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On August 3, 2023, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that: On 08/02/23, Child A (age 2) was left outside alone in the rain by staff Harley. The incident report stated the time was 4:10 and pick up was at 5:00. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Michelle Honea has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-500.192(5)(A)., which states: "In case of accident or injury to a child, the provider shall notify the parent(s) immediately. If the child requires emergency medical care, the provider shall follow the parent's(s') written instructions."
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5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)1., which states: "Caregivers shall not leave any child without competent adult supervision."
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5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)3., which states: "Caregivers shall provide frequent, direct contact so children are not left unobserved on the premises."
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5 CSR 25-500.102(1)(A)., which states: "Childcare personnel shall be of good character and intent and shall be qualified to provide care conductive to the welfare of children."
On August 4, 2023, CI Honea conducted an unannounced inspection at the facility and interviewed director Tonya Ryherd, caregivers Treasure Miles, Harley Cook, Sara Fry, and Meranda Gholston. All staff stated that on August 02, 2023, Child A had been left outside on the playground alone in the rain. Tonya stated that it was for only a few minutes and did not feel it was a big deal that Child A had been left outside. She would not answer any questions CI Honea asked regarding her telling staff to lie to the parents about how long Child A was outside alone. She stated that on May 20, 2023, Child B was also left outside on the playground and she did notify Parent B but not until pick up time and the incident happened in the morning.
Caregiver Treasure Miles stated that she found Child A in the parking lot at approximately 4:10 p.m. on August 02, 2023 when she was leaving for the day. Child A was soaking wet because it was raining. She knows that Child A's class came inside from the rain at approximately 3:50 p.m. so she thinks Child A was alone for approximately 20 minutes. She brought Child A back to her class with caregivers Sara and Sam and they did not know she was missing and thought she had already gone home. Treasure also stated that she found Child B alone on the playground on May 20, 2023 at approximately 10:05 a.m. to 10:10 a.m. Caregiver Meranda Gholston had come inside at approximately 10:00 a.m. and did not know Child B was missing.
Harley Cook stated that she told Parent A that Child A had been left outside on August 02, 2023 and Parent A wanted to know how long. She told Parent A that Child A had been outside for roughly 10-20 minutes alone. Parent A said she was confused and refused to sign the incident report until Parent A talked to Tonya. She gave the incident report to Tonya who then changed a few things on the report and told staff not to tell Parent A how long Child A was actually outside. She refused to lie to Parent A over the incident and told Parent A the truth that Child A was outside 10 to 20 minutes alone.
Caregiver Sara Fry stated that on August 02, 2023, she had the class outside at 3:45 p.m. when it started raining and everyone started running to the door. Child A fell down and she told Child A to get up. She did not go out there to assist Child A with getting up. She thought Child A had followed her inside when she shut the door. She did not do a head count and neither did caregiver Sam Collins. She did not realize Child A did not come inside. She was shocked when caregiver Treasure Miles walked into the room with Child A. She did not bother to tell Tonya but did do an incident report. She was asked by Tonya later not to tell Parent A the exact length of time Child A was outside alone. She did not talk to Parent A about the incident.
Caregiver Meranda Gholston stated that on May 20, 2023, she didn't mean to leave Child B outside for a few minutes alone. She took the children outside on the playground at 9:00 am and the class came back inside at 10:00 a.m. Caregiver Treasure brought Child B into the room approximately 10:02 a.m. She did not have any excuses as to why a head count was not done because she just did not do a head count. She never noticed that Child B was missing.
On August 4, 2023, CI Honea also reviewed the incident reports from August 2, 2023, and observed the reports to state that Child A was left outside from approximately 3:50 p.m. and found at 4:10 p.m. and that the parent was not contacted. CI Honea also reviewed the incident report from May 20, 2023, where Child B had been left outside. The incident report from May 20, 2023 showed the time that Child B was left outside alone and found was 11:05 a.m. which was written incorrectly. According to staff interviews, Child B was left outside alone from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. or 10:10 a.m. The incident report also showed that Parent B was not notified until 4:20 p.m. that same day.
On August 09, 2023 Ci Honea conducted an interview with caregiver Samantha "Sam" Collins. Sam stated that she was on break when the incident back in May 2023 happened and was not in the room when Child B was left outside.
She knows there were three caregivers in the room and none of them did a head count, so Child B was left outside.
On August 02, 2023, she took some boys to do potty breaks and then the rest of the class came in because it had started raining. She did not do a head count because she assumed the other caregiver Sara did the head count. She just assumed that Child A went home when she did not see her. She never thought to ask where Child A was. She was already gone when Parent A came to pick Child A up so she did not speak to Parent A.
Parent A (parent of Child A) stated that she spoke to teacher Harley at pickup around 5:00 p.m. and was told that Child A had been left outside for 30 minutes on August 02, 2023. She was provided an incident report but refused to sign it until she was given further explanation. Staff stated that a head count was completed and Child A was in line and that Child A fell and the teacher picked Child A up carrying her to the line. Staff did not know how Child A got away from them. She was told that Child A was found in the playground playing in the mud. She was told that at first staff didn't realize Child A had gotten away until they were inside and conducted another head count.
CI Honea conducted a phone interview with Parent B (parent of Child B). Parent B stated that he was notified at pickup about the incident that happened that morning with Child B being left outside. Parent B was told that the group was getting ready to go back inside when Child B was left on the playground. A headcount was completed when caregivers realized there was one child missing. Parent B was told that it was a new teacher that made the mistake and that caregiver Missy brought Child B back into the classroom.
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