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Daycare abuse and neglect reports on the rise in MN
Daycare abuse and neglect reports have been on the rise for the last few years, FOX 9's Mike Manzoni looks into why.
(FOX 9) - Reports of abuse and neglect at day cares throughout Minnesota have climbed sharply in recent years, with neglect representing the bulk of the incidents but more severe cases that left children bleeding, scarred, hospitalized or needing surgery also noted, according to documents compiled by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
Broken bones. Cut-up faces. Force-feeding. Punching toddler in the head.
By the numbers:
Minnesota Department of Human Services records from the last couple of years included more than 200 reports detailing child abuse and neglect at day cares throughout the state. Although most involved neglect, such as staffers looking away for brief periods, about a couple of dozen involved verbal, physical or sexual abuse. And more than a half-dozen involved broken bones.
Reports of abuse and neglect at Minnesota day cares nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023, from 57 to 100, and continued to rise in 2024, reaching 105.
These are the most alarming incidents detailed in the records reviewed by FOX 9:
- Pizza slicer attack: According to the documents, a staffer at KinderCare Learning Center in Rochester attacked a 14-month-old in June 2024 with a pizza slicer, cutting the infant’s face. Eyewitnesses told state investigators that the employee "came into the infant room swinging the pizza cutter at the [victim]...." The injury required surgery and left the child with a scar.
- Punching a kid in head: Between February and March 2024, an employee at The Goodard School in Brooklyn Park punched a 3-year-old in the back of the head "on more than one occasion."
- iPad attack: In April 2024, a staffer hit a child in the head with an iPad at KinderCare Learning Center in St. Paul. The child, who was 4, was left with a small bump but did not require medical attention.
- Force-feeding: In 2023, an employee at Lil’ Eagles Childcare in Eden Valley forced "naughty" children to eat until they vomited, flipped over their cots while they slept and dragged them across the floor to time out.
Randy Keys, inspector general at the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families, which oversees day cares, said it is unclear why abuse and neglect reports have trended upward in recent years.
"It’s a pretty safe system. There are individual bad actors, and, you know, we do what we can to try to identify them, but it’s not a foolproof thing," Keys said.
"Somebody’s going to end up dead....": Lawmaker, others say their children were abused
What they're saying:
"It just kept happening. She kept coming home with marks," recalled Janice DeGonda of Coon Rapids. "The entire time that she was at that day care she was being abused."
DeGonda found bruises all over her then-5-month-old daughter’s body when she returned home from Small World Learning Center in Blaine in 2024.
In July 2024, two employees were arrested on suspicion of abusing infants. Chloe Johnson, now 25, and Elizabeth Wiemerslage, now 24, faced multiple charges, including felony malicious punishment of a child and assault. In May, Wiermerslage was sentenced to 90 days in jail after being convicted on two felony counts earlier in the year. The status of Johnson’s case was not clear.
The child’s grandmother, who fought through tears as she recounted learning of her granddaughter’s abuse, blamed herself for not noticing it earlier.
"Nobody knew or could even imagine the hell our family’s been through...." said Susanne Dickison. "I feel like, in some ways, I failed my daughter and my granddaughter because I should have seen more, and I didn’t."
State Rep. Nolan West (R-Blaine) shared a similar story. His daughter was 6 months old when she was physically abused at that same Blaine day care.
"There was a bruise about an inch, maybe two inches tall and an inch wide on her leg that looked like somebody grabbed too hard," he recalled. "You start seeing abuse everywhere once you know it’s there, and it’s shocking how much is out there."
What's next:
After his own family’s experience, West said he made abuse in day cares a top legislative priority.
In the last legislative session, he co-authored two bills that the governor signed into law. One requires day cares to install surveillance cameras and keep the recordings longer after incidents. The other requires hospitals and birth centers to educate parents about abuse.
Keys, who manages an office with about 140 employees, eight of whom are assigned to work on abuse and neglect investigations, said when the state uncovers maltreatment at a day care, it has several enforcement options: It can levy either a $1,000 or $5,000 fine, depending upon the seriousness of the incident; it can suspend or revoke a day care’s license, if necessary; it can also report an employee involved in abuse or neglect to the state’s background check unit and disqualify the person from working with children again.
But West said the state needs to do more.
He plans to introduce more bills next year, including one that would increase fines for day care violations and another that would enhance background checks.