Parents say Day Care Provider bit their son
NORWOOD, N.Y. -- Kole Kellison, 2, is smiling now, but a few weeks ago he had a boo boo his parents will never forget.
It all started when Kole's mom came to pick him up from day care at a home in Norwood, where Erin LaBarge had been taking care of him for about a month.
"When I picked him up Wednesday afternoon, she, Erin, had told me that, openly admitted that she bit my son. She didn't tell me where, and immediately I didn't see any marks, so I didn't think that it was a gruesome attack on him, I thought it was it was just like a simple pinch on the arm bite, some sort of deal, because she is a family friend and I didn't think that she would actually hurt him," said Miranda Vari, Kole's mother.
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About an hour after she brought Kole home, Vari laid him down to change his diaper. That's when Kole started complaining about a boo boo on his back.
"There was a nice bite mark, probably about that big around, teeth engraved into his skin, you can still see the teeth marks. Black and blue on the inside and out," said Curtis Kellison, Kole's father.
"I didn't want to make accusations, it might have been another kid, so I called her, asked her where she bit him and she admitted to biting him in the back and when I explained to her how bad it was she was very apologetic," said the child's mother.
But at that point, the damage had already been done.
"When I saw it I was hysterical because I could never do that to anyone else's, let alone my own kid, but anyone else's I could never do it," said Vari.
"This is my little man, you know what I mean? And he's defenseless," said Kellison.
Kole's parents weren't just concerned about their son's well-being, they were also worried about the other children at the daycare. So they reported the incident to the Norwood Police and to Social Services.
“Based on a complaint that we received, Erin M. Labarge from 7 Prospect Street was arrested by our investigator, Carla Trim. She was charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child," said Officer Brandon Strador with the Norwood Police Department.
LaBarge had been a licensed day care provider since 2002, but on October 10th, two days after the incident, her license was revoked.
"If there's any indication that children are in danger, or in any eminent danger we're going to bear on the side of the child and act on the side of the child and suspend and revoke," said Sue Steele, Deputy Director of Communications for the State Child Care Licensing Agency.
Kole's parents say they hope other families can learn a lesson from their experience.
“At least the other families will know sooner or later that something did happen, and just to be careful with who you trust," said Vari.
Our attempts to contact LaBarge for comment were unsuccessful.
As part of her license revocation, she is only allowed to care for two unrelated children at a time.
Social Services will be making unannounced visits to make sure she is complying.