know but tried to cover that up for the fear she may get in trouble.

That being said I still cant comprehend why management are not talking. If this happened in my centre a formal apology would be sent to the parent, I would contact family services to report the incident and evaluate our supervision plans, the staff would be re trained in the centres supervision and accident policies, routines and the carers jobs would be re-evaluated to ensure they are spending more time supervising.

Not that I am condoning the behaviour of the staff member but it's difficult to judge unless you know the full story.

Ashley=) - posted on 02/23/2011

True although the police are great at advising you were to go for the proper help.If the feel they are no help to you.

In this case i would act promptly from the start then waiting days to go about it

My instinct would of been to call the police.Then i am sure they would of told me to contact the health board to inspect the placement.



At Least a police report would document a call made until its investigated by the proper section.It would prove i called out of real concern for my child and the state of the placement in how the deal with children in there care, after an accident or whos to say in general if there caring for the children well enough, up to the standard of the Health board who deal with children in care placements.Well in my area anywho.

Nikki - posted on 02/23/2011

At least your pregnant Emma, I swear I still have baby brain and my daughter is 16 months!

There's no point in ringing the police because they can't do anything. I would presume the incident was an accident, and although accidents in child care tend to be more traumatic for parents than when the children have accidents at home it is still an accident. The carer cannot be held responsible for the injury. Even if she was standing one foot away from the child accidents still happen. Her judgement after the accident was inappropriate and unprofessional but it wasn't criminal.

Stifler's - posted on 02/23/2011

That's true. I used to work in aged care hahaha we used to call ambulances over everything because the patients were so large and immobile, I feel really dumb now. Baby brain!

Ashley=) - posted on 02/23/2011

Would of called the police there and then for neglect and failure to follow health&safety rules in an accident etc which all childcare placements have.Then taken her to the hospital to be checked out.So that would be documented.

.First they child should of been taken to the doctor and the parent called.A accident report written up by the childcare placement as to what happened.In a childcare placement if we as the careers feel the injury is serious not even life threatening but serious as in this case, an ambulance would of been called.I would investigate more and get legal help as i wouldnt want that happen to another child and they need to be checked out to insure there health, safety and staff are all up to standard.



The mother and child were let down and its unacceptable, there's also the safety and health of all the other children in the childcare placement to think about.If the mother does not deal with this properly its a true crime.She has the right to be heard and have the childs childcare placement looked into and have them answer for there appalling treatment, lack of it as it seems in this situation.

Nikki - posted on 02/23/2011

Emma generally an ambulance isn't called unless it is a real emergency and the child's life is at potential risk. However with any serious but not life threatening injuries the parents should be called straight away so they can take them to the doctor or hospital if needed. Basically child care centres use ambulances just as you would at home.

Stifler's - posted on 02/22/2011

Once I slid in the grass and landed on my heel and hurt my vagina as a little kid. Just yeah, if there was heaps of bleeding why didn't they call an ambulance.

Charlie - posted on 02/22/2011

Absolutely it was neglect , if it were my child I would be fuming mad , I would want a full investigation by the school and if they didn't co-operate I would want a third party to investigate , I would have my child into the doctors to see what they could tell about the injury was it inflicted by blunt trauma ect and to document it .....Unfortunately in some centers they don't have enough teachers per child in an emergency I can imagine they would want to inspect the damage immediately it isnt always possible to have a teacher next to you on standby .

What bothers me is the lack of recorded information , the schools unwillingness to share details and the lack of notification or emergency attention to the area , that school has some serious shit to sort out , the way they handled this is atrocious .

Teresa - posted on 02/22/2011

I'm not assuming abuse happened, but the simple fact that the teacher checked out this girl's private parts for injury (even if no touching occured) w/out any other adult witness is enough to pursue this. I do know that it is quite possible for a kid to have an accident in this setting w/ no adult witnesses (my daughter had one last year at recess), but proper protocol w/ something this severe (which should be the case w/ any head or private part injury) is going to the school nurse (if there is one) and notifying the parent immediately. Abuse may or may not have occured, but neglect most certainly DID occur.

Charlie - posted on 02/22/2011

Who knows ? it needs to be investigated from all sides before people assume anything .

Desiree - posted on 02/22/2011

I would take this child straight to to my GP and have her properly checked he/she would be able to tel if it was an Accident or not. This definatly smells like a cover up. Especially if there have been other "accidents".

Katherine - posted on 02/22/2011

But why wouldn't they tell the parent?

Charlie - posted on 02/22/2011

It can happen as easily as falling onto any hard object in a straddled position it doesn't even have to penetrate just the sheer force will do what happened to this girl , it happened to a good friend of mines sister when she was young and playing she slipped and fell on a wooden horizontal beam bleeding , swelling ect , I don't know , it is horrific , the school was in the wrong I have no idea why they didn't follow protocol but I also know accidents happen SO easily especially in a situation where there are a lot of kids in one area .



The girl would be traumatized and in shock regardless of the reason , she suffered Trauma to her Vagina she could very well be embarrassed it doesn't necessarily mean there is something devious going on .



Anyway I don't particularly like to jump to conclusions especially when the the idea is that someone assaulted her and given you don't need a sharp force to inflict this injury there are just so many other things that could have happened .



The school should be held accountable and the teacher should be too at the very least should have their job under review but unless there is real reason to believe that the child is assaulted I think people should be careful of what they are assuming happened , assumptions like that ruin lives and if in fact it was simply the child had an accident then making into something bigger than it is can have massive repercussions that effect everyone from the accused , their family , the child in question and their family as well as the school .

Katherine - posted on 02/22/2011

That's very true. I mean I keep going over in my head what in God's name could have happened to this little girl!

It's going to haunt me because my daughter is 5.

Becky - posted on 02/22/2011

The other thing that bothers me is that this child would be around 5, so if this was an accident - she fell on something or something like that - she should be able to tell her mother what happened herself. The fact that it seems like she is not able to do so makes me suspect that it was not actually an accident and she is too embarassed or traumatized to say what happened.

Katherine - posted on 02/22/2011

She seems to be in shock just from reading her post. And rightfully so.
If I lived closer I'd go to her house and advocate for her.


Seriously.

Teresa - posted on 02/22/2011

I just made a new post to that very one. I hope this woman can get something DONE about that school or at least that 'teacher'. :(

Stifler's - posted on 02/22/2011

That's what I was thinking too. Like she sat on something sharp or shoved something sharp in there or someone else did. Either way... why the hell didn't anyone call an ambulance immediately even if the mum was due to come 10 minutes later?! And how come she's not allowed to know what happened!! I would have gone off!

Becky - posted on 02/22/2011

Oh my goodness, poor little girl! Even if it was completely an accident, what kind of piss poor supervision is going on there that no one can tell this mom what happened??? Kindergarten age kids should never be out of sight of an adult while they're at school! I would definitely be pulling my child out of the school and be going straight to the top to get some answers.
It sounds like this isn't the first time a child's been injured either! Yikes!