Late Monday afternoon Autumn and I paid C- a visit. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, one I made as I was driving home for the day. I hadn’t talked to her in a couple of weeks and wanted to see how things were going. I figured if it looked like no one was home I’d drive right on by her house and on to mine.
C-’s daughter was out front cleaning out her car, and as soon as I pulled in both she and C- rushed over to the car to give Autumn a hug. C- immediately started crying and mouthed the words “thank you” to me as she held Autumn close. Her daughter took Autumn away to play for a bit and then C- filled me in on what has been going on these past two weeks. None of it is good news.
She was arrested last week and is facing felony abuse charges. Just typing that out blows my mind because this is the woman who watched my daughter every weekday for over three years. She loved Autumn as if she was her own and I never had any reason to believe she was hurting my child or anyone else’s. I still have no reason to believe it.
Of course it’s also hard to believe the alternative; that someone is wrongly accusing an innocent woman of abuse. Who does that? Who purposely and willingly ruins someone’s life, her future and the future of her family and how am I supposed to choose to believe one scenario over another? Both of them are horrible.
I’ve been going back and forth about whether I should post about this because this story no longer pertains to the care of my child. We’re heading into some scary territory here and our involvement in this whole mess may just be getting started. The other day I decided it would probably be best to alter all blog references in which I used C-’s real name. In a way it felt like I was removing her from our lives somehow, that she was just this non-person who took care of our kid while we were at work.
Going back through all those entries made me realize how much she was a part of our lives and how lucky Autumn was to have found her. I’d be lying if I said this development hasn’t planted a seed of doubt in my mind. Someone hurt that little girl, but until it’s proven otherwise I’m going to have to trust C-’s word that she didn’t do it. Like I said, I have no reason not to trust her, and right now the woman needs every friend she’s got.
{ 5 comments }
Unfortunately, there are a lot of mean spirited people in the world and a lot of DSS workers who don’t find out what actually happened. They just want someone to take the blame and that person is usually the day care provider.
Go with your gut. Just know that that poor woman has nobody right now and your friendship and support is getting her through. Remember the Fells Acres Daycare in Massachusetts years ago – that whole family went to jail for nothing – because they did nothing to those kids. It was all made up by some wacky parent and some bad psychiatrists.
All it takes is one statement that is misunderstood and the whole thing gets blown out of proportion….
C needs a friend right now. I say trust your gut and be there for her until you find out something incriminating.
I don’t know the back story behind all of this, but I’ve been around the child care provider world for a long time. A trend I’ve noticed is that when a child’s parents are divorcing, the child care provider often gets hurt. A friend’s daycare got shut down because and upset Daddy wanted to get custody, so he tried to prove that Mommy was putting the kids in a harmful environment. He made up abuse allegations to keep his kids, never realizing he destroyed a life, a family, in the process.
I’m not saying that’s what happened. There are so many things that could have happened. But the fact that Autumn still loves her and has no fear of her is proof (to me, at least) that she was well-loved and was given good care.
.-= Meg´s last blog ..Stirring It Up =-.
Meg-I don’t think you’re far of the mark in your theory. Unfortunately, if it was one of the parents who did it, the poor little girl is not going to be any safer than she was in C-’s care.
LBC-After witnessing this whole mess, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to run a private daycare in their home. There are just too many risks to make it worthwhile.
When I was in junior high, my mom watched a neighbor’s little boy and girl. One day, the little boy just didn’t want his mommy to go to work. He WANTED HIS MOMMY.
So the mom assumed the worst, that the reason he didn’t want to go was because my mom was “doing something” to him. To make a long story short, my mom had to face abuse allegations that were COMPLETELY FALSE.
Eventually, the little boy admitted that he just agreed to whatever his mom asked him because he wanted her to stay home from work to play with him. She’d been a SAHM his whole life, and had only just returned to work.
I don’t know the whole story – this is my first time on your blog – but, I just want to say thank you for sticking by C- and giving her the benefit of the doubt. So many people just walk away.
.-= Andrea’s Sweet Life´s last blog ..Funny, I Don’t FEEL Cleaner =-.
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