Sick Kids
Please help us to provide a healthy environment for all children at TTLC. If your child has a fever, vomiting or diarrhea please do not return to school until symptoms are gone for 24 hours without medication. Make arrangements for supplementary care in advance, before your child becomes sick and you have no other options but to mask symptoms and send them on to school. With your cooperation we are better able to protect all of the children our care.
Child Abuse
We are required, by law, to report injuries which are consistent with abusive treatment. Our sole responsibility is to factually report the presence of an injury, with no presumption of parental guilt.
Toddle Towne Learning Center, and every individual teacher in the center, is a mandated reporter of “suspected child abuse.” We are required, by law, to report injuries which are consistent with abusive treatment. It is not our job to investigate, make judgments, or assign guilt. Our sole responsibility is to factually report the presence of an injury, with no presumption of parental guilt. Some of the injuries which we are specifically required to report include: hand print marks, adult human bite marks, pattern bruises, “glove” burns, and cigarette burns. Other circumstances which would indicate our responsibility for reporting would be inconsistencies between the reported cause of the injury and the actual injury, conflicting stories from the child and other family members, similar and repeated injuries, or a pattern of injuries.
Do not be concerned about normal bumps and bruises, or scrapes and scratches. Healthy, active children will acquire a variety of minor injuries on knees, shins, foreheads, and chins. If there is an unusual birthmark or serious injury, please discuss it with us when you bring the child in, this will allow us to be more accurate in assessing our responsibility to report. We have no desire to embarrass or upset our parents. If a report is made, the family will be contacted, if a reasonable explanation is given, there will be no further contact or interference. We are not allowed to keep any records of unfounded reports. Stresses of today’s fast-paced life can push any parent into inappropriate parenting. For these parents, relief is offered in the form of auxiliary child care, counseling, or even financial resources. It is not the aim of the Department of Children and Family Services or Toddle Towne to punish the parents but rather to protect the child.
Fulfilling our role as mandated reporter is not easy or comfortable for us, however if we do not report, Toddle Towne may be denied a license to operate, and individual teachers may lose their certification and the right to work with young children. We ask your cooperation and understanding as we carry out our responsibilities as advocates for young children.