Minneapolis child care worker caught on camera hitting children with stick

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - The Minnesota Department of Human Services has revoked the license of a Minneapolis child care facility after one of the staff members was caught on camera hitting some of the children with a stick.

In June, DHS learned that a staff member at Kingdom Kare Learning Center, located on the 3100 block of Emerson Avenue North, was allegedly hitting children at the facility with a long, thin stick, according to a report released this week. Investigators also received two videos from April showing the alleged abuse.

In a video from April 13, the accused staff member is the only person in the classroom with approximately 25 to 30 school age children. The staff member is seen walking around the classroom holding a stick and using it to hit several of the children on their backs, heads and the backs of their legs. No other people or staff members intervened to stop the abuse. 

The video footage also showed a number of other licensing violations at Kingdom Kare Learning Center, including leaving the children unsupervised for extended periods of time and failing to maintain the minimum staff to child ration for school age children.

Under Minnesota statutes child maltreatment data is confidential and the videos will not be made public. 

DHS investigators also discovered the accused staff member never received a background check prior to starting work at the child care center, revealing later that the mandated reporters at the center knew of the alleged incidents and did not report them.

DHS official revoked Kingdom Kare Learning Center’s license on Monday.