Oakland daycare is closed after staff WHIPPED children, with owner ‘meting out sadistic punishment to children she did not like’

An Oakland daycare owner has been banned from working with children in California for brutally punishing the children in her care.

Cynthia Jackson Burns beat, whipped and “corporal punished” young children in her care at the SmallTrans Bears daycare in downtown Oakland, state investigators said wrote in a report.

She also allegedly allowed other staff at her facility to verbally and physically abuse the children.

In July, regulators revoked her license and closed the daycare. A criminal investigation into Jackson Burns’ actions is currently underway.

Parents were first notified of the alleged abuse via an anonymous text message.

It said: ‘Children are being pinched, thrown around, aggressively grabbed and their belongings are also being thrown around.’

Staff were also accused of punishing crying toddlers by hitting them with their bare hands, using a wooden spoon or whipping them with wet towels and leaving them alone in a dark bathroom. according to the San Francisco Standard.

According to the anonymous texter, who later turned out to be a parent, Jackson Burns also allegedly once punched a girl in the mouth and pressured an employee to lie and say the child had fallen.

The texter went on to say that if Jackson Burns didn’t like a child, she would feed the child cold food.

Within days of parents receiving the text messages, most of the dozens of families pulled their children out of daycare.

Jackson Burns then attempted to turn the tide during a virtual meeting, attributing the allegations to someone trying to ruin the daycare’s reputation, such as a disgruntled former employee, the Standard reports.

Cynthia Jackson Burns beat, tortured and “corporally punished” young children in her care at the SmallTrans Bears daycare in downtown Oakland, investigators found.

But the first signs of trouble actually began two years earlier, shortly after Jackson Burns took over a long-established daycare center.

State regulators had received complaints that staff members were disrespectful and abusive toward children. After interviewing Jackson Burns, other employees and parents, the Community Care and Licensing Department said in August 2022 that they could not substantiate the claims.

Still, informal complaints continued to surface on the Internet, on parenting forums and review sites.

One mother, who gave the center one star, said she chose the facility because of its “convenient location and promising first impression.”

“The owner, Cynthia, seemed welcoming and my daughter was excited about the space and the toys. However, our experience quickly deteriorated when my daughter revealed that she had been hit by a teacher.”

She alleged that Jackson Burns then deflected blame by saying the toddler needed therapy, which “raised further warning signs” and showed “a lack of understanding.”

The anonymous posts from early summer came soon after, with enough staff members’ names for parents to find out more for themselves. Younger staff members helped them piece together the puzzle, providing visual clues, such as a photo of the wooden spoon that was reportedly used to hit toddlers.

“That really scared me,” an unidentified mother told The Standard, noting that the spoon was “in the background with stuff, and there were Minnie Mouse shoes next to it.”

Parents said they were shocked by the allegations, as junior staff helped them piece together the cases using visual clues from the childcare centre.

The Department of Community Care and Licensing, the government agency that oversees childcare providers, finally made a surprise visit on June 18 but was cut short due to “time constraints,” the Standard reports.

When authorities returned later that month, they issued four citations, including for failing to complete sleep logs to confirm that babies were being checked regularly, and for failing to test for lead in drinking water.

In July, the supervisor accused the childcare center of further errors.

It said staff left children alone “in the toddler toilet as punishment for misbehaving or crying,” describing such actions as a “direct risk to the health, safety and personal rights of the children placed in care.”

Interviews also revealed that staff members hit, pushed, pulled, shouted at, intimidated and called the children insulting names while they were in care,” the report said.

Children and babies slept on the floor during their afternoon nap, as there were no cribs or portable beds available. In addition, the mandatory classroom rules were not observed.

One staff member was even hired without a certificate of good conduct and other staff were not qualified.

As the criminal investigation into Jackson Burns’ actions gets underway, some parents are also considering filing civil lawsuits against the daycare’s former owner, the Standard reports.

Some said they were unaware that California law allowed them access to the facility. One mother pointed out that the pandemic had gotten her used to social distancing by dropping her children off at the front door.

“That probably created a blind spot for abuse,” the mother said. “And it makes me angry that children are getting hurt because of that.”

DailyMail.com has reached out to Jackson Burns for comment.