1YO Allegedly Injured by 2 Childcare Teachers; Centre Has Responded & Suspended Both Teachers

It must be nothing short of an utter nightmare to pick up your beloved child from the childcare centre only to realise that they have been abused in some form during the day.

Sadly, however, it appears that the aforementioned scenario does occur, and at a more recurrent rate than initially perceived.

1YO Allegedly Injured by 2 Childcare Teachers; Centre Has Responded & Suspended Both Teachers

On 13 January 2021, Facebook user Mirielle Innam published an accusatory post on the social media site.

In the post, she claimed that her 16-month-old daughter had been abused by two educators at PCF Sparkletots on 8 October 2020.

Apparently, her daughter had suffered a pulled elbow.

Though the teacher-in-charge had apologised for her actions, the parent felt that the centre had not taken the matter seriously and thus decided to pursue further action.

Due to crippling legal costs, however, the parents of the child were unable to go through with a formal lawsuit.

Instead, they decided to go public to warn other parents of prospective child abuse at centres.

Here’s what she claimed.

Brief Crankiness

When the parent first saw her 1-year-old crying on 8 October 2020, she thought it was a mere case of crankiness.

It’s probably because she just woke up from her sleep, the parent reasoned.

But it soon became clear that it was not the case.

When the child could not stop crying, the mother decided to investigate further, and subsequently realised that her child could not lift her own left arm up.

Any attempt to lift it would result in the child crying.

Nonplussed, the parent inquired one of the teachers, explaining what she had just seen.

In response, the teacher stated: “Oh yeah, when I woke her up, I saw she didn’t give me her hand.”

The teacher then recommended that the mother pursue medical help, stating that it was claimable.

A Pulled Elbow

The child was then rushed to National University Hospital, where it was discovered that she had sustained a pulled elbow.

According to the doctor, the injury could not have been caused by a normal pull.

“It will require a brute amount of force,” the parent recalled the doctor saying.

To ease the injury, the child’s elbow was manually realigned.

Thereafter, the mother had a meeting with the preschool’s stand-in principal.

The latter then told her that the teacher was remorseful about the incident – during which she had pulled the child’s elbow with one hand to wake her up.

However, the notion that the principal had not thought it necessary to view the full day CCTV footage, and just the 6:30 portion, evidently ticked the parent off.

“The school had ample time to review the footage but we were left highly dissatisfied by how the school is taking this matter very lightly and having no seriousness.”

The mother then requested to see the CCTV for herself.

Protocol

But the request was turned down, as a formal application was supposedly required beforehand.

The stand-in principal then stated that she would email the CCTV request later that evening.

After they were done discussing, two teachers came over to apologise – one of whom was the supposed ‘assailant’.

The teacher proceeded to make a promise: that she would pick up the child with two hands from now on.

As it turned out, the apologies were accepted, though the mother did remind them to inform parents about probable injuries in the future.

The parent then went home.

Contrary to what was stated, however, she did not receive the email that night.

Taken Lightly

The next morning, the mother was instructed to visit the preschool to retrieve the CCTV form.

Upon arrival, she was informed by the stand-in principal that the teacher involved had been unaware of the consequences (of pulling the child’s elbow).

The principal also remarked that such injuries were “common” among children.

However, when questioned whether such cases were common in the centre, the stand-in principal could only say no.

The mother would go on to submit the CCTV form, and also wrote in to PCF’s headquarters and ECDA for help.

However, there was no progress even after two months – which was what led to the social media post.

Suspension

In an interview with MustShareNews, PCF assistant chief executive officer Tan Lee Jee expressed that the safety of the children was top priority.

Investigations have been conducted by both PCF and ECDA, and the child was found to have sustained a pulled elbow from being inappropriately handled.

PCF, as well as the teachers involved, have since apologised and expressed their deepest regrets.

According to a statement, PCF has been penalised, and the two teachers have been suspended.

You can read their statement in full down below:

An internal investigation by PCF and an independent investigation by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) were conducted.

These investigations concluded that the child had likely sustained her injury, (a pulled elbow) due to inappropriate handling by the infant educarer.

We are very sorry, and deeply regret this.

The educators involved are also deeply apologetic.

ECDA has penalised PCF, and the two employees involved were suspended. They are now undergoing a fundamental review to assess their suitability to work in this field. Further disciplinary action may be taken against them if they fail to meet the expected standards.

The parents have decided that their child should remain in the same centre with us. We thank them for their trust and will continue to support the child in her learning and development.

The parents of the child have filed a police report and we will fully cooperate with the authorities on the investigations.

Warning

To conclude her post, the parent had the following warning:

“If you think child abuse does not happen in SG childcare,” she said. “Think again.

“Our main intention is to prevent such abusive behaviour from happening again to any infant, children and families. If this can happen to us, it can happen to any parents in Singapore.

“We hope our case can aid parents in the future, if you are caught in a similar situation as us, you will know exactly what to do.”

Worrying Trend

The last time a teacher was prosecuted for child abuse was in 2014, when a former part-time teacher with NTUC My First Skool was jailed for three weeks for manhandling a two-year-old boy.

What’s concerning is that the number of child abuse cases has been on the rise in recent years.

There were 660 cases of physical abuse involving children in 2019, which was the highest in a decade.

Let’s hope that it’s a faltering trend, because the alternative would be too horrific.

If you wish to report instances of child abuse at childcare centres, you can call the ECDA hotline on 6735-9213 or e-mail [email protected].

Alternatively, you can call the MSF’s Child Protective Service Helpline on 1800-777-0000 to report suspected child abuse or general concerns about a child’s safety.

Featured Image: Facebook (Mirielle Innam)