Child hurt by staff member at nursery

[Pololo]

Posting for traffic.

I had a call from nursery today saying that a member of staff had been trying to get my son to take his shoes off, to go down for a nap. Apparently to do this they grabbed his leg and pulled him, knocking him over and he hit his head on a cabinet. This was witnessed by other staff members.

He is fine following the incident and we were informed and apologised to straight away. The staff member was moved to another room for the aftenoon. Nursery sought advice from LADO and have reported to police. Is there anything else I need to ask nursery to do, or need to do?

I'm a bit shocked and worried this will cause other staff have bad feelings towards my son. I've never had any concerns about any staff at the nursery. My son is 2 with a speech delay so he can't tell me about what happened.

It sounds like the nursery is doing all the right things - it needs a full investigation.
I will say, though, only yesterday, my DS ran off giggling when I asked him to take his muddy wellies off. I was sitting on the floor helping baby DD out of her coat, so reached out to grab DS before he got to the (just-hoovered) carpet, but misjudged and caught his ankle rather than his arm, as he was lifting his leg up mid-stride. Obviously he fell flat on his face 😭 It was a total accident that happened in a split second.
What are your feelings about the member of staff in question generally? Do you think it's more likely to have been an accident, or could have been deliberate or fuelled by anger/frustration? Either way, it's right that it's being taken seriously by the nursery, but it would definitely affect how I felt about it.

Definitely staff member should be immediately suspended. Unless they think that the other staff member was not being completely honest for some reason & they also have to investigate that, you know if the person accused has denied any wrongdoing. Can they take one staff members word over another?

I work in healthcare and have seen first hand that incidents/ safeguarding/ complaints can affect patient/HCP relationships.

My son is also relatively high needs compared to other children in the nursery because of his speech delay and I myself can get frustrated with him when he's not listening (although would not grab him like this). I don't want staff to be scared of working with him? I don't think it's an irrational fear.

The nursery manager called me and was quite specific in the description of the incident. 2 staff witnessed this so it's not ones word against another.

The staff member apparently was due to go on annual leave for the rest of the week so they've not had to make a decision about suspending her yet.

I am comfortable with monitoring him. There's a very small bump on the back of his head which has now disappeared. There is a very light bruise on one of his legs which I've photographed but is difficult to see in photos.

I am off work already as I had surgery on Friday. He's off to his grandparents tomorrow then due back at nursery on Thursday.

I don't actually know which staff member, I haven't asked. 3 staff members have been named in the incident report but all 3 were in the room when we arrived to pick him up. I suspect it was another staff member and will ask if I can have their name.

I am trying to visualise - did they lift his foot and pull at his shoe, and he overbalanced and fell backwards?
If so it just sounds like an accident?

The nursery worker should have been suspended or immediately fired. She assaulted a small toddler. Absolutely you can not send your child back there, especially as she may still to continue to work there. He has no means to protect himself at two years old.

What they've said is that, to get him to sit down and take his shoes off for nap time, this staff member grabbed and then pulled my sons leg. They tell me that this caused him to fall and hit his head.

I know it’s wrong and the staff member should have been suspended, but they’ve possibly had to consider ratios for the day and sending her home could have resulted in having to send children home? I would hope that she was heavily supervised for the day.

Even if they did do that, you shouldn’t be lifting a standing 2 yos foot and pull his shoe when he’s standing, of course he’s going to fall.

I can relate to this. I’ve caused DS to fall by trying to fasten his final popper on his trousers as he’s started to move. It was a non-event that happened in a split second.

From your description it could easily have been a very innocent accident or something more negligent / foolish.

Is there cctv in the room that can be watched back?

@Pololo my dd is extra work too, I can get frustrated but even though you might understand the frustration, I would not be understanding with the nursery because you’re opening the door to more rough treatment.

Disabled children/children with additional needs are statistically more likely to get mistreated than non disabled children precisely because they are less able to tell and perhaps as they’re more work.

sorry to hear you’re recovering from surgery, this must all be very bad timing.

Gosh. I've definitely caused both my own kids to fall over in similar circumstances loads. Toddlers are like ninjas - its not unusual to need to grab them to stop them running off etc mid way through helping them with clothes. Accidents happen all the time?

Have you got reason to believe this situation has arisen due to excessive force being used etc?

It's hardly a police matter though!

If you grab and pull a child’s leg and cause them to have a bruise on their leg and a bump on their head, what it certainly isn’t, is adequate care.

I’m sure we’ve all done bad things we regret but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to do it. If your ds was running into a road, yes, but he was being asked to put on his shoes.

I’m guessing he needs extra time to respond to requests, perhaps his processing is delayed too and allowances need to be made.

I would never and have never said this to nursery tbh, and I've never had any complaining or comments from the staff, they all make is plainly obvious that they think my son is a delight and a pleasure to care for in the way I see them interact with him every day.

When I've talked with management about his SEN they've been really clear about their responsibilities to provide reasonable adjustments for his speech delay and supportive about putting plans in place. They are a really well regarded nursery - we travel out of town, past several other nurseries, to drop my son there.

I’m very glad to hear that @Pololo perhaps this person needs extra training?

my DD’s not listening was due to slow processing - it means she needs longer to respond to requests.

tbh, the fact they told you what happened is a good sign but the bruise on his leg is my main concern - you don’t bruise a leg grabbing it normally.

It is unlikely to be investigated by police. Unless there is more to it, LADO will ask the police their thoughts and thr police will say if it’s as described, it’s a conduct issue and could be addressed by the nursery eg disciplinary or further training.

On a separate note, does the nursery have cctv? That could be provided to LADO to assist decision making.

What OP has described is a police matter. Would you be happy with this happening to your child and the employee continuing to work there?

Is a registered worker grabbing and then pulling a child's leg to take their shoe off to go for a nap with enough force they fall over and bang their head, not (at least potentially) excessive?

I’d ask to see the police report.

Depends. What was going on at the time? Was your son standing there and nursery worker has made an unwise decision to lift his leg with one hand to take the shoe off with the other causing him to become unbalanced and fall? Or has your child been pulled by his leg roughly?

Take your own language out of it. What words did the nursery use to describe what had happened?

I work in childcare, and I am shocked that LADO didn’t recommend that the staff member was sent home or at least removed from all child contact (asked to do cleaning or paper work etc pending investigation).
I believe the manger ringing you means they have reason to believe that this wasn’t an accident, accidents are usually recorded on an accident log and the parents just acknowledge at pick up. Sometimes a particularly bad head bump we might ring a parent and give pre warning (especially if it is a big lump) just so they aren’t shocked on collection.
I certainly know where I work none of us would dream of an incident impacting a relationship with a child, and the other two staff members witnessing it and speaking with management makes me think they also believe it’s poor conduct. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was another staff member that reported it. I hope your little one is ok! Poor thing.