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Compliance Inspector Jessica Graham investigated the allegation that Child A, age 3, came home from the center with bruises on his legs on 09/21/23. The parent asked the center's staff what happened and they were not able to explain what happened. On 10/05/23 per staff, Child A was climbing on the bookshelf and he fell off this bookshelf and hit his head. This allegation is substantiated based on the following rule violations.
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)11. which states: "Children shall not be permitted to intimidate or harm others, harm themselves, or destroy property."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.102(1)(E) which states: "Caregivers shall have knowledge of the needs of children and shall be sensitive to the capabilities, interests, and problems of children in care."
On October 18, 2023, Parent A said that she had missed a call from South Central Missouri Community Action Agency (SCMCAA) on October 5, 2023. SCMCAA then called Grandparent A to get in touch with Parent A. They told Grandparent A that Child A was on top of a bookshelf and another child pushed him off. Child A has come home with numerous bruises in the past that no one could explain to her. She knows that Child A is a climber and had told the caregivers that herself. Child A is having a lot of issues. She does not feel that the caregivers are supervising the children well.
On October 18, 2023, caregiver Barbara Norman said there was video footage of the incident showing that Child A was pushed off of a shelf by another child. Child A was chocking and kicking Child B. Child B then climbed up on a shelf to get away from Child A and Child A followed him up. When Child A was pushed off the shelf, Parent A was immediately contacted and an incident report was done. There have been a lot of behavior issues in the this classroom. There have been meetings with Parent A about Child A's behaviors.
Karen Nance, caregiver, is the main teacher with Child A. She said that Child A is a constant climber and has behavior issues. There are several children in the room that like to climb. On this day the children were playing in centers and she was in the back of the room. She looked over and saw that Child A and Child B were on top of the shelf. She saw Child B push Child A. She said "stop" loudly and walked towards them. Child B pushed Child A again and he fell on the floor. He hit the concrete floor and was crying.
Hunter Warren, caregiver, was in the room with Karen and Sabrina. She heard one of them say something like "don't climb on the shelf, it's not safe". It looked like Child A was trying to get down off shelf and then there was a push from Child B. Child A climbs a lot. They have to get him down most of the time. Maybe two weeks before this incident he fell. Sabrina is the one to contact parents if there is an injury.
Sabrina Rojas, caregiver, was working with some children in art. Child A had climbed up on a shelf along with Child B. She saw Child A get pushed off the shelf. They all tried to get to Child A before he fell but they missed. The children were told to get off the shelf. Child A climbs the shelves all the time. Child A had hurt himself on the light table a few weeks prior. A report was written for that incident and Parent A was notified.
Kelly Jones, caregiver, spoke with Parent A after the incident occurred. She has been in that classroom several times helping out because of all the behavior issues. She does not have any concerns for supervision issues in the classroom with Child A. Parent A had asked about bruises on Child A's arms and legs. They told Parent A about Child A falling off the light table when it happened.
On October 18, 2023, CI Jessica Graham observed video footage from Child A's classroom on October 5, 2023. Child A is wearing a grey T-shirt and Child B is in only a diaper. Caregivers are Hunter (on the carpet) Sabrina (on the floor with children) and Karen (along the back wall). The video is 51 seconds long and is a recording on a caregivers phone from the facility's video system.
-Child B is drawing along the wall and Child A is on the floor by a shelf.
-Child A climbs into the shelf.
-Child B moves closer to the shelf that Child A is in.
-Child B continues to draw on the wall and Child A walks up behind Child B and grabs him by the neck turning him around.
-Child A then kicks Child B.
-Child B climbs on top of a shelf.
-Child A climbs up beside him.
-Karen looks up and sees both boys standing on the shelf but remains seated and continues what she is doing.
-Child B reaches over to push Child A.
-Child A catches his balance but does not fall.
-Karen looks up and see Child A start to fall.
-As Karen is getting up Child B pushes Child A again and he falls of the shelf onto the floor.
-Karen picks up Child A and the video ends.
CI Graham measured the top of the shelf from which Child A fell to the floor and the distance was 72". The floor is sealed concrete.
The video footage shows that Child B is drawing on the classroom wall for an extended amount of time without any of the caregivers correcting or redirecting his behavior. While the children are standing on the shelf, Karen looks up and sees then standing on the shelf but does not get up to get the children down, but instead goes back to what she was doing. She looks up again and sees that Child A has been pushed and that is when she moves toward the children to intervene.
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