Day care worker shows up drunk and slams toddler on ground, Illinois suit says
A day care worker’s abusive behavior toward the toddlers she was in charge of was displayed to parents on the classroom’s livestream but went unreported by management, an Illinois lawsuit said.
The mothers of two toddlers in the “1-year-old room” at Childtime Learning Centers in Washington filed a lawsuit against the facility, the worker and her supervisor for more than $50,000.
McClatchy News reached out to Childtime Childcare, the company that owns the day care in Washington, for comment but did not immediately receive a response. /The assistant director
In March, Childtime hired a caregiver to work in a room with children between 15 months and 2 years of age, according to the lawsuit filed on July 17.
She showed up to work multiple times with the smell of alcohol on her breath and exhibited other signs of intoxication, including slurred speech and delayed responses, the complaint said.
A livestream of the classroom, which was available to parents to view on an app, showed the worker forcefully handling the young children, the lawsuit said. She grabbed children’s wrists so hard their fingertips turned purple and dragged toddlers, according to the complaint.
The children in her care started to show signs of fear toward the woman and often cried when left alone with her or reached for another caregiver instead, the lawsuit said.
Despite these factors, the lawsuit accuses the worker’s supervisor of not making a written record of these complaints or reporting it to the Department of Child and Family Services.
On May 19, the worker showed up to the day care smelling of alcohol, the lawsuit said. After the children played outside during the day, the center’s livestream showed the worker guiding them back inside, then grabbing a child’s hand as he resisted, the lawsuit said.
The child was kneeling when she grabbed him by the arm and slammed him onto the ground, according to the complaint. She slammed him again, and the child hit his head, the lawsuit said.
DCFS and the mother were notified on May 20 and 21, according to the lawsuit. The mother viewed a recording of the incident with the supervisor, the suit said.
“I think Washington’s a very small community, Peoria-Washington area, so there’s not a lot of options for day care, unfortunately,” the attorney for the mothers, Kevin Golden, told McClatchy News in a phone interview. He said the mothers “were a little taken aback” that something like this was occurring in their small community and “they weren’t being notified of it.”
Though the worker accused of forceful treatment of kids had only been working at the day care for months, Golden says other parents told him their kids had issues with day care staff.
“I’ve received several other calls from parents who had children previously in that program or within that program that are no longer there, that tell me the same kind of pattern of conduct,” he said.
An initial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 8, according to court documents.
