A Texas father has filed a $1 million lawsuit against The Children’s Courtyard daycare after witnessing alleged abuse of his two-year-old son on a livestream. The daycare has a history of violations.
Bollywood Fever: A Texas father’s horrifying discovery while checking on his two-year-old son’s daycare has led to a $1 million lawsuit against The Children’s Courtyard. The incident, which occurred on July 27, 2023, has raised serious concerns about the facility’s handling of child safety and its history of violations.
The unidentified father logged into The Children’s Courtyard’s livestream and was shocked to see a daycare worker allegedly smothering his son to keep him quiet during nap time, according to a new Texas lawsuit cited by KVUE. The employee then reportedly pulled the covers off and repeatedly slapped the child in the face and head when he did not sleep.
Panicked, the father rushed to the Austin facility to confront the staff about what he had seen. Despite the severity of the incident, the daycare failed to report the abuse to state officials or law enforcement, the lawsuit claims. Instead, officials at the daycare allegedly told the worried parents that the employee in question would be suspended for just one day.
The child’s mother, Alexis Dominguez, is now seeking $1 million in damages for her son’s physical and emotional injuries. The lawsuit alleges that the video showed the boy trying to cover his face and head with his hands to block the hits, but the repeated slaps caused him to “rock back and forth with each blow.”
Dominguez and the child’s father ultimately decided to remove their son from the daycare and reported the incident to state authorities themselves. “Clearly The Children’s Courtyard did not value my son’s safety or express concern for his well-being,” Dominguez said. “Anyone with basic common sense understands that smothering and hitting a child is completely unacceptable.”
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission Child-Care Licensing Division and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigated the incident and cited the daycare for five violations. They found that the daycare had abused the child, covered his head with a blanket, used prohibitive punishment to discipline him, and allowed the employee to remain around children for three hours after officials learned of the abuse. Additionally, the state found that the daycare officials did not report the abuse.
The Children’s Courtyard, a chain of daycares throughout Texas, has a controversial history with numerous violations. Since 2019, it has been cited 70 times, according to state records. Violations include children being left unsupervised, failure to report incidents, a lack of competency, and situations where children were dancing on tables and taking off their clothes.
In a previous incident in 2017, an employee at The Children’s Courtyard in Plano, Texas, was caught on camera slamming an 18-month-old face down on the ground while trying to get him to sleep. The employee was later fired.
“The serious safety issues at The Children’s Courtyard are full of alarm bells and red flags,” said Dominguez’s attorney, Russell Button. “It is clear this daycare does not prioritize child safety based on the treatment of our client’s child and the facility’s track record.”
A spokesperson for The Children’s Courtyard insisted, “The health and safety of the children we serve is our highest priority.” The spokesperson confirmed that the employee(s) in question are no longer employed at The Children’s Courtyard and stated that the facility consistently partners with regulatory authorities but could not comment further on ongoing litigation.
It remains unclear whether the unidentified employee faced criminal charges for the abuse, as the Austin Police Department reported having no record of a report. The lawsuit has brought to light significant concerns about the daycare’s practices and the protection of children in their care.
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