I used to work at a daycare in which the babies and children were not being cared for properly. It was not exactly abuse - but neglect, shouting, rough treatment of the children, lack of concern for babies and children, poor quality of food - does fit into the category of mishandling of babies and children and should NOT be allowed nor tolerated.
A baby who was 2 months old was colic baby and would just cry for long periods of time. The baby was not given any special treatment, such as rocking or swaddling her. She would be left in her crib to cry. One time, when she was crying, the assistant director changed her diaper but during this time, the baby was crying uncontrollably. The so called 'care provider' did nothing to try to calm down the baby. But instead, was chatting to the other care providers in the room.
If the baby was not crying and had calmed down when the mother came to pick up her baby, the care providers would tell her 'positive' things about the day and would not mentioned that her baby had cried for hours at a time. Therefore, the needs and health of that baby was not being properly treated.
After several months, I realized that I could not continue to work there and I did indeed 'blow the whistle' - I phoned child protection. Not sure if it was due to my phone call, but the day care center was shut down several weeks after my phone call.
I think that ALL day cares be required to have class surveillance cameras for the parents' viewing. And that goes for any place in which the people being cared for, are unable to speak up for themselves!!!! The families have a right to know what is going on!!!
I believe that ALL people have equal rights - including those who are unable to communicate with words. Babies, the disabled and the elderly do communicate - but we often choice to pretend we don't understand them and therefore, their voice doesn't count. Equal rights for ALL people means ALL people!!!
