The recent sexual assault of a 4-year old girl at daycare center should get the attention of any parent who is thinking about using a child daycare center. Police in Springdale Arkansas arrested 18-year-old Cesar Monarrez who worked at the Royal Children's Academy part time. The 4-year old girl told her parents that Monarrez touched her with a knife. It is my understanding that this happened during nap time and the daycare center uses video surveillance which captured the assault.
Millions of parents drop off their small children each day at daycare centers with the thought that their children will be safe because these centers are regulated and you don't hear of many cases where kids are assaulted at these locations. For the most part the vast majority of daycare centers provide a safe and loving environment for our children. Many daycare centers utilize video surveillance to further protect children from abuse and neglect. The use of video surveillance also affords parents the opportunity to check on their children from the internet while at work or home. I applaud the daycare centers who utilize video surveillance systems that have the feature where parents can watch the video feed from home or work. If I was looking for a daycare center for a small child I would most definitely select one that has this type of video surveillance.
An important safety element of daycare centers is the selection of employees who will be caring for your children while you are at work. I think many daycare centers are lacking in this area because they do not pay their employees well which leads to high turnover. Look for a school that has teacher/caregivers that have been at the facility for a long time. Stay away from daycare centers who have new teachers/caregivers starting every other month. Ask the daycare that you are considering about their employees and ask if they do thorough background checks. If the owner/administrator of the daycare center appears uninspired about safety precautions, leave and never look back.
In the Springdale Arkansas case, the suspect was an 18-year old male part time employee. As a father who has had his daughter in daycare I can tell you that I would not choose a daycare center that uses male employees. It has been my experience over the past 19 years in law enforcement that men are more often the offenders in assaults on children, it's a fact. If you visit daycare centers you will see that 99.9% of the employees are women and there is a reason for that. Most daycare centers understand that parents are not comfortable leaving their small children with men they do not know.
When you have found a daycare center that you like, check with your state business office and see if there have been any complaints or violations. Call your local police agency and try and ascertain if there have been any investigations/complaints at the daycare. Sometimes there may be a police investigation at a daycare center and it may not have been reported or logged with the state business regulation department. Crime stats are public information and many police agencies have log books that you can review to see where crime has been reported.
Once your child is going to a daycare center that you have chosen you still need to be alert for your child's safety. Make unexpected visits to the daycare center at different times to see first hand the environment your child is in. When my daughter was 3 I had to find another daycare center for her because the travel time to her current daycare center was too great. I found a daycare center at a local church and a fellow police officers mother was the administrator. I toured the daycare center and found it to be very modern and fully staffed. The administrator was a very loving and safety oriented older women who had been working at the daycare center for years. The only concern that I had was the fact that the daycare center used 18 year old college students as part time teacher's aides in each classroom. This was a concern to me because it is my belief that young women do not have the patience or experience to be caring for my child. My ideal daycare teacher/caregiver is mother or grandmother over the age of 30 who works in the daycare field because they love children and not because they are desperate for work.
I decided to go with this church daycare and I felt confidant that I had made a wise decision. I think that due to my job as a Police Officer I am more cautious and safe than the average parent. I would pick up m child in the late afternoon when my shift was over and my ex-wife was responsible for dropping her off in the morning. 2 weeks passed and all was well with the new daycare center. I was pleased that the entire staff was very safety oriented. One afternoon I arrived at the daycare center in my police cruiser and in full uniform. My daughter was on the fenced in playground with 2 teachers that I had not seen before. I walked to the playground and one of the teachers demanded picture identification from me in order to pick up my daughter. I was pleasantly surprised that she asked for my identification and I gladly gave it to her. Daycare centers must demand picture id from anyone picking up a child that is not known by the staff.
Several days later I was off and had the opportunity to take my daughter to the daycare center. I arrived at the school and walked my daughter to the classroom that is used for playtime in the morning. I walked into the classroom and observed a horde of kids playing and a teacher that I had met before and a student aide that I had not seen before. I then observed a girl sitting on the ground crying for unknown reasons. The female student aide looked down at the child and said "you know I don't like cry babies, now stop crying" The aide then called a nearby boy by his name and said "Johnny, tell Abby that I don't like cry babies" I kissed my daughter goodbye and left the school.
While driving home I thought about the incident with the crying girl and the student aide and it disturbed me. The parents of that child had no idea that their child was laying on the ground crying and the teacher and student aide did nothing to comfort her. The only action taken by the staff was the student aide ridiculed the crying girl and made fun of her in front of the other children. I turned my truck around and drove back to the school where I marched to the administrators office. I spoke with the administrator and informed her of the incident and the told her that I was extremely unhappy because that could have been my daughter that was being treated in such a cold manner by the staff. I told the administrator that I demand loving care for my daughter and was I observed earlier was cold and inappropriate behavior. That was my daughter's last day at that daycare center.
I was referred to a large church in the city that has operated a daycare for years and all of the employees have been there for a very long time. The teacher in my daughter's new classroom was very involved in that church and I found her to be a very loving teacher who thought of her job as a calling. My daughter spent 2 years at the new daycare and I have since referred many people there because I firmly believe that is a complete safe learning environment for small children.
As parents we owe to our precious little ones to be thorough in our search for a daycare center that is safe and employs the right people to care for our kids?
Author is a current Police Officer with 19 years of experience & webmaster [personalsafetyheadquarters.com] a blog with articles and information on how to keep you and your family safe.
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