HALSTAD, M.N. (Valley News Live) – A Hendrum, Minnesota, mom says her children were maltreated by a home daycare provider in Halstad.
The mother says she decided to speak out because families deserve to know whether licensed daycare providers are being held accountable.
However, the daycare provider and the Norman County Social Services Center say there was no mistreatment.
“It was just more crying and pain,” said Trinity Lease, the worried mom who feels her children were maltreated.
Lease’s children went to Jonna Ament’s Daycare in Halstad over the summer. She says that her 6-year-old son experienced trauma, nausea, and stomach pains as a result of his experience at the daycare. The child allegedly told his mom he was yelled at, called a liar, and accused of stealing toys.
Lease says her breaking point was when her 2-year-old son went through an entire day without getting his diaper changed.
“I’m like, ‘Okay, well, when did you change him last?’ And then it was a very long message basically stating she had forgotten to change him because another child was picked up early from daycare, which obviously was very alarming to me, which meant he was not changed for over 12 hours,” said Lease.
She says her 2-year-old’s diaper was full of rocks and soaked in urine, and this wasn’t a one-time incident. Lease went to the Norman County Social Services to file a report, but they found no evidence of child neglect.
Trinity was devastated.
“With all the documentation that I provided, I was just a little surprised,” said Lease.
Valley News Live stopped by the daycare to talk to the provider through a Ring doorbell camera.
“I am an adult and I owned up to a true, honest mistake. I’ve made mistakes, but like I said, I can tell you for sure there were times when that kid showed up to my daycare and she said, I quote, ‘My brother dressed my son this morning and he did not change his diaper from last night,’” said Jonna Ament, home daycare provider at Jonna Ament’s Daycare.
Shortly after the discussion through the ring camera, she came outside to explain more.
“If I were horrible, my children would have diaper rashes. He would have diaper rashes. the other baby that I had. You know what I mean? Diaper rashes come from inconsistent changing or not changing your child enough. He never had a diaper rash,” said Ament.
Valley News Live received handwritten documents from Trinity saying, in part, “I am altering the termination of the childcare contract.”
Lease says that it would be a better fit for them to have their sons watched by family.
“They are now with a family friend, and she also used to be a preschool teacher, so she’s more equipped to deal with the mood changes and the difficulties like that. They will be there permanently for the winter and the summer next year,” said Lease.
Valley News Live reached out to Norman County Social Services to see if there have been other complaints since Jonna opened her home daycare, but they have not responded back.
