exclusion from nursery

[charlottebrand93]

hi my 2.5 year old came out with a disclosure too a staff member about another staff member. i then had a letter given too me by the leader saying its in his best interests that he does not attend the nursery for two weeks. its been a week now and haven't heard anything. both me, social services and the nursery believe he is just story telling and i feel its unfair he is loosing out on a lot of things, I understand they have there safe guarding procedures and that but never heard of a toddler not being able to go to nursery over this. anyone else experienced something similar? one worried mummy here they wont let him return for good. thanks

Hold on. Your son has made a disclosure and No one not even you (his mother’s) believe him.
I don’t know if he’s telling the truth or not, However I’m inclined to believe that a 2.5 year old hasn’t got the malice in them to make up stories.
If it were my child. They wouldn’t need to exclude her I’d be taking her out straight away. Although that said. It certainly doesn’t seem right that they’ve excluded him.
Usually with any allegation the staff member is suspended on full pay until the matter is dealt with. It’s never supposed to be turned around on the child.

Its not that i dont believe him its because the person he accused wasn't even in work the day it came out and the fact the nursery never leaves any member of staff on there own with a child, and also he tells me santa punched him the other day... all i was asking for was advice on the nurserys way of dealing with it. if i thought for a second it was true i would of pulled him out.

Firstly, the member or staff should be suspended whilst the investigation is carried out, not the child. You need to believe him and hopefully the investigation will get to the bottom of it. A young child has a very fluid understanding of time so may report something as today that happened weeks ago so the absence doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Also, even if the policy is that staff shouldn’t be left alone with children it can happen. Let the investigation happen but I would be querying why he isn’t allowed back. It is obviously horrendous for the staff member if the allegation is false but at the moment your son needs to be listened to and believed.

the nursery never leaves any member of staff on there own with a child

That might be the policy but you have no idea what actually happens.
There was a thread recently where a poster had concerns about 8 or 10 toddlers being in a garden with one staff member.

Regardless of the truth of the matter and what the investigation finds, why is your child, the potential victim, excluded?

also he tells me santa punched him the other day

At least you can tell him Santas barred from your house from now on, make Christmas cheaper.

its been a week now and haven't heard anything. both me, social services and the nursery believe he is just story telling

This is the part that jumped out at me. Did social services actually say this to you? Because that is shocking if so.

Regardless, poor child. The nursery should not suspend him. That will make him feel like he is being punished.

It is a too way process. keeping the child safe but also keeping the staff member safe.
What happens if he goes back and makes another disclosure?

If they know the staff was not there and you all believe it was untrue then they need to safeguard all of their staff members in case he makes another accusation. What happened if the next accusation is true? How will they know?

They may need to put in additional support, change procedures, review when he is in or refer to additional support for him. They need to do a risk assessment and see if they can cater for him?

This takes time and it may by be they don't want him back if the risk is too much for them. The staff member may need support? Could be lots of factors specific to that setting and those staff members.

My daughters at 2.5 never really understood today, yesterday' etc.
Whatever the disclosure, it could have happened day before or even week before.
When my youngest was 2 she used to say everything was yesterday. Mid December she would say Easter was yesterday.
A child should never be excluded for reasons of saying certain things especially at that age!
They can even mix dreams up with real life, still no reason for exclusion!
I would call nursery and ask what is going ok and ask why your son is not allowed in nursery!