RICHLAND, WA – Two Torbett KinderCare in Richland employees were placed on administrative leave for a video posted on social media. The video shows one employee pouring water on one of the kids while she’s sleeping. Child Protective Services and Richland Police Department are investigating the incident.
According to CPS, Torbett Street KinderCare has been reported and investigated in 2021. It was reported on July 30, 2021 and resolved on October 12, 2021.
The video currently has more than 25K views.
Richland Police Department stated they have had reports filed on Torbett KinderCare but can not comment on this case since the case is still under investigation and involves a juvenile.
CPS also cannot comment on this open investigation.
A former employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, said some teachers would not follow safety protocols and that directors wouldn’t enforce them either. These issues would include some workers often changing diapers without gloves, accidentally serving foods certain childre’s were allergic to, and not always informing parents if a child was injured.
“There were also a couple times I would write an injury report and give it to my boss who would literally rip it up in my face and say “don’t tell the parents this,” said the anonymous employee.
The anonymous employee, who worked at Torbett Street and the KinderCare facility on Einstein about 5 years ago, also shared that they had worked there about 16 months but had to leave when the “toxic management and environment,” became too much to bear.
These allegations were brought to the attention of KinderCare Learning Companies who said the following:
At KinderCare, nothing is more important to us than children’s safety. When parents leave their children off in our care we want them to feel like they’re leaving their children in a place where they will be cared for just as well as they would be at home. We take all concerns about the quality of our programs and our teachers seriously and have a specific protocol we follow any time a concern is raised.
Both our Torbett and North Richland centers have been under new management since 2017 and 2020, respectively. The allegations brought forward by former employees pre-date our new management. The allegations, and the actions last week by the two former Torbett center employees, do not reflect our company values.
