Kewaskum day care alleged child abuse; provider sentenced to probation
Olivia Hafemann
KEWASKUM, Wis. - A Washington County judge sentenced Olivia Hafemann on Tuesday, Feb. 18 to one year probation after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge.
Hafemann was accused along with her mother, Crystall Hafemann, in a child abuse case at Forever Friends Learning Center in Kewaskum. The judge in the case originally sentenced Hafemann to nine months in jail – but stayed that sentence, opting instead for probation.
Case details
What we know:
Crystall Hafemann owns Forever Friends Learning Center and her daughter was employed there as a child care provider.
Per a criminal complaint, a Forever Friends Learning Center employee and witness said she observed Olivia Hafemann behaving inappropriately and aggressively towards the children in their care in May of this year.
Olivia Hafemann (L) and Crystall Hafemann (R)
The witness said she noticed a mark on a 2-year-old child’s stomach that was being cared for at the facility. She asked the victim what caused the mark, to which the child replied, "Ms. Olivia pushed me."
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The witness said that Olivia Hafemann forcibly sat the child into her chair, pushed the chair toward the table and kicked it, causing the child’s stomach to strike the table. She said she took the child to Crystall Hafemann’s office to discuss the incident, but said Crystall replied that the mark was a rash that was there prior to the incident.
Another employee and witness also noted Olivia had pushed the child into the table, causing the mark. Per the complaint, the victim was holding her left hip and saying "owie."
The second witness said Olivia was rude to the children and aggressive while handing out food.
Parent reaches out
The backstory:
The mother of the child reached out to Crystall Hafemann regarding the mark that evening.
The mother then contacted Crystall about what had happened to her daughter via a Facebook message. The conversation was saved by the mother, and is included below:
Mom: "Hey! I went to give (the child) a bath tonight and she has some weird bruising on her belly that wasn’t there this morning. Do you know if she fell or got hit or something?"
Crystall: "Olivia mentioned that she was being stubborn about sitting in the chair and was leaning against the table and another child was pushing on the table from the other end."
Mom: "Ok! I just wanted to check. She said it doesn’t hurt. Just looked really strange."
Crystall: "I know they put some ice on it this morning, I apologize that it didn’t get relayed to you. Olivia was trying to get her to sit and push the chair in while the child was pushing on the table at the same time all while she was leaning onto the table."
The mother later had a nurse practitioner look at the bruising in a photo. The nurse practitioner said the bruise could not have been received "simply by the force of another child in that age group" and that it would require a "great deal of force" to cause the injury.
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Child Protective Services Supervisor Beth Wanke later stated that the injury sustained by the child was not reported by Crystall Hafemann to Child Protective Services or to law enforcement, because she said she believed it was a rash.
Kewaskum day care closes due to police investigation
The doors to a Kewaskum day care are closed, as police say they're conducting a criminal investigation there.
The Forever Friends Learning Center abruptly closed due to a criminal investigation back in July 2024.
Crystall Hafemann in court
What's next:
Crystall Hafemann's case is working its way through the court system. She faces a charge of failing to report child abuse or neglect. Hafemann is due in court for a hearing on March 6.
The Source: The information in this post was provided by the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website as well as information from the criminal complaints associated with this case.