'Nanny Cams' Show Woman Abusing Baby

fox ^ | 10-11-03

[wheelgunguru]

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.

[CaliGirlGodHelpMe]

If I've said it once.....

I simply CANNOT UNDERSTAND the sheer stupidity of parents who think they are soooo clever, catching these monsters horribly abusing their children on videotape. Don't they realize that, if they had simply TOLD the nanny that she was under video surveillance (not giving out specifics of numbers of cameras and their placement OBVIOUSLY) the abuse would never have happened?

If it were me, I would simply say, "You understand that we have 24-hour video surveillance in most of the house. Do you mind being taped while working here?" That would put the person on notice so that, no matter what her nature or frustrations, she would think long and hard before harming the child, abusing the furniture, inviting unsavory boyfriends over, etc. - and these terrible incidents of abuse will hopefully become a thing of the past. Okay, that's my rant for the night.

Cali Girl

[Jeff Chandler]

The first-time parents — a former prosecutor and a social worker — thought they had done everything right when they hired Muro to take care of their child ...

Farming out your 5-month-old baby to others is doing everything right? Some mother she is.

[clee1]

I hope she gets 25 years per count, to be served consecutively.

[Jeff Chandler]

How about just raising your own kids?

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[LPStar]

What if they step into a closet or bathroom or something to abuse the baby then? I'm sure there couldn't be cameras over the toilets, for example.

[CaliGirlGodHelpMe]

"...there wouldn't be cameras over the toilets, for example".

Right. But the point is that if you put a person on notice that they are being watched, they will think twice, three times, and more before behaving in any way inappropriately, let alone abusively, while babysitting. I know of course that if they really wanted to they could take the child into a dark closet or a bathroom and harm her, but the chances would be FAR less. They simply would not feel that they could do whatever they wanted while the parents were gone.

[Havisham]

I can't watch stuff like that. This is why I knew I could never work outside my home while my child was still too small to hit back!

[ChemistCat]

If the nanny bit the kid, she knew she'd get caught, if her head was on even that straight.

I don't get this: I suspect my nanny of doing something to make my 4 month old unhappy, because my 4-month-old shows fear of her. It's not stranger anxiety--it's open fear. Rather than sacking the nanny, right then and there, I install a hidden camera. Then I don't check it for a month (why? too busy?) until the now 5 month old turns up with a bite mark. Whoa, abuse there. Call police. Hello???

That's a month of torture done to a baby too little to even crawl...and they may say they didn't see it coming, but they did.

This seems very like baby-left-in-hot-car-by-busy-parents to me. She should be dead. It looks to me like this woman was trying to kill her.

[CaliGirlGodHelpMe]

I agree, it looked that way. Thank God they say that the child was not seriously harmed, but so many others have been!

The parents claim that they did everything right - went through a thorough interviewing process, hired through an agency, etc. - it's crazy that they didn't immediately get rid of the nanny when they suspected abuse, but there have been at least 5 cases in the last few years that I remember where the parents did exactly the same thing...suspected abuse, installed video equipment (WITHOUT TELLING THE NANNY) and then saw the horrible result. I don't get it either.

[Concerned]

CALIGIRLGODHELPME WROTE: "I simply CANNOT UNDERSTAND the sheer stupidity of parents who think they are soooo clever, catching these monsters horribly abusing their children on videotape. Don't they realize that, if they had simply TOLD the nanny that she was under video surveillance (not giving out specifics of numbers of cameras and their placement OBVIOUSLY) the abuse would never have happened?"

CALIGIRLGODHELPME ADDED: "If it were me, I would simply say, "You understand that we have 24-hour video surveillance in most of the house. Do you mind being taped while working here?" That would put the person on notice so that, no matter what her nature or frustrations, she would think long and hard before harming the child,..."

You make a good point...but after several years of looking for a nanny who would work under those conditions, you might still be looking to hire your FIRST nanny until your infant has grown up and is off to college.

[kitkat]

***That's a month of torture done to a baby too little to even crawl...and they may say they didn't see it coming, but they did.***

They didn't WANT to see it. Their jobs were too important to them to be able to see it. Wanna bet that their precious child is right now in the care of another nanny?

[ChemistCat]

Bet they didn't wait a month before looking at the tapes.

[coloradan]

That might work for your own kids (if you can hire a nanny at all, under the circumstances) but it doesn't take the nanny off the streets; she will just work for someone else and abuse that baby instead. Is this somehow better?

[mewzilla]

I'd be interested to know what the parents were paying this chick. Because if they were paying her squat, well, you get what you pay for.

[ChemistCat]

I did childcare for another one-year-old when my firstborn was one. The mother was single, active duty Air Force. She was "going to pay me" as soon as (whatever) happened. I was caring for her daughter just as I cared for my son. Hot meals, a written account of how the day went. I was there when she took her first steps. That day her mother picked her up, said "Oh that's nice" when I tried to tell her her daughter had started walking, and left--to take the child to another babysitter so she could go out on a date. I remember crying over that. It was too sad.

But she seemed not to want to PAY me. Finally she didn't come one day when I expected her. I worried. I found out through a third party that she had found another sitter. I imagine it is sure cheaper to bounce from sitter to sitter promising payment and never delivering. I do know for a fact that she couldn't get better care anywhere else for the $300/month I was asking.

So I took care of this active, busy, sometimes cranky baby for five weeks with no pay. I still wouldn't have hurt a hair on her head. (Her mother, on the other hand...!)

[mewzilla]

I understand that. But it never ceases to amaze me how little people value good child care. How little people are willing to pay for good child care, especially the well-heeled. If they were getting this person for a song, that should've been a red flag right there.

[Moonman62]

One clip shows Claudia Muro, 29, raising the baby above her head and "slamming her on the floor three or possibly four times," according to a police report by Officer Susan J. Hayes (search) released Friday.

Something isn't right here. How can the baby still be alive, much less not even injured if this is what really happened? Same goes for the description of the shaking.

[ChemistCat]

I thought when I saw the video of the Traveler mom harming her child in her van, that if an adult is hitting her child in the face as hard as she can, the kid is going to DIE, or at least show severe facial injuries including fractures that a week won't cure. I had come to the conclusion that what we thought we saw was not what was happening. The mother could not possibly be punching her child--it must have been light smacks that may well have been deserved, though good parenting would have required that they be administered in the store as the child misbehaved. Of course, that's not legal most places, thus the furtive discipline in the parking lot.

This makes me think I was wrong. Babies are, after all, designed to take a lot of falls while they're learning to walk. I've seen a friend's toddler go head-over-heels down a long flight of marble stairs, and end up only bruised. Truly freaked me out! I was sure he'd be DEAD! Maybe they're just tough little critters indeed.

I do know that holding a baby above your head and throwing the baby down is attempted murder, whatever the result. I do not know why she hasn't been charged with that.