Flavaine Carvalho, a server at Mrs. Potatohead’s in Orlando, Florida, was wrapping up her shift when she spotted something unusual at her final table of the evening. The parents of an 11-year-old boy were placing a food order but mentioned that their child would be having dinner later that evening at home. She looked at the boy in the hoodie, glasses, and face mask, noticing a scratch between his eyes.
An examination showed a bruise on his temple.
Carvalho stepped away from the table and penned a note that read, “Do you need help?” He discreetly displayed it to the boy, ensuring his parents remained unaware.
The boy declined with a shake of his head. “I always knew he was scared,” she remarked.
Carvalho tried twice more before the boy finally nodded in agreement. The server contacted the restaurant owner to inform her that she intended to notify the police about the boy’s parents. The authorities came and took the boy’s father into custody.
He was found guilty of third-degree child abuse. Kristen Swann, the mother, has been taken into custody on two charges of child neglect. Authorities have taken a four-year-old girl from her family. Reports indicate that there were no indications of mistreatment.
Investigators interviewed the boy and discovered that his parents often deprived him of food as a means of discipline. He weighed 20 pounds less than the ideal weight. Upon examining his body, they found that he was almost entirely covered in bruises.
His father had recently struck him with a broomstick and back scratcher.
The child reported to investigators that his father had once suspended him upside down by his ankles in a door frame and had also restrained him by strapping him to a furniture dolly.
Carvalho’s swift actions and courage possibly protected two children’s lives. Rafaela Cabede, the restaurant owner, hopes that Carvalho’s courage will motivate others to be vigilant for signs of abuse.