Texas father checks in on his two-year-old son’s daycare livestream – what he sees sends him rushing to the center and sparks $1 MILLION lawsuit
What a Texas father saw last year when he decided to inquire about daycare for his 2-year-old son sent him straight to the shelter, and has led to a $1 million lawsuit.
The unidentified father logged into The Children’s Courtyard livestream on July 27, 2023, and watched in horror as a daycare worker choked his son in an attempt to keep him quiet during his afternoon nap, a new lawsuit in Texas alleges. according to KVUE.
The employee then allegedly pulled the blankets off the child and repeatedly hit the child in the face and head when the child was not sleeping.
The father then rushed to the Austin facility to confront staff about what he had seen, but the daycare never reported the abuse to state officials or police, the lawsuit says.
A daycare worker at The Children’s Courtyard in Austin, Texas, was reportedly caught on camera trying to strangle a two-year-old in an attempt to keep him quiet during his nap and then repeatedly hitting him when he wouldn’t sleep.
Childcare officials also reportedly told concerned parents that the employee in question would be suspended for one day for his actions.
The child’s mother, Alexis Dominguez, is now seeking $1 million in damages for her son’s physical and emotional injuries.
In the lawsuit, she alleges that the video shows her son trying to cover his face and head with his hands to block the blows from the unidentified caregiver.
But the repeated blows caused the boy to “rock back and forth with each blow,” the complaint said. according to the Idaho Statesman.
Dominguez and the child’s father eventually decided to remove their son from care and reported the incident to state authorities themselves.
“It is clear that the Child Care Center had no regard for my son’s safety and no concern for his well-being,” she said.
‘Anyone with any common sense understands that choking and hitting a child is completely unacceptable.’
Alexis Dominguez, left, the child’s mother, has now filed a $1 million lawsuit against the daycare
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Child Care Licensing Division and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigated the incident and cited the child care provider for five violations.
State documents showed the daycare abused the child, covered his head with a blanket, punished the child in a prohibited manner and made the employee stay with the children for three hours after daycare workers learned of the abuse.
In addition, the state found that the child care workers had failed to report the abuse.
But The Children’s Courtyard, a chain of daycare centers in Texas, is no stranger to controversy.
According to state data, the daycare center has been cited 70 times since 2019
According to state data, the term has been cited 70 times since 2019.
According to KVUE, the violations include leaving children unattended, failure to report incidents, lack of competence and children dancing on tables and taking off their clothes.
In 2017, Jazmine Torres, an employee at The Children’s Courtyard in Plano, Texas, was captured on camera throwing an 18-month-old baby face down on the floor as she tried to get him to sleep.
She was later released from the institution.
“The serious safety concerns at The Children’s Courtyard are a source of alarm and warning signs,” said Russell Button, Dominguez’s attorney.
“It is clear that this daycare does not put the safety of the child first, given the way our client’s child was treated and the track record of the facility.”
However, a spokesperson for The Children’s Courtyard stressed: ‘The health and safety of the children we serve is our highest priority.
“While we can confirm that the employee(s) in question are no longer employed by The Children’s Courtyard, and we are continuing to inform and cooperate with all relevant regulatory authorities, we are unable to comment further on the ongoing litigation,” the spokesperson said.
It is unclear whether the unidentified employee was ever criminally charged for the abuse, but Austin police say they have not filed a complaint.