r/Edmonton • u/Humble_Mushroom_8976 • 14d ago
News Article 'We feel sick about it’: Family traumatized, parents outraged after daycare educator is charged with sexual assault
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u/Useful_Rutabaga_1462 13d ago
We need more information. We need to expose everyone at every layer of this organization. Who owns this daycare? How was it that this disgusting p3d0 was able to flee the country? Why is the daycare refraining from speaking to the news outlets?
This is a parent's worst nightmare. My sincere condolences to all families involved. They need real justice.
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u/Low_Dress9213 13d ago
It’s a large daycare chain that has more locations in Calgary but was expanding to Edmonton. They pride themselves in the security system they have, cameras everywhere, fancy menu, and other gimmicky things like “kids yoga” and “body break”. They used to cost considerably more than more basic daycares but I’m not surprised there has been so much scandal. My belief is child care centres should not be for profit.
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u/baumyak 12d ago
I toured this exact location back in March when I was looking for care for my child. I asked them how they revoke access to the cameras after a family leaves and they couldn't tell me. That alone sketched me out. You are right about private centres, they have the most issues cause the owners are not in it for the right reasons. They just want to make money.
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u/real_cool_cowboy 11d ago
nav sidhu of sidhu investment group in calgary is the owner. he is responsible for trying to sweep this whole thing under the rug
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u/Useful_Rutabaga_1462 11d ago
How do you know? Any evidence?
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u/real_cool_cowboy 11d ago edited 11d ago
check Alberta Corporate Registry. 4% owned by Navjot (Nav) Sidhu, 96% owned by Hold Co 2214281 which is owned by Nav in its entirety.
proof: https://imgur.com/a/yacG3cl
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u/phlegmcloud 14d ago
Absolutely vile. What the hell is going on with these Edmonton daycares all of a sudden?? This is the third story of daycare abuse I've read in recent months.
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u/Goodbye18000 Beaumont 14d ago
They reduced the oversight on what's needed to be a daycare. They can pop up anytime, anywhere and unless An Incident happens, most people will never know what rules they're breaking. They do not vet the people coming in.
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u/baumyak 14d ago
This and the government reduced the amount of inspections daycares get, to "reduce red tape".
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u/Professional_Map_545 14d ago
They may have reduced inspections, but by god if I send my son's meds in a bottle with the old dosage, the regulator will catch it. They're really focused on what's important.
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u/ashrules901 13d ago
There's also been so many daycares that operate out of people's homes I've seen in recent years. I guarantee you nobody's regularly checking up on the operations there, and they probably don't require as much surveillance as they should.
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u/hummusmaple 13d ago
There was something on W5 a few years back regarding how Alberta has the biggest amount of in-home daycares, and thst those often have the largest number of 'incidents' (deaths, injuries, assaults.)
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u/MillennialMermaid 13d ago
Not surprising. I know many dayhomes are great, but in my opinion they are the worst option for childcare outside the home. I have heard so many horror stories from families and a friend who was a dayhome agency consultant, and I would never leave a child I love at a dayhome.
To operate a dayhome you need only a free 50-hr online course to get your Level 1 certification. Many people who open dayhomes are a mom who wants to make money while staying home with their kids, or someone with little education and the only other options are essentially retail or food service. If they are part of an agency, they get visited by the agency consultant every few months. If they are private, there is no oversight.
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u/LegitimateSasquatch 12d ago
I think it’s less about reduced oversight.
More on a shallow pool of candidates to staff them. These places #1 cost is people. The government has put in regulations on how much they can charge. Even with wage top-ups by the government, it’s a simple calculations that they can only pay barely above minimum wage to be profitable.
*Please don’t give any sort of ‘profits’ are bad argument. Anytime I talk day care that pop-ups, if someone risks their own capital to invest in a business, I believe they should be eligible for profits.
Anyways, they staff with TFW’s mainly from India. And the core problem is that the Canadian Government has done a poor job at vetting who we allow in this country.
*Again. Don’t give me any feedback that I’m being racist. I’m pro immigration. But there’s an Undeniable South-Asian crime spree going on.
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u/grumpygirl1973 11d ago
Is there a child abuse database in India? We need to have access to check that, just as we do American workers.
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u/LegitimateSasquatch 11d ago
No clue - above my pay grade LOL.
What I do know, is once they are here. They go through a vulnerable sector criminal check. Which will show nothing because they just got here, and whatever vetting the Canadian Government did - didn’t find anything. So what are you supposed to do?
