The Children’s Department decided on Thursday to urgently close the ‘t (B)Engeltje crèche in Oudenaarde. The report drawn up by the Care Inspectorate, which Het Laatste Nieuws and VTM were able to consult, shows that many unacceptable behaviors occurred there. The inspectors attribute it largely to the “pedagogical incapacity” of the management.
The investigation was prompted by complaints lodged as early as October last year, not only by parents but also by staff members who had resigned. Further on-site visits followed in March, April and June of this year. Testimonies refer to children being frequently and violently beaten by the person in charge. The report also states that small children’s faces were held under cold water, if they kept crying or if small children’s heads were pushed into food.
A two-month-old child was sent into the kitchen with the door closed because he was crying too much. And children with their hands in the toilet were pushed headfirst into the toilet, after which the toilet was flushed, the Care Inspectorate also found.
The ex-employees also said that the head of a child who did not want to eat was pulled back and placed between the attendant’s knees, to be force-fed with a spoon. The person in charge does not completely contradict the allegation: “It is indeed true that sometimes we stand behind the children to help them eat. It is possible for them to put their head back while doing so. is not placed between the knees”did she say.
For many parents, the closure was like a bombshell, writes Het Laatste Nieuws. According to one of them, the responsible person had his “darlings”, who got what they wanted. “But suddenly, the others were heavily targeted. Children who cried too much stayed in bed all day.”
Yesterday, a crèche in Keerbergen in Flemish Brabant, “Mippie and Moppie 2”, was closed for two months, after a child was tied to his bed with adhesive tape.