Every single day I read numerous horror stories in the news. But I wanted to cry when I heard about this little boy who drowned at the YMCA in Jackson, Mississippi due to the negligence, incompetence and unethical conduct of the staff.
Here's the gist: The parents entrusted their children to a local youth organization/daycare center. The daycare planned a field trip to the YMCA without obtaining permission from the parents for the children to go. They allowed the children to enter the swimming pool without obtaining permission from the parents. (Child did not even have a bathing suit with him). There was little supervision with over 175 kids in the pool at one time. The child in question drowned. No one noticed because the water was murky. When adults did notice and retrieved the boy from the bottom of the pool, they did not perform CPR because they were not trained or knowledgable on how to do so. Even the defense attorney admits that the YMCA is at least partially at fault for not having proper supervision for the children.
Do these people who failed to perform CPR (even though they are required to be CPR trained, by law) get to keep their jobs? I think they should be fucking arrested. It makes you never want to leave your kids anywhere. How are people supposed to work and feel comfortable that their children are going to be taken care of by the "trusted professionals" that they are being left with during the day when shit like this is always happening? Who are you supposed to trust when practically every government-run children services organization in the country is corrupt and irresponsible, when you can't trust individual caretakers any further than you can kick them down the street most of the time and you can't trust these organizations or facilities that are supposed to look after your kids? Most of the time you pay these people. And what do you get for your money? Not a sense of security, that's for damn sure.
I feel so terrible for these people and every other parent who has lost a child due to the negligence of another person or agency, especially those who were supposed to be caring and watching after those kids. Treating them with the same care and vigilence that they would their own. Unfortunately, that is too often not the case.
Posted by Maria at November 13, 2003 05:43 PM | TrackBackI know a woman who works at a gov't run daycare facility in town here and she was telling me that they haven't passed an inspection for a while, but somehow retained an extentsion on their license. She's been doing this for years but is thinking of quitting because she does take her job seriously, she works w/toddlers and her new assistant doesn't speak english, no formal training, etc. I told her not to quit, the kids need her. Just because you're a MOM, doesn't make you qualified to watch other peoples children and that is the militarys thinking when it comes to hiring these people. I took my daughter out of the base daycare because one day in July, they took the kids to the park for 5hrs, shes redheaded and got so sunburnt that she had blisters forming when I picked her up. No one put sunblock on the kids and my daughter said the counselors forgot to pack the cooker w/water, so they had no water except the fountain at the park. Yes that was around the timeframe I decided working fulltime wasn't in the cards for me. I feel for these parents of this boy so much. I can't imagine leaving for work than to be told later, "your child has died". Sadly these horror stories are everywhere....poor thing.
Posted by: sandy at November 14, 2003 09:27 AM