Protecting Your Child From Daycare Abuse

Seeing it makes your stomach turn. You flip on the evening news and see a clip of an adult abusing a child in a daycare. Your thoughts immediately turn to your own child who spends the work day in the care of others so you can bring home a paycheck. What if that was your child? Would you know if your little one was being mistreated or abused? Here are ways that you can protect your child from daycare abuse.

1. Know the Warning Signs

The first thing to do is to know the warning signs of daycare abuse. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, these are some of the things to be on the lookout for:

• Mood swings or changes in behavior that can’t be explained
• Sleep disturbances
• Inappropriate sexual interest or activity
• Acting out or aggressive behavior
• Infantile behavior
• Problems in school
• Toilet-training difficulties or changes in habits
• Fear of certain people, places or activities
• Fear of being taken to or left at the daycare facility

2. Checking Out Daycares

One of your biggest clues to problems at a daycare is your gut, so trust it. Before you enroll your child in a daycare, go and check it out. Take a look around, speak to the staff and, if possible, observe lessons or activities. Keep in mind that a daycare may not allow you to participate in activities for legal reasons, but there is no reason that they won’t let you visit. If you feel like something is off or not the right fit for your child, continue your search.

You can also talk to other parents and see who they are trusting with their children. This is a great way to start creating your list of care centers to visit. Parents will have strong opinions one way or another with regards to who is caring or has cared for their little ones.

3. Talk to Your Kids

If your child is already enrolled in a daycare, ask them about their day, every day. Small children are more apt to talk about their day than older kids, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get information from them. Ask your child how their day was, find out what they learned, ask what their favorite part of daycare is, what their favorite games are and anything else you want to know. If your child is too young to talk in a way that provides you much information, you can role play.

No parent should have anything but complete trust in a daycare, and no child should have to tolerate abuse or mistreatment. If you feel as though your child may be being abused, file a complaint with your local police department.

If you know that your child has been mistreated at a daycare center in Charlotte, reach out to Auger & Auger for fast assistance. We will schedule an appointment for a free case evaluation and review the details of the mistreatment so that we can better advise you of your options.