Who Protects Childcare Workers!!??

Hi everyone ,
I just had a quick question about one of my daycare families. They have a little boy that is 16 months and he is very self destructive. I have caught him rocking back and forth while smacking his head off my wall on purpose every time he would rock backwards. I have also caught him whacking himself in the face with certain toys. He still isn't walking but he is very smart. I have been teaching him sign language and he communicates very well with the signs he knows. He comes to daycare with new bruises frequently but I don't suspect the parents are doing anything because I have seen some of the things he does. I am scared to keep him in my care because I don't want any of my children developing bruises while they are in my care. I am also scared to report anything if it ever comes to the point that I start to feel worried for him because there was a lady on the form who got fined 13 000 for reporting suspected child abuse. Lastly, what is I do report something and the parents get mad at me and turn it around on me. I am thinking of terminating but I don't know if this is the best choice.
ANY advice would be amazing!!!!

Don't know what else to say but that one of my daycare kids used to purposely swing her head backwards or forwards and bang it on the floor when she around 16 months old. It can be phase for some kids, she grew out of it after a few months.

But in terms of covering yourself, I always tell parents if anything happened during the day that resulted in a bruise, cut, whatever. I have an incident report that I fill out and get the parents to sign it.

Just have a conversation with the parents about his behaviour and let them know it is a concern for you as you are worried about him getting hurt while in your care. But as it is likely a phase I would be hesitant to terminate because of it.

AmandaKDT is absolutely right. You have to talk to the parents. If you haven't already, you don't know if this behaviour is worrying them too. If they are new parents or haven't ever seen a child do this kind of thing, they might be thinking the same as you. "Does my daycare provider think I'm hurting him?"

I too have had children who do this kind of thing. Maybe not to this extent, usually it is the same children that take other things to the extreme. The ones who chew rocks, (no kidding) take every piece of food and roll it around in their fingers, eat paint, etc.

If you keep track of the incidents, when, where, how, you may see a pattern. Does it happen more right before or after a transition in the day, when he's hungry, bored, or tired? Sharing this info with the parents might help them if they discuss it with his doctor.

If you want to cover yourself, you have two options.
1) Video documentation regular of child behaves to show what he does - with date stamp. And follow up e-mail every time for paper trail to parent and attach video clip. Keep all e-mail and video.
2) Get rid of this client - serious. If you are worried about having to justify this child's injurys then only you can protect you. It not worth a few bucks an hour to ruin your reputation or to put yourself in position of weakness. You can't help everyone.

In my experience I would video record the child hurting himself, I would document every incident with an accident report and I would send emails to both parents explaining your concerns bring up every incident you can recall in the email. You need actual proof to support anything and everything not just verbal. Good luck!