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On December 11, 2025, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that: On December 10, 2025, Child A (age 5-years-old), ran into a general public lobby area outside of the daycare and was left unsupervised and found by a next door business dental office staff that heard a child crying for 5 to 10 minutes and went out and found Child A and returned him to the daycare. 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 states: "Caregivers shall not leave any child without competent supervision."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)3 states: "Caregivers shall provide frequent, direct contact so children are not left unobserved on the premises."
On December 11, 2025, Compliance Inspector (CI) Michelle Honea conducted an interview with Heather Alexander who stated that she works in the business next door to the facility. She heard Child A crying for several minutes and she went out into the hall and found Child A. She talked to Child A and walked with him and waited until he went safely back inside the daycare.
On December 11, 2025, Compliance Inspector (CI) Michelle Honea conducted an unannounced inspection to the facility and interviewed Parent A (parent of Child A and also the director), teachers Kyleigh Gobel, and Jessica Dutton.
CI Honea interviewed Parent A (parent of Child A and also the director), who stated that on December 10, 2025, Child A (age 5-years-old), got mad and ran out of the daycare into the main lobby. She was told it was only a minute that Child A was out there. She did not realize Child A was out in the front hall for more than 10 minutes. She did not know teacher Kyleigh did not use the walkie talkies to call anyone to go get Child A since teacher Kyleigh was not able to leave the classroom. She will search for trainings for the teachers and there will be a conversation on how to handle situations where children elope along with using the walkie talkies.
CI Honea interviewed teacher Kyleigh Gobel who stated that Child A was mad, and she watched Child A run out the door. She asked teacher Jessica to go get Child A .She thinks Child A was out there 10 to 15 minutes. She did not use the walkie talkie to tell anyone what happened with Child A but waited until teacher Jessica came out of the kitchen to let her know to go get Child A and that he had ran out of the classroom.
CI Honea interviewed teacher Jessica Dutton who stated that she was in the kitchen prepping for lunch with the door closed. She did not see Child A run out until teacher Kyleigh told her. She found Child A outside the main door to the facility in the lobby of the main entrance and Child A was not crying.
On December 11, 2025, Compliance Inspector (CI) Michelle Honea reviewed video footage from December 10, 2025, which shows Child A coming out of the daycare into the front entrance to the building crying at 9:23 a.m. and hiding between the large plant and the wall by the main front door. The second video shows the dental office receptionist come out into the hallway, talk to Child A, and stand there until the door opens at 9:36 a.m. Child A was in the lobby for approximately 13 minutes before a staff from the daycare opened the door to get him.
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