Casey Gaas’ marks
A Texas mom hadn’t seen her year-and-a-half-old son for
several hours, as he was being cared for by another person. When she
went to get him, she found the little boy in a much different condition
than when she dropped him off that day. One odd, painful mark led to the
discovery of nine others, and immediate questions from the boy’s
parents. What they were told in return made a terrifying reality all the
worse.
Randi Grounds was heartbroken and confused on Monday when
she picked up her 18-month-old, Casey Gass, from the Lil Jackets
Learning Center in Llano. He had a bloody welt on his little cheek,
along with a U-shaped scab beneath his eye. Upon closer investigation of
his body, she found more of the same kinds of marks and scratches on
other areas of his face, neck, and arms, adding up to ten wounds in
total, KHOU reported.
This particular day was far worse than what happened the
week before, when Grounds and her husband Keegan Gass noticed that Casey
was coming home each day from the center with a scratch or bite mark
here and there. The couple said they had tried to talk to the staff at
the daycare about it, but they were presumably passed off by the workers
as kids being kids.
On Monday, when it was more than a single scratch, the
parents approached the center demanding answers as to what their child
had endured on their watch. The parents have since pulled their son out
of that daycare.
Keegan Gaas, Randi Grounds
“It makes you feel bad even dropping him and bringing him to
the day care. It makes us feel like it’s our fault,” Grounds explained
to the news outlet. “It’s not the kid’s fault, it’s the supervision.
Apparently if he got bit 10 times in one day, then there is no
supervision.”
Evidently, Casey had been a target of another child’s biting
problems, and the staff didn’t seem to think it was an issue, more that
it was just something that happens. Their response to the parent’s
concern was to hand out a pamphlet on why kids bite other kids and post a
note on the door, explaining the situation to parents.
According to KVUE,
childcare licensing investigators arrived to the center to look into
the incident, but ultimately sided with the center saying they weren’t
at fault. What everyone is failing to see, except for the victim’s
parents, is that they are responsible for this boy’s injuries by default
for not doing anything to prevent it from happening. The fact that they
even went as far as to claim it’s normal behavior and allegedly
acceptable for that reason, is literally insult to injury.
Kids mimic the behavior they see, and Child Protective
Services needs to investigate the home life of this biter. It’s only
speculation at this point, but chances are there is some kind of abuse,
unsafe behavior, or inappropriate interactions happening in that child’s
house where he learned to do this to others. Investigators and teachers
at the center approaching this incident so passively, is potentially
creating more victims than just Casey. The child perpetrator could be a
victim of abuse, which could be prevented if people start paying
attention to what doesn’t seem right.
h/t: [KHOU]
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