Parents denounce abuse at Mary’s Little Lambs daycare after director’s arrest

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Dante Jones and Rayan Neil adore their baby boy Rayden.

“Rayden is a playful kid. He loves to smile. He loves to play with his siblings. He loves to go out,” Neil said.

Now that Rayden is 2 years old, Jones and Neil have decided to send Rayden to Mary’s Little Lambs Preschool & Childcare Center on Kensington Avenue in Buffalo. But about two weeks ago, they heard him say something that alarmed them.

“One day he came home and just said to me, ‘The teacher hit me.’ And I was trying to understand because he’s only two years old,” Neil said.

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Jones said she went to the day care director on Tuesday to figure out what was going on.

“It escalated pretty quickly. She called the cops. She told me I was trespassing and needed to get off her property. She was also silencing her teachers so they wouldn’t come forward, which is what they were trying to do. to do and that’s when the accusation happened against the 17-year-old teacher,” Jones said.

That’s when Buffalo police arrived at the daycare and arrested the daycare director, 52-year-old Mary Goodwill. Investigators say she argued with a 17-year-old girl and pushed her outside, while a class of children looked on.

RELATED: Buffalo daycare voluntarily closes its doors for a week after altercation leads to arrest of daycare director

Police said more parents were arriving at the daycare throughout the day because of a social media post alleging their children had been abused.

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Erie County Child Protective Services (CPS) and New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) responded to investigate the parents’ allegations . Police said the daycare voluntarily closed its doors for the week while the investigation continued. The Buffalo Police Special Victims Unit is also investigating.

On the OCFS website, it says that since 2022, the daycare has been cited for violations that include corporal punishment and failure to report child abuse. The agency also investigated eight complaints, three of which were substantiated.

OCFS sent the following statement to 7 News:

The center is closed for the rest of the week

“We’re just trying to pick up our pieces. This is our first time putting our baby in daycare, so it was really hard for us,” Jones said.

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“He’s a good kid. He just likes to have fun. I just wish, you know, these things never happened. You know, if he couldn’t talk, I would never have known what was happening at daycare,” Neil said. .

Jones and Neil said they are readjusting and trying to find another daycare to trust while fighting for their little boy.

“We just hope that we get justice for our baby and all these little babies that don’t have a voice and haven’t even been able to tell their parents what’s going on, you know, just a safe environment for these kids all around our neighborhood,” Jones said.