Chicago Day Care Center Investigated After Worker Allegedly Paddled Child
(CBS) – A mother tells CBS 2 her child was beaten and bruised at a Chicago daycare center, and now the state's child-welfare agency is investigating.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports.
The child attended God's Little Helper Daycare, in the 3700 block of West 79th Street.
Nearly two weeks ago, Carrie Howlett had picked up her son, Nicholas, from the South Side facility and was preparing the child for his bath when she saw that he was hurt.
"My heart fell into my stomach," she says. "I'm emotionally distressed. I keep having memories in my head of this lady doing awful things to my son."
The boy told his mom a day care worker beat him with a wooden paddle after he misbehaved.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is now looking into the case. The worker has been fired, the agency said.
"She should be fired and she should also be prosecuted," Howlett says.
No comment on any of this so far from the center's owner.
The daycare center is still operating. DCFS says the center is entitled to due process.
The family intends to go to court and seek a summons for an arrest warrant against the worker.
Meanwhile, the boy's mother asks: "What was a wooden paddle doing in there in the first place?"