ASHBURN — One parent who said her child was abused at God's Little Helper day care center in Ashburn said she wants the South Side center shut down, and she's rallied other parents to join her cause.
Englewood resident Carrie Howlett, 35, filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services after finding bruises on her son, Nicholas Nolden, 6, who was 5 years old at the time the bruised were found, his mother said.
“That day care needs to be closed down,” said Howlett, who added that she discovered the bruises May 29. “No parent needs to be taking their child there, especially if we’re trusting them to watch our child while we’re at work, trying to make a living, and they’re over there abusing our kids. That’s just not right.”
An employee at God's Little Helper declined to comment about the abuse allegations and a request for comment by the owner was not immediately returned.
The God’s Little Helper employee alleged to have spanked Nicholas has been dismissed, said Veronica Resa, a DCFS spokeswoman, adding that the investigation is pending.
“Every day care center that DCFS licenses is entitled to due process, and we have 60 days for an investigation, with an option of 30 more days,” she said.
Howlett and other parents said that’s not enough. They want the former employee who allegedly spanked Nicholas to face criminal charges, and they want to revoke the license of the day care center, located at 3734 W. 79th St.
“If it was me, I’d be sitting in somebody’s jail for child abuse, so why haven’t they done anything about this situation?” Howlett said.
She said she discovered the bruises on her son's buttocks, arm and legs during his bathtime after she had picked him up around midnight from the day care. Howlett works the night shift at her job and said that God’s Little Helper has extended hours, which is convenient for her.
“When I get home and get situated, give him a bath, I see bruises on his body. It was real bad,” Howlett said, who took him to a hospital so a doctor could examine him. She said the doctor contacted DCFS.
Nicholas "said they whoop kids all the time up in there,” she said.
Howlett said her son told her the day care has a wooden paddle and that it’s not unusual for the workers to spank the children with it.
“The million dollar question is, why would they have a wooden paddle in that day care, what is the purpose of a wooden paddle? You whoop kids on a regular, there is no other explanation,” she said.
An employee at the day care wouldn’t say if the paddle existed or what their protocol is for misbehaving children. DCFS requires day cares to disclose their disciplinary policies and have parents sign them at enrollment. Howlett said she never received one, and DCFS cited God's Little Helper with a violation due to their lack of a policy in 2011.
Howlett said she was told that her son had been "misbehaving," but no one called her about it. If they had, she said she would have left work to handle the situation herself.
God's Little Helper was first licensed in May 2011. Resa said that DCFS conducts regular check-ins at day cares, in addition to visits after complaints are made, though they do not publicly differentiate between the two.
Howlett's abuse allegation is the only complaint officially filed against God's Little Helper since its opening.
Information obtained by DNAinfo Chicago showed that DCFS officials made seven visits to the child care facility between April 2011 and June 2015, during which 104 different violations were observed.
Four visits were made during the day care's first year in operation, during which the center was cited for 71 violations, including the violation of not having a discipline policy. The violations have since been addressed, according to the documents, but Howlett said that Nicholas enrolled two years ago and she never received or signed a policy.
A visit in 2012 found 19 violations, and another visit in 2014 found 13 violations.
DCFS has made one visit in 2015 so far, after Howlett's complaint. During that visit, DCFS noted a violation to its "guidance and discipline" policy, which prohibits: "Corporal punishment, including hitting, spanking, swatting, beating, shaking, pinching and other measures intended to induce physical pain or fear."
Resa said that God’s Little Helper isn’t a “problematic day care center" because it hasn't done anything "egregious, or out of the ordinary."
Parents like Howlett want to know what needs to be done to shut the day care center down, but according to Resa, it’s not that simple.
“It doesn’t work like you have 20 complaints because there’s too much trash in the kitchen,” she said, "It doesn't work that way.”
The owners must follow rules and regulations. When complaints are made, DCFS gets involved and tells day cares what needs to be “fixed,” Resa said. “They fix it and we ‘OK’ it.”
A day care center license is valid for three years, unless it’s revoked by DCFS, or if the owner surrenders their license, according to the Illinois DCFS website. God’s Little Helper’s license was renewed May 1, 2014 and it’s up for renewal again May 1, 2017.
Revoking a license isn’t “cookie-cutter,” Resa said.
“DCFS makes that determination based on the investigation,” she said in an email. “It is a case-by-case decision. Often, the day care will surrender their license per our request, knowing the outcome will be against them keeping their license. Again, this is based on irregularities and violations of our rules and procedures.”
Ald. Derrick Curtis (18th) said he has spoken with parents, but he doesn’t want to see the day care leave the ward.
“I'd rather for them to handle that one situation, because there are so many more parents from the ward that utilize their services,” he said. “It’s an ongoing investigation, so I really can't say too much, but I do feel that the worker had no business at all hitting the child, period.”
Howlett said that until she can find another day care facility that fits with her work schedule, her mother will be Nicholas’ sitter.
“Thank God for mom,” she said.
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