Leaving a child at daycare for the first time is stressful but also hopeful for most parents. They want them to be safe, happy, and properly taken care of.
Clay’s first day at Little Blessings Child Care in Bainbridge, Washington, was a nightmare for him, though.
Lied about the hurt
Cory Weeks, Clay’s dad, was startled to see his son when the day was done. The boy’s face was covered in cuts and bruises. At first, the staff reported that a toy had harmed Clay and that another child had done it. The video footage, on the other hand, showed a different side.
The case is about something that happened at Little Blessings Child Care, which is in Bainbridge, a small town near the Florida state line.
A lady from Georgia has been jailed on several counts of child abuse after a church daycare allegedly hit a 1-year-old boy, giving him a black eye and a swollen face.
WDRW reports that Yvette Thurston, 54, was arrested on Monday and is now facing three counts of first-degree child abuse and one count of first-degree aggravated violence.
A court set Thurston’s bond at $44,000 after she was arrested. Records show that the childcare worker was released from the Decatur County Jail last week after posting bond.
“This is a parent’s worst nightmare.”
Cory Weeks, the boy’s father and a U.S. Marine, published a sad Facebook post about the experience and included horrible images of his son Clay after his first day at the clinic. The pictures show that the toddler’s face is considerably swollen and that there are cuts and bruises around his right eye and cheek.
“This is the worst thing that could happen to a parent, and we had to go through it and are still going through it,” Weeks wrote. He added that Clay and Wyatt, who is 3 years old, had just started the program that day.
At first, Weeks found out that Clay had been hurt by a toy that belonged to another youngster. But when he asked for proof, he said he had footage of Thurston hitting his son.
He said, “Nothing we saw was for the weak of heart, especially not for someone so innocent.” “Everyone knows this wasn’t her first time because the violence against our son was so bad.” We thought this place would love and care for our kids, but that trust was betrayed on the first day.
They quickly took Clay to the hospital.
Doctors swiftly took care of Clay’s wounds at Memorial Hospital and Manor.
“We want EVERYONE to know that this happened. You should never feel that you can’t ask how your child got wounded, because I almost didn’t… Core Weeks also said, “Don’t believe the ‘happy pictures’ your parents gave you. We did that too while we were torturing Clay all day.”
The Decatur County Sheriff’s Office has claimed that investigators looked at footage from the child care center as part of the case, but they haven’t said what it showed yet.
The Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) in Georgia, which oversees child care centers in the state, said that the worker has since been let go.
A spokesperson for DECAL told The Post, “We know that the child care program has fired the worker.” “Because our investigation is still in its early stages, DECAL will continue to work closely with law enforcement and all other relevant parties to make sure that all the facts are carefully looked at.”
Weeks has promised to get justice for his son, saying, “We will make sure that nothing is missed.”
This is really scary. Let’s tell everyone this important information so that no other young person has to deal with it.