A mum sends parents a message to be cautious about childcare choices after an unlicensed childcare worker admitted assaulting her 4-year-old son in Acton Vale.
• Also read: [PHOTOS] Quebec has tolerated an unsanitary daycare for years
“There is so little child care that I took what was there. After the facts, I felt guilty and helpless towards my son,” says the victim’s mother, who requested anonymity to protect her child’s.
Valérie Dufort recently pleaded guilty to assaulting a child “at her private daycare” in March 2022.
bruises
During the bath, she grabbed the 4-year-old’s jaw just as he had bitten his finger, Crown Prosecutor Me Claudie Gilbert said at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse.
With kind approval
Visible bruising on 4-year-old boy believed to have been diagnosed with autism.
That same evening, the mother noticed bruises on her child’s face. Then she wrote to the babysitter, who apologized profusely.
“I told you I reacted badly, I apologize profusely. I don’t blame anyone but myself. […] It is an inappropriate reaction to the fact that he bit me very badly,” Dufort wrote in a text read in court.
The child, who was likely diagnosed with autism, had been attending this private daycare in Acton Vale, Montérégie, for about two months. His mother had also noticed changes in his behavior for some time. “He cried before he went to kindergarten, he didn’t want to,” Gilbert said.
Complaints against this daycare center
The Ministère de la Famille never granted Valérie Dufort a day care permit, said spokeswoman Esther Chouinard. The department also received two complaints in April 2022 about what may have been illegal childcare service at their home.
During an inspection a few days later, “the person responsible for the house said that he had closed his daycare service about two weeks earlier,” the ministry explains.
The child’s mother, who found the daycare center thanks to an ad on social networks, nevertheless claims to have signed a contract that she considers legitimate.
“There was the cost, the schedule, even the ministry logo with the Quebec flag. I’ve already signed a contract like this in another private day care center and it looked the same there,” she says, still shocked.
Right from the start, the mother saw red flags in the childcare environment, but felt “stuck at the foot of the wall”.
“I was working and wanted to go back to CEGEP. I had postponed this important project for a long time due to the lack of a daycare center. I really felt like an unworthy mother to let him go there and not see the signs,” she confides, inviting parents to check a daycare center before sending their child there.
With kind approval
Visible bruises on 4-year-old boy.
How do I check whether a day care center is recognized?
There is no public record of individuals responsible for educational home childcare.
Parents can certainly check with the coordination office (KO) in their area whether child day care is recognized. BCs can be found by searching online for child care services.
Individuals who are not recognized by a BC can also provide legitimate child care services by complying with all terms of the Educational Child Care Services Act, according to the Department of Family Affairs.
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