Lee Co. parents spread concerns about alleged abuse at daycare

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Lee County parents have expressed their concerns about a Leesburg daycare after a video was posted on social media that appears to show daycare workers at Kidsville USA hitting a child numerous times.

The video was taken by a witness across the street from Kidsville USA Daycare Center located on Enodline Drive. It shows the moment a child was hit several times by a daycare worker.

“I mean it’s crazy, it’s crazy... It’s sad,” said Haley Suggs, a concerned parent whose children used to go to Kidsville.

The incident happened back in October. One of the co-owners of the daycare said the employee seen in the video hitting the child was fired the same day the incident happened.

The incident was investigated by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) where they found that “the child was inappropriately disciplined by two staff members. The child cried and those staff members witnessed the child crying and did not respond promptly.” Following that investigation, the department required staff members at the center to be trained.

But even after DECAL got involved, Suggs called Lee County sheriff’s office about her son. According to a police report her son had “a small scratch on the left side of his stomach, and an approximately two-inch long red mark on his back. It’s unknown how he received the injuries.”

“If you can’t watch my child, that’s a problem. If you feel like me asking questions as to what happened to my son’s clawed-up face and a bruise like 2 inches long on his back and you can’t give me and answer and I take it to the state, that’s a problem,” Suggs said.

I reached out to the state department to see if there were any other active investigations with the daycare center and found that there are currently three pending investigations that were started on March 3, November 1 and December 2 of this year. Since the three investigations against the center are active, the department was not able to release any further information. The daycare Center released a statement.

On Google Reviews, the Center’s overall rating is listed as a 1.4 out of a 5-star rating.

“I just want the kids to have justice. I want this place to be closed down if they can’t get it together,” Suggs said.

Suggs added that she won’t stop speaking out against the center until changes are made.

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