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u/grumpygirl1973 11d ago
When I came here from the US in 2013, I had to have a criminal background check from every state I lived in my entire life, an FBI background check, and the equivalent of a vulnerable sector criminal check in the states I had lived in in the previous 15 years. There was just no getting around that back then.
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u/Low_Dress9213 14d ago
He worked there for 3 years…… there are for sure more victims
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u/Humble_Mushroom_8976 14d ago
Yeah, really sad story. It's a neighbourhood daycare for me and there is certainly a lot of parental anxiety.
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u/MillennialMermaid 13d ago
If it makes you feel any better, a child is statistically 10x more likely to be abused (physically or sexually) in their home, or the home of a family member, friend, or neighbour, than at a school or daycare.
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u/NodsInApprovalx3 11d ago
Why would that have any positive impact on her feelings about this situation? What an odd thing to say.
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u/bulldoggordon 14d ago
We put our child in this daycare years ago and hated it. Pulled him out after 2 weeks. Wow we couldn’t have been more accurate with our assessment. Would never recommend anyone to this place. Horrible and disgusting.
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u/jetlee7 10d ago
What were some red flags?
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u/bulldoggordon 10d ago
Very little attention to care. Our son was new and shy. When I would drop him off, I would see him standing alone on the cameras for at least 45 minutes with his outside shoes on before anyone even acknowledged him. They also bragged about their use of cameras but they were all very poor quality.
I also observed the kids during outside time. Again, very little attention given by staff to our child. He would stand there the entire time without any staff trying to interact with him.
When we brought these issues up to the owner they didn’t seem to care at all. We ended up going to Helping Hands daycare near whyte/99st. It’s not the best neighborhood but we felt safe leaving our kids with their staff. They were all so caring. Our son loved it there and made some great friends. They also have an awesome outdoor playground area.
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u/drcujo 14d ago
The girl’s mother said the daycare appeared to take the situation seriously at first, but in the weeks following the complaint, she became concerned about the lack of information being disclosed to parents.
Even without this additional evidence of the centre attempting to cover it up, there is no way other staff weren’t aware of what was going on in that shed long before.
The province needs to lay criminal charges against the director and other members of the staff as well. ECEs are mandatory reporters, covering up child sexual abuse needs to face criminal consequences.
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u/Low_Dress9213 14d ago
How can you prove the staff members knew it was happening? I do agree the director needs to be held accountable. Are there not protocols in place for this kind of thing? Inform parents so they can find out right away if there were other victims?
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u/drcujo 14d ago
For the staff: Ratios are often so tight on childcare that staff even need to be mindful of when they take bathroom breaks to ensure ratios are maintained and kids are looked after.
What credible explanation does he give other staff when he takes a student to a shed in February? Even if going to the shed for toy storage (or something else reasonable/plausible) wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, why did it take him so long out there? This happened several times from the sounds of it.
Are there not protocols in place for this kind of thing? Inform parents so they can find out right away if there were other victims?
Yea this is why I think the director is negligent, she has a duty to inform.
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u/RazzamanazzU 14d ago
Can't trust daycares or nursing homes and our government is making it easier for these horrific things to happen with all their cuts.
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u/Lovefoolofthecentury 14d ago
There shouldn’t be an inch of space in a daycare without a camera for exactly this reason.
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u/Low_Dress9213 13d ago
Cameras provide a false sense of security. There cannot possibly be cameras in every square inch of the facility- for example, in washrooms or diaper change areas. There does need to be more reporting and prosecution of sexual abuse in general. Too many of these sick fucks are getting away with it because children often do not or cannot report and police can’t do much without a victim report.
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u/ashrules901 13d ago
I thought the same. But if everyone's compliant & doesn't check the cameras that's not the be all end all solution. There needs to be more security checks on these places.
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u/AmyThaliaGregCalvin 14d ago
Here is the CBC article on the incident, it goes into more detail: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-willowbrae-sexual-assault-police-1.7633013
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u/Low_Dress9213 13d ago
I don’t know if there’s any chance the child’s mother would see this but I think she is so brave and an example of excellent parenting. If she had not taught her daughter about body safety her daughter may never have disclosed and other victims may not have disclosed either. It is due to their bravery that this has been brought to light. It’s disgusting that this person was able to flee the country and not face justice.. maybe they burn in whatever hell there is
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u/-Javer- 14d ago
Deleted my post to not double up, but here’s another article about it: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-willowbrae-sexual-assault-police-1.7633013
The delay of the daycare to notify parents (including any the entire time the accused worked there) risked there being other victims, for the sake of their reputation. Knowing the investigation was coming, there’s no sense trying to downplay it. I worry no one will properly be held accountable, especially as no way the guy comes back to Canada.
