And you thought the kids were safe?

 And you thought the kids were safe?

 

Well over 1,000 cases of child abuse by Head Start center staff have been reported in a new investigation of Head Start programs. These programs provide early childhood education to children from low-income families.    The report found that 1 in 4 recipients of Head Start grants has incidents of child abuse, lack of supervision or release of a child to an unauthorized person.  

There was an instance of a child being left alone on a vehicle long enough for the child to develop frostbite.  There were teachers who used demeaning nicknames including “mustache girl” and “chancho” which is “pig” in Spanish.  A teacher was reported to have hit a student with a stick.

More than 450 of the incidents were some form of child abuse including hitting children with implements, shaking children and slapping them in the face.   Verbal and emotional abuse were also found.   Prohibited disciplinary measures such as taping a child’s mouth shut, binding a child to a chair and using food or toilet training to punish or demean.

Head Start is under the authority of The Administration for Children and Families (ACF).   When the report came to light ACF said that Head Start programs are “extraordinarily safe” and that more than 99% of children are not affected by a safety incident.  As part of the corrective action, grantees improved administration procedures and staff training.  Disciplinary actions were also taken.  In 75% of the cases of abuse, staff involved were fired or resigned.  The report does not indicate what happened to the other 25% that neither resigned or were fired.

One of the outcomes of this investigation is that the ACF is going to implement more serious consequences for programs that fail to report abuse or incidents resulting from lack of supervision.

One of the most troubled programs that had the most instances of multiple violations is located in Prince George’s County in Maryland.  The program was operated by the school system and it was required to refund $6.4 million after a federal review found that teachers in the program used corporal punishment and humiliated children, and the school system had taken no steps to correct the problem.  

In one instance, a teacher forced a 3-year old to mop up his own urine in front of the class- then texted the photo to his mother with the comment, “LOL, he did the deed but he worked the mop tho!”    In another case, a 5-year-old left the center and walker home.  Staff did not notice his absence.

These kids are very young.   Who is keeping them safe?  Government officials don’t seem to be doing it.