Parents are ‘looking for answers’ after their 16-month-old daughter’s thumb had to be partially amputated due to an incident at the Bizi Babies Play Stimulation Centre in Somerset West, Cape {town} Etc reports.
This comes after the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) visited the school and compiled a report that recommended improvements, which Bizi Babies has since implemented.
Also read: Daycare centre shut down permanently following 8-month-old’s death
On 15 April, the parents received an urgent call informing them that their child had been injured at the daycare.
The girl’s father claims the daycare centre could ‘not explain what had caused the injury’.
‘They didn’t know what happened. We chose the creche because it’s posh, and we paid a lot of money for it because we wanted to ensure our child was always safe and treated well,’ the father alleged.
The father cannot be named to protect his daughter’s identity.
The parents paid R5 000 monthly at Bizi Babies Play Stimulation Centre, a daycare which cares for babies and toddlers up to two years old, as reported by News24.
In the meantime, Bizi Babies has denied all allegations of neglect.
‘We strongly refute all accusations of negligence… the child was under adult supervision at all times,’ the daycare stated.
The father told the news site that since the incident, they had ‘endured an emotional rollercoaster’ and that he had to visit a psychologist.
‘It’s been hectic. It took a toll on the family,’ said the father.
He added that they had told the creche owner that a doctor had stated that the injury ‘was consistent with a heavy force that resulted in partial amputation’.
The father claimed that the creche owner said that it couldn’t have been a heavy object and that the family still didn’t have answers about how the injury occurred.
‘After an operation, part of the thumb was amputated, and they had to reconstruct the nail bed. She was then referred to a nursing home for two weeks to make sure it healed,’ he said.
The father said surgeons performed a skin graft to try to make her thumb appear ‘as normal as possible’.
He further claimed that, after trying to get answers from the school, the incident has now been referred to lawyers.
‘They are communicating with the school’s insurer about settling the medical bills that came from this incident,’ he added.
He further stated that if the school’s insurer could not pay for their medical bills, he would pursue a civil case.
The child, now 20 months old, has made a ‘remarkable recovery’ and has been enrolled in a new creche by her parents.
WCED’s visit and investigation
The WCED recommended several improvements in their report after visiting the creche, which included supervision services for children with respect to staff-to-child ratios.
Western Cape Government Early Childhood Development Director Ruth Leukes said they had received a complaint on 17 April and had ‘sent out a rapid response investigation team’ on 18 April, in a letter explaining their site visit.
The team were tasked with understanding the context of the incident, conducting interviews with personnel, assessing compliance with national norms and standards in terms of the Children’s Act, as well as assessing health and safety measures.
The investigation was conducted between 23 and 24 April, during which officials interviewed the owner/principal of the creche, Lindsay Phillips, and three practitioners, namely Mavis Gora, Praise Musembwa and Constance ‘Connie’ Mabva.
‘Each interview was conducted individually, and feedback was aligned accordingly. Officials had access to personnel files, communication app records, ProCare data, procedures, policies, enrolment, and admission forms, as well as incident records,’ said Leukes.
‘Additionally, details regarding the parents of the mentioned child were also verified. Health and safety standards were thoroughly inspected,’ Leukes added.
Improvement of supervision services
Leukes stated they had recommended that the facility’s management improve on ‘supervision services to children and in respect of the staff to child ratio’.
‘All partial care facilities, unregistered or registered, must adhere to comply with the staff-child ratio in accordance [norms and standards of the Children’s Act],’ said Leukes.
Leukes said that recommendations to improve practitioner supervision were ‘made to the facility manager’.
Bizi Babies told News24 they had applied the changes recommended by the department.
‘We have made a number of changes, all of which were cleared with the department when they visited us. These are mostly related to the line of sight and lack of supervision,’ the creche stated.
‘It was an accident. We love our job, and we look after children very well,’ they added.
Also read:
Kommetjie baboons repeatedly raid pre-school three days in a row
Picture: Bizi Babies Website