My son is usually pretty shy and quiet but these last few weeks he’s been acting weird. Throwing tantrums for things that he normally enjoys like taking baths, going to daycare, getting his picture taken, etc. At first I wasn’t concerned but tonight he was acting very strange, didn’t eat his meal at all (all foods he loves) and when came time to change into his pj’s he started to cry when my husband tried to help him (he is normally able to change on his own but had trouble taking his shirt off).

We sat down with him and he told us that one of the assistants in charge of his group has been taking him to the bathroom and forcing him to undress in front of her and takes pictures of him naked. He said that she touches his private parts and when he said no she hit him. He was very scared to talk and said that he knew that it was wrong but didn’t want to get in trouble.

We tried to explain to him that he did nothing wrong and that he did the right thing by telling us, and tried to calm him down as best as we could.

I’ve been talking with my husband now that he’s fallen asleep and we don’t know what to do. Do we call 911? Do we take him to the hospital? Do we just go to the police to file a report? I’m at a loss here and I don’t know how to proceed. I can’t help but think about the other kids too and the other parents. Does someone know what to do? 😩

UPDATE

Well first of all thank you all so much for the advice. I really appreciate it. We called them that evening (friday night) and my husband and my son went early the next day to the police station to give a statement. They were able to get a warrant to search the daycare and her house and found evidence on her personal computer of some pictures, including my son’s and a few others as well… she was arrested that afternoon and is now in jail awaiting trial.

My son is doing okay. We have been able to reach out to a child psychiatrist today and I’m keeping him home until we can find another daycare. They have been closed temporarily until the investigation is completed but all the evidence points to one suspect only so they should be able to reopen when everything clears up, but I (as well as many others…) won’t be sending my kids there anymore.