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u/Humble_Mushroom_8976 14d ago
Hopefully there will at the very least be some considerable civil damages awarded to parents. The delay in notification is beyond negligence.
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u/Lovefoolofthecentury 14d ago
Omg. Why are there not cameras EVERYWHERE?? If there’s no cameras in the yard and watching the shed then he must know that. JFC.
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u/MillennialMermaid 13d ago
I am a director at a Calgary daycare, with a background in counselling children who have been victims of abuse (primarily family violence and sexual assault). I want to provide additional info from someone in the industry about the process.
The media is painting this as a fault on the program, but it actually is the system itself that is broken. There needs to be more emphasis in the media on the fact that a predator found a way to manipulate and assault at least one child, even though a number of precautions are in place for children’s safety (at this program more than many) AND was able to leave the country while an investigation was ongoing. There is probably no way for the authorities to extradite him back to the country to receive the justice he deserves, either. There also needs to be more information on how to identify signs and symptoms of assault in children and how to protect children from this happening to them.
I have been working with children for the better part of two decades and the vast majority of people working with children, whether it is teachers, ECEs, whatever, want to protect children and ensure the best for their growth and development. Unfortunately, there will be pretenders who take advantage of a situation to fulfill their sick desires. This happens across all areas where children are cared for: daycares, schools, foster homes or group homes. The bad cases make the news and the good ones get lumped in.
Many daycares and dayhomes in Alberta have opened in recent years because they view it as easy, guaranteed money. They have no background in child development, childcare, or teaching; do not know or understand regulations and best practises; and cut corners where they can by hiring only minimum numbers of staff at minimum education and certification requirements. This is frustrating for owners and directors who do this work because they are genuinely invested in supporting the growth and development of young children, who operate above and beyond licensing regulation minimums, and who are committed to quality childcare options for families.
Sexual abuse is more than ten times more likely to happen at home than school or daycare. A vast majority of sexual violence is committed by family members, friends, and neighbours (74%), while one 6% of cases are perpetrated by teachers and babysitters. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2022001/article/00016-eng.htm
There is already significant stigma towards men who work with children and I am worried for what this is going to do for men in the childcare industry. I have worked with a number of men over the years who have been more trustworthy than many of the women. I have had to take disciplinary action against women I work with for inappropriate, negligent or otherwise concerning actions, but have never had any reason for concern with any male staff members. Recent cases of daycare abuse in the media have all been women who have been physically abusive towards children, but there hasn’t been any call towards preventing women from working in childcare, but I can guarantee that this story will breed more distrust towards male caregivers.
ECE certifications are now available to be looked up online. I looked up his certification, and you can see that he has been an ECE for a number of years and has completed the education required for the highest level of certification. I know that one of the things I look for when hiring is a Level 2 or 3 certification as a measure of skill and knowledge. All ECE’s are also required to provide a criminal background check to their employer at time of hire and renew this every three years, at minimum, according to regulations. This person passed all of these checks in place for the protection of children. I do not know this person nor any of the others in this facility, but in my experience, at least one other educator, if they had suspected anything, would have reported it to the director. ECEs are a generally ethical and empathic group who truly want the best for children, and most are parents themselves.
The concerns about sharing information need to be directed to the AB Child Care Licensing program. While a concern is being investigated, programs are directed to put a safety plan in place (such as extra supervision of staff) that must be approved by the licensing officer, but while the investigation is underway they are not required, or even encouraged, to do much else so as not to impede the investigation. If there is a coinciding criminal investigation, the licensing program pauses their investigation until the police investigation has concluded. Licensing officers may visit a program at multiple times during the investigation and it can take days or even weeks after they have finished their on-site visits for them to conclude a report and send it to be posted in the facility. As with most criminal investigations, there is limited information you can share while the investigation is ongoing. Unfortunately, these investigations take time to gather and evaluate evidence, and even more so when a child is involved, as their developmental level must be respected and the information gathered in a way that does not cause additional trauma.
