I think my toddler was assaulted at daycare, but they’re brushing it off

A distraught mother has taken to a popular parenting forum to share her concerns over her toddler potentially being abused at daycare. 

Writing to the r/parenting thread, the post explained how the mom discovered her two-year-old’s daughter’s intimate areas were “red and irritated” when bathing her one night after attendance. 

“Daycare is telling us they have seen the CCTV footage”

The mom gently asked her daughter about it but noticed that she seemed nervous and scared to talk like she had been told to keep a secret. 

Eventually, she made a gesturing motion up and down with her fingers and the mom’s stomach sunk. 

Trusting her daughter and her intuition, she confronted the daycare with her concerns.

“Daycare looked at the footage and are telling us that they have seen the CCTV footage of cameras and she was not left alone, and they found no evidence of her being abused or even coming in contact with any men,” the mom wrote.

When the mom pushed the matter further with managers, she was told that she was being “biased” against male daycare workers and they implied she should drop the issue.

“Everyone around me is acting like we are crazy to believe our two-year-old,” she added. “They think it’s a child’s fib or an overactive imagination.”

The mom also said she’s worried that there “are other kids in the room that aren’t talking yet” so it potentially could be happening to many more kids. 

She’s now asking the internet what she should do in this situation, as she strongly believes her daughter has been abused.

“Call the police ASAP and pull her”

Commenters overwhelmingly encouraged the mom to take this up with the police. 

“Go to the police. You cannot trust the daycare to be honest and transparent about a legal issue that they are on the wrong side of,” one person said. “All they care about is their reputation.”

Someone else echoed, “Call the police ASAP. Don’t talk to daycare or try to figure it out yourself. Let the police investigate. Call now before the tapes are ‘lost.’”

A third said: “Believe her. A childcare worker in Australia just got charged with 1623 sexual abuse offenses against little girls over 15 years. One of the reasons he wasn’t caught is because children weren’t believed.”

“My son was slammed into a door frame by a daycare worker and the daycare refused to let me watch the footage but ASSURED me this didn’t happen. I noticed that that specific worker was never seen again. Daycares lie, pull your daughter ASAP and request an official investigation,” wrote a fourth. 

Someone else made the point, “If you have suspicions, pull her. Better safe than sorry.” And another user agreed, saying, “Get your child out of there. Raise hell. Do not rely on the daycare for any integrity.”

“She is almost certainly telling the truth, kids don’t lie at that age. They are sometimes confused or mistaken, but that’s a very specific thing she demonstrated which I can’t imagine her mind coming up with on its own,” another reader mentioned.

“CCTV footage has blind spots”

“Make sure you see the CCTV footage with your own eyes and also warn other daycare parents about this,” a comment read.

Then one user asked: “What doesn’t the CCTV footage show? I am willing to bet the CCTV footage does not capture close to the entire day. In addition, what blind spots exist for that camera footage?”

The OP replied: “Genuinely the blind spots didn’t even occur to us. We have been so concentrated on making her feel safe and loved and making sure she doesn’t feel like she made a mistake in telling us that all of this fell sideways.

“I am seriously hoping cops and social services can take it from here. Thanks for mentioning this.”