After an Indianapolis mother complained about her 1-year-old son being abused at a day care center and left with cuts on his face and swelling lips, Indiana authorities ordered the day care closed.
On April 30, Tiffany Griffin told FOX 59 she heard her baby boy Jesse screaming when she arrive at the KiddieGarden day care center that afternoon. Staffers at the center called her just hours after she dropped Jesse and her older son off.
Videos by PopCulture.com
When she picked up Jesse, she saw both of eyes and lips were swollen and he had cuts to his face.
“Now I gotta be a stay at home mom and not do the thing I want to do to advance in life to give them the best in order to make sure they’re taken care of and not neglected,” Griffin told FOX 59.
Griffin said she punched a 22-year-old employee, who is now listed as the suspect on the police report, at the center out of anger. The employee told Griffin that another child was responsible for Jesse’s injuries.
“It’s no way a baby, a 2-year-old and that baby was small and she didn’t look like she was the violent type and her mom said she wasn’t the violent type and her mom said scratches her baby might do but when seen that picture she started crying and said her baby wouldn’t do anything like that,” Griffin said.
The owner of KiddieGarden later told FOX 59 the employee was fired. However, staffers also told the outlet they have video to prove the injuries were caused by another child and can prove they took the right steps afterwards.
“We are deeply saddened about what took place yesterday afternoon to Jesse. We at Kiddiegarden pride ourselves on not only providing quality service to families, but also providing a clean, safe and healthy environment for all of our children since we opened our doors three years ago,” the staffers said in a statement. “Kiddiegarden has never had any accusations of abuse or maltreatment from any of our children or parents. This was truly a sad, shocking and unfortunate event.”
The statement continued, “We have been diligently working with law enforcement, child protective services, as well as state agencies on this matter. We have been fully cooperative and transparent with law enforcement to complete their investigation. Our hearts go out to Jesse and his family and are praying for his well being. Due to this still being an ongoing investigation, we are not at liberty to disclose any further details. We have confidence in the detectives who are handling the investigation to give us a final report of the incident, which we will make public. At that time we will make another statement addressing the matter.”
On Friday, the Associated Press reported that the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration ordered the day care center closed on Tuesday. The order said Jesse was injured “due to a lack of supervision” and the day care center is “an immediate threat to the life and well-being of the children” in its care.
Jesse had an MRI on Tuesday and will be in the hospital for several days, Griffin told Fox59. The family provided the station with another clip of Jesse laughing and playing.
The family set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for medical expenses. So far, they have raised just over $2,500 in four days.
Photo Credit: GoFundMe / Tiffany Griffin
