‘They Started to Retaliate on Me’: Chicago Mother Hit with Baseless Child Services Claims Against Her After She Reported Allegedly School Abuse of Special-Needs 6-Year-Old Son 

The abuse began almost immediately after 6-year-old Karter Crain enrolled at Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary School on Chicago’s west side, according to his mother. In December 2022, Karter showed his mother a bite mark on his hand left by another student. “I wasn’t notified,” the boy’s mother, Shaneka Crain, told CBS News Chicago. “There wasn’t any accident reports, incident reports. I didn’t receive one phone call.” Shaneka Crain says teachers at Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary in Chicago abused her son. (Photo: YouTube screenshot/CBS Chicago) Then Karter started coming home with bruises. It would only get worse. In March 2023, Karter, who has been diagnosed with behavioral and developmental delays, told his mother that two of his teachers had hit him. “Ms. (redacted) pop me in my head and Ms. (redacted) pop me with the marker in my head too,” he said. This time, Crain didn’t wait for the school to act. She filed a police report to document the alleged abuse. She also placed her son in therapy. “My son needs help. He needs therapeutic help,” she said. Crain also filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS). That same, she learned an anonymous complaint...