Inspector General to Investigate Child Abuse at Military Daycare Centers
The investigation aims to “assess the effectiveness with which the DoD and Services developed and implemented policies and procedures for identifying and report allegations of child abuse at military-operated child development centers,” according to the memorandum.
Kate Kuykendall noticed concerning behavior from her 15-month-old daughter Bella after returning home from a DOD daycare facility. At first, she chalked it up to separation anxiety, but after finding bruises on her thighs the next day, the Kukendalls became immediately concerned and requested a review of the CCTV cameras at the daycare, according to an article from Military.com. Upon review, it was discovered that little Bella was “pinched, shoved, smothered and pushed up against a wall.”
“I just started crying and didn’t know what to do,” Kate Kuykendall told Military.com.
“I felt like I failed her so much. She gave me all the signs, and I didn’t listen, you know?”
As a result of the investigation by Military.com, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), along with four additional senators, wrote DOD Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III condemning the handling of the abuse while demanding answers and accountability in a letter posted online.
“By enrolling their children in Child Development Centers (CDCs), servicemembers are entrusting DOD to take care of their children while they perform their duty to protect American citizens,” the Senators wrote in the letter. “When the safety of these children is threatened, it is the DOD’s responsibility to take measures to protect them from harm immediately.”
Sadly, this is far from an isolated incident. A press release from the United States Attorney’s Office in Georgia detailed another troubling case involving DOD daycare employees at Robins Air Force Base abusing children under their care between January and February 2021.
Zhanay Kiana Flynn, of Centerville, Georgia, and Antanesha Mone Fritz, of Tanner, Alabama, were each charged with 18 counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, another six counts of cruelty to children in the second degree, three counts of simple battery and one count of failure to report suspected child abuse, according to the press release. A third person, Latona Mae Lambert, of Kissimmee, Florida, the former director of the daycare facility, was also charged with one count of failure to report suspected child abuse.
The disturbing allegations of abuse include “striking children, causing children to fight each other, forcing children to hit one another, spraying children in the face with a cleaning liquid, seizing and shaking a child while threatening to strike them, striking a child in the head with a book, kicking a child into a wall, and stepping on and applying weight to a child’s leg,” according to the press release.
In a twisted form of legal shielding, because employees who work at DOD daycare facilities technically work for the government, they are protected from being sued by individuals over crimes they commit, as detailed in a lawsuit brought against Flynn and Fritz by parents of one of the children involved in the abuse allegations.
The lawsuit was dismissed because the government has sovereign immunity under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Under the FTCA, sovereign immunity shields government employees from liability for “injury or loss of property, personal injury or death arising or resulting from the negligent or wrongful act of omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment.”
“The conduct alleged here is outrageous. Thus far, two government employees have pled guilty to the ‘care’ they provided to the plaintiffs’ children,” United States District Court Chief Judge Marc T. Treadwell wrote. “Perhaps those children should be afforded a remedy, but none is provided by the Federal Tort Claims Act.”
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