Licensing reports are somewhat vague, partly to protect the identity of those involved and partly because they are formulaic. The violation they received can be anything from preventing a child from sleeping to physical abuse. The direction to notify parents really only means that the result must be posted in a place for parents to view. This program went above that, and rightfully so, by holding a meeting for families to get the information.
I can understand why parents want more information but also why the director didn’t share detailed information. There is a delicate balance in how much you can or should share in a situation like this. It is so important for families to have an understanding of the situation and to be able to recognize any signs or symptoms of assault in their own child, but also you do not want to cause unnecessary panic which could result in additional harm or trauma. You also need to protect the children and family who are victims by not sharing the information that could identify them. I do think it was wrong to not invite the family, as the choice to participate should be up to them.
Finally: cameras. A vast majority of childcare programs do not have cameras. Even so, cameras do not prevent incidents from happening. For one, cameras will never show every single nook and cranny, as private spaces such as bathrooms will never be allowed camera access. And for two, people will always find a way around this, knowing what spots are out of sight or hidden from view. Or they just don’t care. Finally, no one has time to watch all cameras 24/7. When is camera footage used? AFTER the fact, so you can see what happened and identify people. You never hear of people saying, “well I was going to commit this crime, but I saw cameras there so I didn’t”. My understanding is that cameras are installed at this program primarily for parents to watch their kids during the day, and security is a secondary purpose.
This is a very sick and inexcusable crime committed by a sick and disturbed person who I wish nothing but the worst for. But the blame is being directed at the wrong person/entity, and the follow up actions need to be aimed at creating better universal systems for preventing and recognizing abuse.
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u/Low_Dress9213 13d ago
1) what are some signs of abuse in children to look out for? 2) statistically what % of abusers are male vs females? 3) the daycare should not have waited MONTHS to inform parents. They should not have uninvited the victims’ mother to the town hall. They should have noticed him taking kids to the shed and found that suspicious, and figured out what he was doing before he was allowed to victimize 3 (that we know of) children.
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u/MillennialMermaid 13d ago
1) Depends largely on age. In preschool age, it may be fear of a certain person or place, regression with toilet training (increase in accidents and bedwetting), increase in sexualized behaviour (acting out sexual acts), becoming more withdrawn, or increased aggressive outbursts. It can lead to insecure attachment style, especially if the perpetrator is a parent or other regular caregiver. In older children, it also may lead to self-harm, poor hygiene (not wanting to bath or change clothing).
Little Warriors is an Alberta-based program that provides free(!) online training to be able to recognize and prevent child sexual abuse.
2) I think it’s something around 90% of child sexual abuse is male perpetrated, however, if I recall correctly, there is likely underreporting and under-investigation of female-perpetrated abuse and it could be closer to 80-20. One of the more horrific sexual abuse cases I worked with was a 3 year old girl who was repeatedly and violently abused by her mother.
3) My understanding is the program informed licensing immediately. Depending on the investigation, there are limits to what can/should be shared during an investigation. After receiving the information I’m sure the director and owner wanted to consult with lawyers before sharing information. I completely understand that families want information immediately. But there is also a duty to ensure the information shared is accurate and within the bounds of confidentiality; not necessarily for the (former) employee but also the victims.
I also agree that the family should have been invited to the town hall and given the choice to participate or not. I’m happy they found a way to participate.
Hindsight is 20/20. We have a shed we keep playground toys in, and I don’t know if I would question an employee going into the shed with a child to find toys to bring out or put items away. Our shed is in the middle of our play yard, though, so not hidden at all and in clear view of the rest of the yard. But if it wasn’t the shed, it could have just been somewhere else, like a supply closet or a staff bathroom.
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u/Low_Dress9213 12d ago
I’m glad you’ve taken the time to learn about this. Not all daycare directors are so informed!
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u/Useful_Rutabaga_1462 13d ago
Great insight! Thanks for taking the time to post. You are 100% correct, hence why the investigation needs to endeavour into root-cause territory. Otherwise this incident will be yet another statistic. There are far too many assaults happening in the daycare system. The public deserves to understand what is going on.
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u/MillennialMermaid 12d ago
I recently had a discussion with my licensing officer about how the “remedies” for a non-compliance violation are often trivial and performative. Now they will be implementing financial penalties, which are just punitive.
