| Conclusion Summary |
|
On October 10, 2025, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received a report alleging that on October 3, a 2-year-old left the classroom behind another child who was leaving and exited the building. They were found in the parking lot by a parent. After conducting the investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Cole Eddins finds the allegation is substantiated. This conclusion is based on the following evidence of licensing rule violations which occurred at the facility:
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 October 15, 2025, Compliance Inspector (CI) Cole Eddins completed an unannounced inspection and interviewed Director Angie Watkins who stated that on October 3, 2025, at around 5:50 p.m. Parent B had come to pick up his child. During the pickup process, Child A had silently walked out behind Parent B. Child A walked down the hallway and right out the front door before anyone noticed he was gone. She did not know why Julia did not observe Child A leave with Parent B or why the classroom door was left open. The classroom door should normally be kept closed during pick time. Immediately after Parent B left the building, Julia shouted down the hallway to her asking for assistance to find Child A. As she left her front office, she immediately observed Child A standing on the sidewalk in front of the first leftmost parking slot. She quickly got Child A inside the facility and Parent A was notified when she arrived to pick up Child A five minutes after the incident occurred. Child A was out of his classroom for less than one minute. Child A was not harmed in anyway. No children, including Child A, have ever left the facility before. She told Julia that she had to be more careful during pickup time and planned to conduct a one-on-one full staff supervision meeting next week.
On October 15, 2025, CI Eddins conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and observed that the location Child A was discovered in was around 15 feet and two inches from the front door of the facility. The sidewalk was directly connected to the driveway. The driveway was located directly off of SE Church Street.
On October 16, 2025, CI Eddins reviewed footage from October 3, 2025 received from Angie Watkins on October 16, 2025. The camera angle faced down from the ceiling on video one. The video began at 17:49:58 p.m. Julia can be observed wearing a pink shirt as she walks around the classroom. Child A is observed wearing a black shirt with blue pants as he stands by a table in front of the stacked blue cots. Parent B walks into the classroom to pick up his child at 17:50:09 p.m. At the same time, Julia walks over to the far-left wall to work on something out of view of the camera. Parent B walks out of the classroom with his child at 17:50:29 p.m. Immediately after Parent B leaves, Child A can be seen walking out the door right behind him while Julia's back is turned to him. Julia can be observed addressing a concern with another child on the rug while Child A leaves the classroom. Julia can be observed looking around the classroom before she walks towards the door as the video ends at 17:50:48 p.m. Video two begins at 17:49:53 p.m. on October 3, 2025. The video shows the front entrance hallway. At 17:50:48 p.m., Parent B can be observed walking out of the front office and towards the front door. Child A is observed walking behind him at 17:50:51 p.m. Child A walks out the front door and the video ends.
On October 23, 2025, CI Eddins interviewed Parent B and Julia. Parent B stated that he arrived at the daycare at around 5:50 p.m. to pick up his child. He remembers being outside and putting his kids in the car when he suddenly felt a boy tugging on his shorts. He thought he heard a mother calling his name, and he told the boy to go find his mom. He assumed the boy (Child A) was outside with his mom when he first observed him outside near his car. His car was parked by the front entrance. He did not know why Child A was next to him. He was going to walk the boy inside the daycare, when he observed an unknown teacher come and grab him inside. He could not remember who grabbed him, but he assumed it was one of Child A's caregivers. Child A was outside with him for less than one minute. Julia stated that on October 3, 2025, from around 5:30 p.m. to 5:50 p.m., she remembers observing Child A standing by the shelf while she was talking to Parent B when he arrived to pick up his child. As Parent B was getting ready to leave her classroom, she noticed that two of her children had started crying, so she went to talk to those two children. After addressing the crying children, she did notice that Child A was no longer in her classroom. She immediately poked her head out in the hallway to get Angie's attention. She assumed that Child A had followed directly behind Parent B because he was no longer in her room. Once Angie discovered that Child A was outside, Angie stepped in for her while she left the room to get Child A. When she walked outside, she observed Child A, who was standing right next to Parent B, who was next to the sidewalk. Child A was outside for around 45 seconds at most. The classroom door was supposed to stay closed, but parents were coming in and out. One of the front doors was propped open because Angie was cleaning at that time. Child B just slipped out quietly behind Parent B.
|