| Conclusion Summary |
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On July 17, 2024, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that: Monday July 15, 2024, an unknown female child got out of the gate during morning outside playtime and was unnoticed by the staff members. The child made it across the busy street to the eye doctor office. The child was returned unharmed, but staff did not realize she was missing. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Michelle Honea has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)1., which states: "Caregivers shall not leave any child without competent supervision."
AND
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."
On July 18, 2024, CI Honea conducted an interview with Chelsea Smith who stated that on Monday July 15, 2024 roughly between 10:00 am and 10:30 am, she turned and saw Child A (2- years -old) outside standing in the middle of the road alone. She went outside and got Child A then brought her back to the office. She is not sure how long Child A was outside. They called law enforcement, and an officer showed up to help with the situation. The officer called Parent A about the incident. She went across the street to the daycare and asked if they were missing a child and one of the girls said no. All the children were outside with three teachers. She went back to the office. A teacher came across the street a few minutes later to get Child A. She also has a child that goes to the facility. Later that evening a massive email came out about the changes that would be made so incidences like this do not occur again.
On July 18, 2024, CI Honea conducted an unannounced inspection to the facility and interviewed caregivers Jackie Chonech, Hannah Shockley, and Riley Lewis. Jackie stated that all the classes were outside together on the playground. She was by the building with some of the children along with Child A. The other three teachers were across the playground at the table dealing with a child who had a bloody nose. Child A was upset that day and wanted her parents. Another parent came in the side gate to drop off her children and apparently the gate was left open. Child A walked around the side of the building and out the side gate. She did not see Child A go out the gate or down the sidewalk. A parent from the eye doctor's office came across the street to let them know Child A was over there. She walked across to the doctor's office and there were three to four law enforcement officers there. The director was notified and a staff meeting was held the next day.
Hannah Shockley (person in charge) stated that she was tending to a child with a bloody nose and Riley was helping. A parent came in the gate with her children. She never saw Child A leave the playground or even walk down the sidewalk. She looked up and checked the new kids in for the day and talked to the parent. She was at the table across the playground. This happened approximately around 9:15 am. Someone came over from the eye doctor's office and that person asked if we knew a child was missing. Jackie left to get Child A from the eye doctor.
Riley Lewis stated that the incident happened roughly between 9:30 am - 10:00 am. All classes were outside on the playground. She was dealing with a 2-year-old with a bloody nose and Hannah was helping. She did not see the parent when they came in the gate. She did not see Child A get out of the gate. She was not sure who came and asked about Child A but she did see another child's mom at the gate. She did see Jackie leave to go get Child A. Before this even happened all the teachers were supposed to be walking around the playground, but no one did. She was not aware that the teachers could not gather at the table. Head counts are now done every fifteen minutes and before this wasn't done very often. She wants to work on being more focused on the kids and less on talking with others.
On July 18, 2024, CI Honea walked the premises and observed the gate that Child A got out of. CI Honea observed the area that Child A walked, which was approximately 75 feet from the gate to the street where Child A was stopped and found. No one at the facility could provide an exact time that Child A got out of the gate to when the person from the eye doctor's office came over to talk with them about Child A being found.
On July 19, 2024, CI Honea conducted a phone interview with Parent A who stated that she was contacted by law enforcement that Child A was found in the middle of the road by a worker at the eye doctor's office across the street and that Child A was fine. She was also notified by the facility about what happened. Dawn McInnis and Director Molly Maxwell provided her with all of the policy changes that had been made. She did not have concerns before this incident but is now worried. She hopes there will not be another incident. Child A still attends the facility.
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