JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Department of Children and Families is investigating accusations of child abuse at a day care inside a Duval County Public School after a mother said she found bruises and scratches on her 2-month-old baby.
The daycare isn't run by DCPS but it still has to answer to them, which is why Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said he knows about the allegation and is concerned.
The investigation to find out what happened at A. Philip Randolph Academies of Technology is underway. Inside is a day care where a student's baby was allegedly abused. The day care is for mothers who are in high school.
Latest News Headlines from Action News
"We were notified about this last week and we began our investigation immediately," said DCF spokesperson John Harrell.
According to the police report, the young mother noticed something was wrong after the baby was dropped off by the day care car service.
The baby was taken to UF Health Jacksonville to get checked out, where an officer noticed "deep scratches on the child's face, forehead, nose and cheeks." There was also "a bruise above the child's right eye."
"It shouldn't happen period," said Jermaine Love.
As the father of a 10-month-old, Love can relate to this case. He also used to work at A. Phillip Randolph.
"It could have been another toddler that did it or it could have been someone working there," he said.
Action News did some digging and found that this particular day care opened in August 2008 and has a capacity of 75 kids. DCF said it's doing everything it can to sort things out.
"We're obviously very concerned whenever you hear about children with these kids of injuries -- especially babies this young because they are so fragile," Harrell said.
DCF said each case is different, but they have 60 days to complete their investigation.
For Action News on the go, sign up for Action News Mobile & Email alerts