Thu
Sep 27 2007
07:23 am
I cried for the babies when I read about this Jefferson County day care abuse
By: Carole Borges

"A DHS spokesperson says they found a four-month-old boy in a darkened room with a pacifier taped in his mouth by two pieces of two-inch clear packing tape."

This article sickened me. (link...) It also reminded me of the difficulties some parents and almost all low income working mothers have in finding good affordable care. As a country and a state we should do more to insure every single child recieves the best of care when their parents are out trying to earn a living.

Children who suffer this kind of abuse are likely to be warped and scared for life. I'm a baby lover myself, and it broke my heart to think what that poor little child must have been thinking alone in the dark with tape placed across his mouth. The fact that the center received 3 stars from the inspectors is also worrisome.

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pan's picture

That is exactly why my wife

Submitted by pan on Thu, 2007/09/27 - 12:25pm.

That is exactly why my wife stays home with our 9-month-old son.

That and the fact that if she went back to her job, her entire paycheck would be going to cover daycare expenses anyway...

Carole Borges's picture

You're lucky...

Submitted by Carole Borges on Thu, 2007/09/27 - 4:45pm.

Pity the poor single moms.

talidapali's picture

for real...

Submitted by talidapali on Thu, 2007/09/27 - 6:42pm.

There are LOTS of single moms out there that have no choice but to leave their kids with people they have to just trust are going to take excellent care of their kids. The fact that the DHS gave this daycare such a high rating is the most worrisome thing...did they tell them in advance every time they were going to inspect the place so the folks had time to clean up their act beforehand? If so, WHY?

_________________________________________________
"You can't fix stupid..." ~ Ron White"
"I never said I wasn't a brat..." ~ Talidapali

R. Neal's picture

My sense is that DHS is

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2007/09/27 - 6:45pm.

My sense is that DHS is pretty much a screwed up mess in every state.

They seem to be overwhelmed by our dysfunctional society, and the states (and their residents) care more about holding the line on tax increases than funding these agencies.

StaceyDiamond's picture

mother

Submitted by StaceyDiamond on Thu, 2007/09/27 - 6:55pm.

The mother of the child seemed not upset,very calm on wate, said she was upset with the person who did it but not Noah's Arc, you would think she'd be furious, but maybe that place is her only choice, she said on tv that the baby was staying with grandparents for now.

Carole Borges's picture

That's kind of odd...

Submitted by Carole Borges on Thu, 2007/09/27 - 10:03pm.

Maybe there's something wrong with the mother.

gigglebabe's picture

The Mom

Submitted by gigglebabe on Sun, 2007/09/30 - 11:34pm.

I think the mother looked awfully young. And is quite possibly on assitance with child care, and that's probably the only place she has to send her child.

I feel like she should be going off on the entire day care center. Not just the person who did this. Because if the owner is running the place properly, she would have been there making sure things were going smoothly and properly for the children in her care. It's her responsibility to hire these people to work for her. I feel she is just as much as fault as the person who actually did this to this child.

If the mother doesn't think so, then perhaps DHS needs to look furter into the care the actual mother is giving this child.

Because I know myself as a mother, would be going off on the entire place, and doing everything in my power to make sure that the place was not reopened, to ensure that no other child was hurt or even killed in the future.

I would go insane if I knew I sat back and did nothing at all to keep that place closed, and something happened to another child down the road. I would feel personally responsible for another child's welfare.

The mother really needs to re-think her posistion.

Just my opinion- as a mother of a child who was hurt at a daycare, and made sure no other child went there and was hurt after mine was!

Carole Borges's picture

You're right her behavior is odd...

Submitted by Carole Borges on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 4:29pm.

Unless the mothers who came out to support the owner, and they did in large numbers and with much passion, KNEW she couldn't have been at all aware of the incident, I can't see why any mother would not hold her accountable. DSS is investigating, but we probably won't hear much about this story. News stories seem to fade away so fast these days. People are, like you said, so desperate I guess they hate to lose what might have seemed like an okay place to them. Day care is a mess and really hurts our whole society. Bad daycare encourages single mothers to stay on welfare. It makes educated or skilled mothers want to stay home, and it makes support payments higher.

In an odd way, all the services NOT available to single mothers contributes to the abortion dilemma. Ironically right-to-life people often are the very ones who vote against any kind of real help for single parents, so young girls often have to make a heavy decision based on how hard their life (and their child's life) will be if they had a baby alone. I know a lot of people say "just put it up for adoption", but not all adoptees, regardless of wealth and education, are loving parents, and who wants to be a babymaker for someone else's happiness? Mothers who give their babies away do not always avoid suffering terrible guilt and remorse. I know several who are as haunted (maybe more really)about this as would have been if they had an early abortion.

All children should be given the best of care growing up as they ruly are our national treasure.

SammySkull's picture

All children should be given

Submitted by SammySkull on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 6:37pm.

All children should be given the best of care growing up

It could be argued that one of the first steps to accomplishing this would be to never leave babies in day care. Wouldn't we be more likely to help these children if new mothers were able to care for their children themselves rather than having to outsource parenting?

Carole Borges's picture

I agree completely..

Submitted by Carole Borges on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 7:33pm.

That would be the best thing. Though I have seen some situations where day care is probably better for the child.

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