Life & Style has exclusively learned that earlier this year, Kate Gosselin became the focus of a child abuse investigation.

It all went down after the Kate Plus 8 star sent her son Collin, who has special needs, to a treatment facility, a source shares.

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At the facility, Col­lin claimed to have suffered abuse at Kate’s hands. “Collin said something to the facility’s staff and it was reported to Children and Youth Services [CYS], which started an official probe,” the source reveals.

“The police later notified Collin’s dad, Jon, that a child abuse investigation was opened,” the source explains.

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However, Collin, 12, isn’t the only Gosselin child to have suffered. Nannies have witnessed the mom of eight getting physical with 16-year-old twins Mady and Cara. “Kate would spank her kids, especially the twins,” a former nanny, who worked for the family when Jon and Kate were still a couple, tells Life & Style.

“The spanking was open-handed and was to discipline them if they wouldn’t listen, but the kids would just cry more. They were scared. This would happen a few times a week.”

For more on Kate’s investigation, pick up the latest issue of Life & Style, on newsstands now!

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