Brand New Music composer DJ Juice has revealed that his son was being abused at his daycare. DJ Juice has claimed that the daycare's director has tried to cover up the abuse DJ Juice's son was withstanding.
DJ Juice's son is only five years old and has developmental delays. He says the only two words the child can say are "mom" and "dad," and that his level of speaking is very low compared to children his age.
In an exclusive interview with Sports Chosun, DJ Juice shared details on how his five-year-old son was being beaten by staff at the daycare center they put him in. The daycare center has a specialized class for students with disabilities, which is why DJ Juice and his wife trusted the center. In his interview, he said:
"Starting from May 2019, my second child would often have bruises on his body. He is a special child with developmental delays, and things were getting bad enough to the point when I had to ask the daycare center."
He revealed that his son would have large bruises on the back of his head and near his armpits. Worried for the well-being of his son, he asked the daycare center to inform him of how the bruises were attained. The only answer he received was "I don't know." He then requested to see CCTV footage from the daycare but was denied. He was told that he would need to have a police report to be able to review the footage. Since then, he has decided to bring awareness to the ordeal to seek justice for his son. He said:
"Since that incident, I received an anonymous tip and a call from child protection agencies. After filing a police report, I along with the police checked the CCTV at the daycare center.
I wanted the director of the daycare center and all those involved in the abuse of my son to ask for forgiveness, but they claim they didn't know about it before checking the CCTV. They only apologized after we discovered the assailant from review the CCTV footage.
The more I learned about it, the more shocking it was. There were several instances in which the director of the daycare center had known about the assault, but he tried to cover it up. I have filed a petition to have the director dismissed from their position.
The only thing we can do now is to file civil complaints and petitions. There were many concerns before we revealed this incident because people around me did not know my child was special. We decided to file a petition because we believe there shouldn't be another victim."
The contents of the said petition are:
"Hello, I am a father in his late 30's who is raising a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son in Gimpo. Though our second child didn't get a disability rating, he is not a normal child. He can only say "mom" and "dad" and his development is late compared to his peers. Because of this, we sent him to a daycare center in Pungmu-dong, as they have a class specifically for students with disabilities. He was examined in various hospitals and it was confirmed that he has speech and recognition delays.
A few months ago, we received an anonymous tip informing us that our child was being abused. I thought it was normal for boys to have bruises here and there since they are boys who like to play around. However, there were certain instances in which I have found some serious bruises after picking him up from daycare. A few months after starting daycare, he had bruises as big as an adult's fist on his thighs and also had bruises on his arms, legs, and stomach.
Instead of accusing them of abuse, we asked the daycare why our child was getting hurt, but we were told they were not aware of the reason why. For us, we didn't understand how our child had bruises, but since there weren't many daycare centers that held classes for children with special needs, we endured it, as we had also felt gratitude for them taking care of our child. There are times in which we asked the director of the daycare center if we could check their CCTV footage, but we were informed that we could only check if we filed a child abuse report.
I came to find out later that the daycare director lie to us about needing a report and that we have the right to check the CCTV footage with the consent of other parents for safety reasons. We repeatedly told the daycare that if they couldn't confirm it in this instance, we would ask the direction again to confirm. While my wife was on the committee, she asked for the installation of more CCTV cameras to cover the blind spots, but the director did not take action and did not contact the city hall due to how expensive it is. In February, there was a bruise on the back of my son's neck, inside of his arm, and the back on his head. Common sense kicked in; he could not have been hurt while playing, and we demanded to see the CCTV footage. A few days later, they checked the CCTV footage and we were told that nothing happened out of the ordinary. We thought there was no problem.
About a week later, we were informed that the child protection agency received an anonymous call reporting abuse against our child. After that, people from the child protection agencies, police officers, and city hall staff visited the daycare center to review the CCTV footage and visit the daycare. That day, we also went. They called in the director and other teachers that may have been involved, and we told them they would be forgiven if they apologized. They did not apologize and refused to acknowledge their actions. The fact that our child was being abused is already painful and shocking, and that fact that people who were involved refused to admit what they did made it even harder on us.
That day, we reported it to the police, and the case is currently being investigated. Despite us saying the assailant should not seek us out, they sent us a letter from a scratch pad along with a jelly our son likes, saying they were sorry. That same person who pushed our child who was just sitting and being obedient, who made our child stay under the table instead of being allowed to take a nap. We have suffered a lot at the hands of that person, and are still suffering as our son can no longer go out and play int he playground in front of our house, just in case he sees his abuser. It has happened numerous times, and we have asked the police to not allow them near us, but we still wonder whether he will be there when we go out and if our son will see him.
What's more shocking is that the police investigation discovered that the daycare director was trying to cover up the abuse of our child. How could such a person be the director of a city-run daycare center? Why should this person's incompetence and irresponsibility cause us damage and cause our child to suffer? Our case was filed in March, but the investigation is still underway. The person who abused our child was dismissed, but the director still runs the daycare. More than 100 children, including outs, were under their control. I think such a person should be punished as soon as possible and should be removed from their position at the daycare center. Even if those involved are punished and this case is closed, our wounds will not be healed. We ask for the director's dismissal before more victims fall in their hands."
