Anonymous wrote:It is stories like this that scare the crap out of me. How many things go on in daycare settings/group care that we never know about? Some poor little child suffers and the responsible adults just sit back and do not notice or take responsibility??? PATHETIC!

How many things go on in homes w/parents and w/nannies or other caregivers that involve responsible adults sitting back/ignoring or actively participating in abuse?

What a stupid statement.

It is stories like this that scare the crap out of me. How many things go on in daycare settings/group care that we never know about? Some poor little child suffers and the responsible adults just sit back and do not notice or take responsibility??? PATHETIC!

Diplotots was not cleared. The baby's parents just filed suit.
This is what happened: an 11-month old baby was playing outside on the school playground in the afternoon. Baby touched a plate of black glass that was hot from the sun, and sustained second degree burns on its hands. None of the teachers noticed this, despite the fact that the baby was crying "hysterically" (another parent's description). Parents came to pick up the baby, and in the car they noticed the blisters on the hands. Daycare director said she had no idea what happened. Parents went to the emergency room, the baby got morphine and the skin on the palms was scraped - possible nerve damage. Because daycare claimed they had no idea what happened, parents went through many rounds of questioning by child services, police, etc. Now apparently this had happened to another baby a few years ago (second degree burns on hands while playing outside), and the director, upon learning of the new incident, had the windows checked immediately, to see how hot they were; but did not tell the parents that it probably was the windows.
The parents are asking for $1MM in damages and $2MM in punitive damages. Child Protection Services did an investigation, which concluded that no one at the daycare intentionally harmed the baby, but it by no means "cleared" Diplotots.
I hope the parents get every penny. It is shocking to me that this could happen at a daycare, even more shocking that they knew this was a problem and did NOTHING about it. I wonder if they fixed the problem now. I don't think any of the teachers were fired, the director certainly is still there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is more to the story. Apparently child left and came back with a burn. Rumor is the parents are being investigated and the center was cleared. Who knows??????

As you say, only the parties involved know, but I heard the exact opposite: the center tried to blame the parents, who were cleared, and the investigation of the center is ongoing. From what I understand, the center was originally being very uncooperative (after placing blame on the parents). I'm not sure where it stands now.

Diplotots was cleared

You can FOIA the information as this is a DC Center. I was concerned about an incident at my daycare and FOIAed the info. Email tracey.langley@dc.gov for more information.

My son was at Bright Horizons in Silver Spring and has been at Diplotots for about 2 years. I was happy at Bright Horizons and am very happy with Diplotots.

My son was at Diplotots at the time of this incident--the staff were very proactive about informing everyone about what happened, while maintaining the privacy of the affected child. I got multiple flyers and was as informed as I needed to be about this (staff were open, however, as noted, they definitely kept privacy issues in mind.)

The staff at Diplotots are warm and sweet and as they get bigger, they incorporate more learning experiences for the kids.

I have a boy and I feel like the looser structure at Diplotots suits him a bit better than the one at Bright Horizons, which was excellent, but a bit over-scheduled, in my opinion. I also love that Diplotots celebrates all holidays, while BH--in order not to offend anyone, celebrates no holidays and instead has like a fall party and a winter party.

And also, I know this may sound paranoid, but I LOVE that Diplotots has a security guard stationed at the Center. Makes me feel like the kids are watched over.

I know no facts about this incident. Re how can this happen at a daycare center, one way is that a serious burn to an infant/toddler can be caused by spilling a hot cup of coffee/tea/latte/whatever. I know this from an incident that happened to my child many years ago while in my care (she is fine now).

How such a child could be handed off without the adults knowing something is wrong is beyond me, a child with a serious burn is in a LOT of pain. I hope the child is okay.

Anonymous wrote:There is more to the story. Apparently child left and came back with a burn. Rumor is the parents are being investigated and the center was cleared. Who knows??????

As you say, only the parties involved know, but I heard the exact opposite: the center tried to blame the parents, who were cleared, and the investigation of the center is ongoing. From what I understand, the center was originally being very uncooperative (after placing blame on the parents). I'm not sure where it stands now.

There is more to the story. Apparently child left and came back with a burn. Rumor is the parents are being investigated and the center was cleared. Who knows??????

OP here: I think we put our name on the list within 6 weeks of knowing I was pregnant. Needed the space in January 2010 and she's now 13 months. Timing will depend on when you need it. Most spots don't open until they transition the kids in August unless someone leaves mid-year. You may not wait as long.

To OP: Would you mind sharing when you got on the Diplotots waitlist (what week of pregnancy/age of child), what spot you were on the waitlist, how old your child is now, etc.? We are also on the waitlist and am trying to get a sense of timing..

Also, I heard of that incident but don't know the details or even if it's true.

Thank you!

how does ones hands get burned in a daycare center? What is there that can cause a burn? And everyone is always knocking in home daycares as being notorious for being more accident prone yet I have never had a child burn his/her hand in my years of providing care.

hmmmm

Definitely talk to the Director about it. Accidents happen at all daycares, but it sounds like in this instance it was handled particularly badly.

Bump - I'd like to know too.

We were just offered a spot at Diplotots and while going through old topics there was a comment made (7/2010) about a child's hands getting burned. Does anyone have more information about this?