Unethical Issues at a Daycare?

Question

I worked at a childcare facility awhile back. There was an incident with a child. It was more irresponsibility on the staffperson involved. Fortunately, the child was fine. My question comes in with this. My manager told the staff that heard about the incident not to mention it with anyone-and that she wasn't going to talk to the little one's parents about the incident. That infuriated me. After I took some time to calm down, I went to the Director above her-spoke with her, and put in my two weeks notice. She told me she was planning on speaking with the parents later. Also, there were very little consequences for the staffperson involved. I wasn't there when the incident happened. Should I have told the parents or called licensing anyways? Or should I just hope that they do the right thing-and stay out of it because I wasn't involved? This is really eating away at my conscience..I have my opinions about this, but I'm not posting so that I can hear what you all have to say first.

Answer 1

I totally agree with Gemini.

Answer 2

Generally speaking, the licensing agency will be anonymous anyway.  You may have to provide them with information, but that information cannot be given to the school.  It will be used likely as a follow up in case more information is needed.  That's a vague generalization and you want to speak to the licensing agency before you provide any information.  If you have already discussed WHY you are leaving, it is likely the school will know it was you just from educated guessing.

Without knowing about the situation, it is very difficult to say.  As an overall statement, if you feel the safety or needs of the children are in danger, it is best to report what you can.  I would not go directly to the parents about it necessarily.  That can just get into a sticky situation.  

It's never easy when you see something like this happen in a day care center.  Looking out for the best interest often means we have to hold others accountable.  

The licensing agency also does not want to simply go out and find people responsible for harming children.  If the licensing agency goes and looks at the situation, they may find a better way to handle the situation or point out where the school can fix the situation so they are in compliance with the law (assuming the law was broken somehow).  They would much prefer to do this than close down a school.

Hope that helps some!

Matt

Answer 3

If what happened is disturbing enough to you to cause you to quit your job, then yes -do report it to licensing. They will likely want your name to take the report, but will not pass your name on to the childcare facility.

You know, I don't know what happened, but caregivers do make mistakes. I'm not sure that parents need to know about every mistake that is made if no harm came to the child. However, my big concern would be lack of consequences for the staff person. There should have been some sort of follow up and warning given to the person. There should be steps taken to ensure that whatever happened never happens again. To me it would be more of a staff training issue.

I was interviewing for a position as head teacher in a toddler room. They had space open in the infant room for my 4 month old daughter, so I would be able to bring her to work with me. When I went for the interview, I took her along to spend time in the infant room. While spending time interacting in the toddler room, I looked through the window into the infant room. She was left in an exersaucer for at least 30 minutes with no one interacting with her. The caregivers had their backs to her while they fed other infants, instead of moving her where they could see her and talk to her while feeding the others. Later they took her for a walk with them. When they returned, I saw they had let the back all the way down on a one-child stroller. One baby was belted in the front and my child was just laid down in the back. I nearly had a fit!! I noticed several other licensing violations while there, so I called licensing and reported everything that had happened. Needless to say, I didn't accept the position, although part of me thinks I should have 'cause I would have cleaned the place up, so to speak.

If my dd had been enrolled there and I was a "normal" parent working elsewhere, should someone have informed me about the stroller incident? Not necessarily, but there should have been staff members smart enough to not do it and someone to speak up and make sure it never happened again!

Answer 4

Even if you weren't involved you had second hand knowledge and a responsibility to report this unfortunate incident.

Answer 5

You are under an obligation to report any abusive situation at least in the state of Wisconsin where I run a day care.  The parents must be notified and it is the director's duty to do so.  If the director isn't going to do it then someone on staff should do so.  I would contact licensing even if I as a staff member not involved didn't tell the parents and let the state work it out.

Answer 6

I guess if it's something you felt so strongly about, that it was "unethical", you gave your notice.  I'd go with your gut feeling about it.  I was a teacher and I had gone on a "gut" feeling thinking that a co-worker was a pedophyle.  Well unfortunately I was correct.  I had gone to the principal and social worker.  And I'm really glad I did.  Although he didn't get fired, the following school year he was caught with a boy and was arrested.  It was unfortunate that he wasn't caught sooner.

Answer 7

I feel you took appropriate action.   Your resignation indicates how strongly you felt about the situation and the way it was handled.  Such bungling management could really do some serious damage down the road, and at least you won't be effected since you're moving on.  

I understand how your conscience can be bothering you.  I've taught for 23 years, and I've learned to listen to that little voice.  It sounds to me like you feel something was left undone and that you need to do something about it.  Since that's what I think is happening, I feel you believe deep-down that although you were told the parents were going to be informed, you simply don't believe it.  I'd wait until I was no longer working for this daycare.  Then I would call those parents, if anything else to relieve your conscience and be sure they were notified, just to be sure.  You might indicate that although you weren't involved, you were thinking about their child and the incident recently and wanted to be sure they were aware of the event.  As a parent, I wouldn't mind if you called me and I was already informed; however, I would be very grateful if I had no idea about what had happened.  Good luck... I know you'll make the right decision.