Daycare Worker Assaulted Three-Year-Old in Turku, Police Investigation Underway

A criminal complaint has been filed after a staff member at a Touhula daycare in Turku allegedly behaved violently toward a three-year-old child, Finnish outlets report.

Turun Sanomat reported that an employee pulled a chair from under the child while appearing agitated.

The child fell, hit their head, and was left crying under a table after the staff member walked away, according to the newspaper’s account.

The employee no longer works at the daycare unit, Turun Sanomat reported.

Southwest Finland Police communications chief Anna Saarenoja confirmed to Finland’s public broadcaster YLE that police received a report last week concerning the incident.

Touhula, a private daycare chain, has six daycare centres in Turku.

In an email to YLE, Touhula team leader Satu Kaski said the company has “zero tolerance” for endangering children’s safety and that inappropriate behaviour is addressed immediately, with a low threshold to end employment if misconduct is directed at a child.

Local media also reported that the daycare did not contact the child’s parents about the incident, and that they learned about it from the parents of another child who was present.

Kaski told YLE that Touhula’s guidance is to call parents the same day about serious incidents during the daycare day, and that if this was not done, the situation was handled against the company’s instructions.

Furthermore, YLE reported that the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health had not received a notification about the case, and the authority said it would not examine matters being handled by another authority; according to the authority, both police and child welfare services are investigating.