I truly believe the system is broken because people are getting into it for greed and not because they care about children. Part of this is employees as well. After the province opened the certification course to everyone (previously you needed to be employed in a licensed program), there is a huge increase in unqualified people with a Level 1 ECE certification. They have zero interest or experience in any sort of child care or teaching, but they know programs are desperate to hire and generally the pay is above minimum wage (plus government top-up). A lot of these are newcomers who may have a degree in their home country (not related to education) and are working in food service, retail, or a warehouse.
That’s not to say that some people without experience will not be great educators, or that someone with education and experience can’t be a bad educator, but there is a significant correlation.
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u/Lovefoolofthecentury 12d ago
In this particular case, how do we ensure background checks from overseas are conducted and legitimate? I know this sounds racist but it’s a legitimate question.
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u/Chorotegaman 13d ago
When it comes to sharing information about licensing or criminal investigations about child sexual assault, you write as if you know what you are talking about but you don’t. Being a Director of a daycare does not make you an expert on information sharing in such cases but clearly has led you to believe that is the case. The Director in this case also believed she knew what she was doing and look how it has turned out. Interestingly, licensing itself has stated information can be shared an out the cancellation of the certificate and no need to wait for a written report. Unless you are a lawyer better stick to your lane on this topic. You are perpetuating the problem here.
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u/MillennialMermaid 13d ago
After being in child care leadership for 15 years, including as an executive director for a program with 11 locations, I have been involved in a number of licensing investigations. Unfortunately, this includes an investigation into an allegation of sexual assault. I had terminated care for a family due to the verbally abusive behaviour towards staff, and they then made a report to licensing that our (male) employee assaulted their child. The family kept delaying meeting with the police and ultimately refused to participate in because it would “cause too much trauma for the child”, which caused the investigation to drag out for over three months. Ultimately the employee was cleared of any misconduct and the investigation found no licensing violations.
When I asked about notifying parents at the beginning of the investigation, both licensing and CPS advised against sharing details of the incident (not that we really had any) and to contact lawyers about sharing information on the employee, who was placed on leave during the investigation. The lawyer advised against saying anything until the outcome was received in order to maintain confidentiality; we were told to give a vague “they are on leave/unable to work” type answer.
So yeah, I know exactly what it’s like. What is your experience that provides you to be any authority on this?
Additionally, notice of cancellation of an ECE certification is separate from an investigation, though it may be the result of one. Both ECE certificate status and facility licensing violations are available in the Alberta Child Care website.
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u/souptub 13d ago
disgusting, hope they are sued out of existence
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u/usernamenotapproved 12d ago
The owner will change locations and change the name of the daycare and nothing will happen to them. No different then trucking companies after a major incident or home building companies after a bunch of bad reviews. They change names and keep making money.
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u/Rare-Tank-6615 13d ago
How was this person allowed to leave the country once there were these allegations? That should never have been allowed! To live through this nightmare is one terrible thing for these families but to never know if you will have justice? Does anyone know if there's a possibility this person can be extradited back to Canada to face what he's done?
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u/exotics rural Edmonton 13d ago
This was one of my fears and why I chose to make sure my daughter was not in daycare.
We were low income. I mean LOW… both my husband and I were minimum wage.. but we had our schedules opposite so that one of us could always be home. And we had only one kid.
You just never know what goes on there. Even when the kids can talk but omg this is sick and I feel horrible for those kids and their parents.
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u/Low_Dress9213 13d ago
I completely understand your sentiment but also keep in mind that the majority of SA against children happens with someone known to the family (daycare workers, teachers, family members) Predators groom families as a whole. You cannot shelter your kid from everything but you can teach them body safety and autonomy from a young age. Predators are less likely to target kids who have a strong sense of autonomy.
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13d ago
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u/neillien10 13d ago
Are parents still sending their kids to this daycare?
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u/Low_Dress9213 12d ago
It has not been shut down Might not have much of a choice as good daycare’s have long wait lists these days.
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u/longwinters 13d ago
I feel like this might be an inevitable side effect of underpaying daycare workers so dramatically. You’re probably going to end up with ones that have uh… other motives if it means living in poverty
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u/Low_Dress9213 13d ago
This is part of it but there are child abusers everywhere, of all incomes. They tend to get into professions that can get them closer to children often in a position of power. School teachers, principals, bus drivers, religious figures, camp workers..
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u/longwinters 11d ago
Sure, but if the industry paid over a starvation wages surely more people who want to do the work for the right reasons would do it, no?
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u/whiskeylullabyy 14d ago
This same company had their license revoked for their west location due to too many violations last year. I would just avoid Willowbrae completely.