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On July 17, 2024, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received a complaint alleging that Child A was choked by an unknown child and had scratches on the neck. Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted an investigation of the allegations and found them to be substantiated based on the following information:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)11. - Children shall not be permitted to intimidate or harm others, harm themselves, or destroy property.
On July 18, 2024, CI Radney conducted interviews with Sarah Starks, Jenny Olson, Celine Keesoon, D'Aja Barnes, Michael Jenkins and Debra Allen. Sarah reported she was not aware of the choking incident or scratch on Child A's neck until Parent A talked to Tiffany Graham about it. Casey Whiteside and D'Aja were Child A's teachers. Jenny reported she was not aware of the choking incident or scratch on Child A's neck until Parent A talked to Tiffany about it. Celine reported Parent A told her the next day that Child A was choked by another child. D'Aja reported she left to go to the bathroom and when she came back, she immediately saw a mark on Child A's neck. Child A told her Child B grabbed her neck. The mark was red, about an inch long and not bleeding. Child B has hurt children before. Child B hurts children too quickly to prevent it. One minute Child B will be really chill and then all of a sudden he will hit a child or throw toys and hit someone. Child B needs one-on-one care in their facility to keep children safe.
On September 10, 2024, CI Radney conducted an interview with Casey. Casey reported Child B was always hurting other kids. Child B would bite, scratch, and hit others. Child B was quick and they could not keep an eye on him at all times to prevent him from hurting others. She would notify administration of the continued issues with Child B hurting others, but nothing would happen. CI Radney attempted to reach Parent A. The phone rang several times but then hung up with no voicemail option. CI Radney attempted to reach Parent B. A voicemail was left but no return call was received. CI Radney attempted to reach Parent C. A voicemail was left but no return call was received.
On September 11, 2024, CI Radney received and reviewed incident reports for Child B. There are four incident reports included: one dated July 18, 2024, which states "Child B walked up to a friend while they were playing and hit them on the head with a toy car."; one dated April 29, 2024, which states "Child bites another child during transition time and left a mark."; one dated April 25, 2024, which states "Child B was playing next to another child when he reached over and bit that child on the face. It left significant teeth marks."; and one dated April 15, 2024, which states "Child B had a ruler and he hit a friend in the face repeatedly."
On September 12, 2024, CI Radney conducted an interview with Tiffany. She reported she worked with Child B. Child B was hard to control when you have eight or nine other children to keep an eye on. Child B would pull the little girl's hair, push, and hit. There were more than four times that Child B hurt another child. It was an every day occurrence.
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