Alleged child abuse under investigation at Saraland daycare; mother speaks
SARALAND, Ala. (WKRG) — The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office and Saraland Police confirmed they are reviewing a viral video that appears to show what some call child abuse at a Saraland daycare.
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The video, dated Feb. 23, showed what appears to be a daycare worker at the Play ‘N Learn Daycare in Saraland dragging a child across a table and pushing the child back onto the floor.
All the while, the child can be heard screaming and crying.
‘It made me sick to my stomach’
The mother of the 4-year-old child contacted WKRG and agreed to do an interview. She would like to keep her name and face out of the story.
The mother said she didn’t find the video until four months later, when her child wanted to show her some pictures she had taken on her tablet.
While scrolling through her camera roll, the mother saw a still image of her child being stretched across a table.
She clicked on it, and it was a two-minute video.
“It made me sick to my stomach,” the mother said. “It doesn’t even have to be my child. Any child that is treated like that, any parent in their right mind is not going to be okay with that.”
A classmate of the child seen in the video recorded the incident from an iPad that belonged to the child.
‘I would have never known this’
“If it wasn’t for her, I would have never known this,” the mother said. “I would have never known this, and my daughter would have continued to think that it was normal to be treated this way.”
The audio in the video, according to the mother, is just as troubling as what can be seen.
The first daycare worker, seen dragging the child, could be heard saying, “You ain’t finna eat.”
“Did my child even get to eat that day?” the mother said.
According to the Alabama Department of Human Resources Health and Safety Guidelines, effective since Sept. 2021, “withholding food as punishment” is prohibited.
‘I want to pop the hell out of her’
When a second worker walked into the room, one of the workers could be heard saying, “I want to pop the hell out of her.”
‘Popping,’ as the worker put it, is also against DHR guidelines.
According to the guidelines, spanking, slapping, kicking, hitting, and thumping are prohibited, among other actions.
In the last half of the video, a second worker appears to be filming the confrontation on a cell phone.
Furthermore, the worker could be seen nodding, smiling, and giving a thumbs-up while the child continued to cry.
“It makes me wonder, what else does she have on her personal phone of other children?” the mother said.
While criminal charges have not been filed, the mother said she hopes the next chapter in this story includes jail time for the adults in the video.
“I’m going to do the best I can to make sure these women are facing charges, thrown in jail and away from children,” the mother said.
District Attorney Keith Blackwood said his team is in the early stages their investigation.
“What I saw was troubling,” Blackwood said. “I think a lot of people who saw it thought it was very troubling.”
The landlord of the property said the daycare closed in late March.
WKRG attempted to call Child Care South to learn if Play ‘N Learn daycare was involved in the Childcare Subsidy Program but did not get a response.
WKRG called the owner of the Play ‘N Learn Daycare, but she hung up when told why she was being contacted.
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