UNITED STATES
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting
By Amy Julia Harris / April 13, 2016
Across the country, children suffered extreme punishments in the name of God.
In Alabama, children were whipped with belts and locked in closets for so long that they peed their pants.
A boy in North Carolina was beaten so badly that bruises mottled his backside. Toddlers in Missouri regularly were struck with a paddle emblazoned with Bible verses from Proverbs: “Withhold not correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod he shall not die.”
At another church day care in Missouri, children received a painful “banana pinch,” designed to leave no trace.
At the Twin Rivers Worship Center’s day care in St. Louis, workers disciplined children with a “banana pinch” – a twist between the crease of the upper thigh and butt cheek designed to leave no trace.
At the Twin Rivers Worship Center’s day care in St. Louis, workers disciplined children with a “banana pinch” – a twist between the crease of the upper thigh and butt cheek designed to leave no trace.
Credit: Allison McCartney for Reveal
Physically punishing children is outlawed in almost all day cares in America. But at least four states offer an exception for religious providers: In North Carolina, Indiana, Alabama and Missouri, those day care workers may slap and spank children as long as they warn parents.
But an investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that hundreds of religious day cares exploited corporal punishment rules. In case after case, they downplayed to parents how harshly children would be disciplined, disregarded parents’ edicts against physical punishment or lied about policies and practices. Regulators often were powerless to address the problems.
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