GRAND FORKS — Haunting scenarios continue to play through the mind of a Grand Forks mother. All the “What if?”

She thought her one-year-old daughter was being protected at daycare.

Police say one of those protectors beat the agitated child in a fit of rage. The child is still being monitored. The incident happened at Hopeful Beginnings at Grand Cities Mall. It is a Christian childcare center.

“Horrible to see this on your own, your own child,” said Brittany Becker, the baby’s mother, after watching the video of her daughter being abused.

Grand Forks County Correctional Facility

“So many different emotions. There was sadness, there was anger, there was regret, definitely betrayal,” Becker said.

The incident happened on October 15. According to a police report, Jarae Grad, 22, violently shook the one-year-old girl back and forth before holding the child up and then slamming the girl to the ground.

A colleague recorded the incident after they thought Grad was burping the baby too loudly.

“Being a Christian church on top of that, I never thought I’d get that call,” Becker said.

What upsets Becker just as much is that no one reported the abuse to the daycare director for two days. The daycare then waited another day to inform her, she said.

Other parents at the daycare were not notified until the allegations made news. During those three days, Becker said her usually happy daughter was very agitated, wasn’t eating much and was very tired.

“If there was something seriously wrong with her, she would have gone to sleep, she wouldn’t have woken up the next morning, I wouldn’t have known why or what happened,” Becker said.

Hope Church’s senior pastor told WDAY News they take the safety of the children in their care seriously and this incident was not taken lightly. The church has confirmed that Grad is no longer at the center.

“I will say, as a grandfather of one of the children at Hopeful Beginnings, I appreciate the way the staff handled this incident and I have confidence in the care and safety of my granddaughter going forward,” said Pastor Paul Knight of Hope Church.

Becker shares her family’s story for several reasons, including seeking justice and raising awareness, fearing that if this could happen at a faith-based daycare, it could happen anywhere. She wants parents to follow their instincts. Becker is also grateful that the incident was caught on video and the quick investigation by Grand Forks police.

“Thank you to everyone who took the time to listen to my daughter’s story and reached out in support,” Becker said. “We wouldn’t have made it through.”

Grad is to be tried in December. If convicted of the child abuse charge, she faces up to 10 years in prison.

Becker said her daughter has been in Grad’s classroom for several months.

The only interaction she had with Grad was at pick-up, she said, and Grad enjoyed her one-year-old daughter’s good behavior.

Becker said she also took her 5-year-old daughter out of the center.

Matt Henson is an Emmy Award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the lead anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.