A suburban Barrington family has growing concerns after their 3-year-old son left school with bruises, prompting investigations.
According to officials, the Department of Children and Family Services, along with the Kildeer Police Department, are now investigating the case as the family seeks answers.
"He's been clinging on to me, won't let me out of his sight," said Kellie Ostertag, the mother of 3-year-old Henri. "He hasn't really shown interest in doing things he usually enjoys, playing with things."
Ostertag said this is unusual behavior for her child. She and her husband Oliver said they've noticed these changes ever since last Tuesday, when Henri had bruising to his ear and arms after school at Guidepost Montessori Deer Park in Kildeer.
"There was no incident report, which is very common. He's come home from falling before or another child scratched him and you get an incident report, you get a copy you have to sign," Ostertag said.
The couple has sent Henri to the school since Spring 2023, but in the past few months they said they noticed changes and had previously expressed concerns to staff.
"Diapers being put on backwards. The overtightening of backwards-facing diapers causing significant diaper rash," Oliver Ostertag said.
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The couple also provided emails documenting these concerns from earlier this month.
The Ostertags said school staff could not immediately tell them what happened at first, so they took their child to the doctor.
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"The nurse practitioner at emergency care flagged [that] this looked like an adult had done it, upon which she called DCFS," Oliver Ostertag said.
DCFS is now investigating the case. The Kildeer Police are also investigating and told NBC 5 they're also working with the Lake County State's Attorney's Office and the school. They issued a statement to NBC Chicago, stating: "The Kildeer Police Department treats any report of child abuse very seriously and we will utilize every resource available to our Village in determining the factors related to this investigation."
Guidepost Montessori also responded to NBC 5 requests for a statement, saying in part: "We are aware of the incident that was reported and are actively conducting an internal investigation, in parallel with independent external investigations by DCFS and Kildeer’s Police Department. Our initial investigation suggests that the child sustained a bruise to his ear and on his arm while playing with other children under a slide on the playground. We are grateful for DCFS’ and Kildeer’s Police Department’s involvement and are eager to benefit from their expertise in ensuring an investigation that is thorough, conducted by impartial experts, and that arrives at the right outcome."
Their response goes on to explain changes they will make during their internal investigation, including temporarily closing select classrooms.
However, the Ostertags pulled their child from enrollment and said they still want more transparency and concrete answers as to what happened.
"Bruises like this don't come out of nothing," Oliver Ostertag said. "They were caused by something, and we want to know what caused it and we want to have assurances this does not happen again."
