Army Launches Investigation into Daycare Following Allegations of Inappropriate Touching

Carlisle Barracks and the U.S. Army War CollegePhoto byArmy

A complaint has been filed alleging that another youngster at an Army-run childcare center in Pennsylvania repeatedly handled an infant inappropriately. The incident is currently under investigation by Army officials. Officials allegedly failed to notify the affected child's parents of the occurrence for over 24 hours, leading the parents to wonder whether or not the staff followed the correct protocols.

According to the child's mother, who spoke with multiple news sources, center staff minimized the seriousness of the episodes.

The Moore Child Development Center is located at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, home of the Army War College. When asked about the occurrences that occurred there, officials from the Army said they followed all necessary protocols and implemented the suggested modifications. The military has recognized the center as a provider of quality childcare for children as young as six weeks old up to five years old, and the institution itself has earned accreditation from the NAEYC.

Carlisle Barracks spokesman Curt Keester stated that a staffer of the childcare center "observed possible inappropriate behavior between two preschool-aged children" on the morning of December 6, as per the employee's message.

According to the statement, a multidisciplinary team was organized the following morning, Dec. 7, by commanders there. The team included workers from Child Youth Services, the Family Advocacy Program, and Army Community Services. Manager of the Family Advocacy Program started contacting impacted families one-on-one to inform them of the situation and provide them with information about available resources.

However, according to Military.com's interview with the child's mother, the first known instance of inappropriate touching occurred on December 5, two days prior to her notification. The mother of the child first shared details of the incident on the Army's Reddit website. By the deadline, Army Times had not been able to contact the mother for a remark.

"They failed to inform us of anything that transpired," the mother said Military.com.

They let us drop off our child the following morning as if nothing had happened, a full 24 hours after our preschooler was penetrated three to four times in a 48-hour span, she told Task and Purpose.

Army officials said that the event was reported by the caregiver to childcare leadership, who in turn informed the Family Advocacy Program manager, who in turn informed the family advocacy clinical case manager, the Army Criminal Investigation Division, and Child Protection Services. "Several seconds-long incidents of apparently mutual, inappropriate behavior between the two preschoolers" were captured on video by security cameras, according to Keester, who claimed that officials had examined the clip.

According to the statement, parents of the children involved were informed by the daycare workers within one day of the occurrence being identified.

According to Keester, the command started alerting all parents who use the childcare center on December 11 and explained what steps were being done to avoid similar mishaps in the future.

This is happening at the same time that an investigation was launched by Army CID. Spokesman for the Army Brian Fickel spoke with Military.com.

According to Army officials, they have implemented the center's suggested improvements in accordance with Army protocol.

Beyond the statement given Thursday, Keester and Army officials declined to speak further to Army Times requests, citing the sensitive nature of the probe.

According to what Keester informed Task and Purpose, a group from the Army's Installation Command visited the facility on December 18 and 19. They suggested that the center should strengthen classroom procedures and limits, increase staff training, and establish appropriate supervision ratios. After the inspection, the facility instituted measures "to increase visibility and supervision" by hiring more teachers and "removing any potential visual obstructions" from the classroom.

Edited by Newsbreak Contributor Denys Shybinskiy