Palmdale Childcare Worker Caught on Tape Hitting Special Needs Child

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LANCASTER, Calif. – A concerned citizen posted a video of the abuse of a special needs child by a childcare worker.

The incident occurred on Saturday, June 15, 2019, at Tierra Bonita Park in the City of Lancaster. The reporting party said that the woman was caring for around seven children at the time when she witnessed her hitting the children in the back of the head. As she witnessed and recorded some of the incident, she noticed that a toddler in her care was sitting on the hot asphalt. “She would slap several of the children in the back of the head several times for no apparent reason, said Evette Jones. “I was only able to get some footage before I contacted the authorities. I only had these two videos [so] I was told that it wasn’t categorized as child abuse.”

The mother of the 9-year-old girl saw the video and identified herself and identified the childcare provider as 54-year-old Palmdale resident, Yolanda Keith. The mother of the special needs girl said that Keith works for the Child Care Resource Center in Palmdale. She also said her daughter is non-verbal, autistic, and has cerebral palsy.

She said that she will immediately remove her daughter from her care and was reporting the incident to the Sheriff’s Department and the Child Care Resource Center. “She already has an open investigation due to another incident with another child,” said Ashley Holmes, the child’s mother. “I went to her defense with that I can’t believe this, God knows what’s happened while I have not seen.” The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lancaster station officials said that they are now investigating the incident.

As for the initial report made by Evette Jones, she said the deputies left her with a warning to “tone it down while she is in public”. Jones said that it took calling three times in order to get deputies to respond to the location and when they did, they were unimpressed by the video saying what they had viewed in the video does not constitute abuse. As for the Antelope Valley Community, they are outraged and are vowing to contact every organization possible to make sure that the abuse is stopped.