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On March 5, 2026, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received a complaint alleging that on March 4, 2026, Parent A picked Child A (1 year old) up from the daycare at 5:15 p.m. Child A had dried blood on her face, hands, and jacket. Her top lip was busted. Two daycare staff indicated they did not see the incident happen but stated that Child A was playing with a toy ketchup bottle when it happened. The next morning, on March 5, 2026 at approximately 9:00 a.m., Parent A texted the daycare director, Donna, about the incident. The director stated that this was the first she heard about the incident. Parent A attempted to ask additional questions pertaining to the incident, and the story is that Child A was crawling across a flat surface, fell forward, and busted her lip on a ketchup bottle she was carrying. Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted an investigation of the allegation and found it to be substantiated based on the following information:
5 CSR 25-500.192(5)(A) - In case of accident or injury to a child, the provider shall notify the parent(s) immediately. If the child requires emergency medical care, the provider shall follow the parent's(s') written instructions.
On March 12, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted interviews with LLC Member/Director Donna Manley and Caregivers Brittany Sanders, Cameron Manley, and Tyra Williams. Donna reported she wasn't present when the incident happened. According to her staff, Child A crawled over the threshold in the room and slipped and the toy in her mouth cut the inside of her lip. Parent A was told of the incident at pick up, which occurred a few minutes after the injury. Brittany reported she was present when the incident happened. She was going to clean dishes when Cameron said "What happened?" She looked, and Child A was playing on the floor with a ketchup bottle. She was not crying, but she had blood around her mouth. Cameron went to Child A first and said, "She's bleeding." Tyra cleaned Child A up, and then Parent A arrived. Cameron and Tyra told Parent A what they thought happened with the ketchup bottle. She was off the clock at that point and not responsible for Child A. Tyra and Cameron were on the clock and responsible. Cameron reported she and Tyra were clocked in and in charge of the class. About 5:00 p.m., she turned and looked and saw Child A. Child A looked like she had lipstick on. She saw the ketchup bottle, realized it wasn't ketchup, went over to her, and looked at her. She asked Tyra what happened, and she said she didn't know. She went to clean her up, and Child A began crying. There was wet blood on her jacket. There was no blood on her shirt. There was blood on her hands and face. Her lip wasn't bleeding; it was the skin under her lip. About 10-15 minutes later, Parent A came in. She didn't try to call Parent A because they knew she'd be there anyway for pickup within 10-15 minutes. Generally, if an injury causes blood, they call parents. If an injury is minor, like a scrape, they don't call; they tell parents at pickup with the incident report. Tyra reported she was there, on the clock and in ratio when the incident occurred. She and Cameron were in charge of their class. They took the babies to "the big room" at about 4:00-4:15 p.m. Child A was crawling over to "the big room". She saw Child A trip, fall and hit her lip. Child A bled a little. She cleaned Child A up, and she cried. About 5:00 p.m., Carnisha's preschool class joins them in the big room. Later, Child A was standing and crawling around playing with a toy ketchup bottle. Cameron noticed Child A was bleeding. Child A was chewing on the toy ketchup bottle. Cameron picked her up and cleaned her up. The blood was wet around her mouth, like lipstick. About five minutes later, Parent A arrived. She handed Child A to Parent A and told her about both incidents. A follow up interview was conducted with Donna. The incident happened at 4:50 p.m., according to staff, and Parent A was told verbally at 5:07 p.m. or a couple minutes earlier when she arrived at pickup.
On April 27, 2026, CI Radney conducted an interview with Parent A. She does have pictures of the injuries, and she will text them if she can find them. The blood on her shirt was dried. The injury to her mouth was done bleeding and she had dried blood on her mouth. She immediately saw the blood and said "what happened?" The caregivers responded that they didn't know.
Based on the information provided, the time of the incident(s) that occurred causing an injury to Child A's mouth cannot be determined but may have been as early as 4:00 p.m. Parent A was not notified immediately. Parent A was notified at pick-up, which was at approximately 5:00 p.m.
Additionally, the following rule was determined to have been in violation when the incident occurred, complicating the incident:
5 CSR 25-500.082(1)(C) - Children shall have no access to areas not approved for child care.
On March 12, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted interviews with Caregivers Brittany Sanders, Cameron Manley, Tyra Williams and Carnisha Heard. Brittany reported that the babies moved from their classroom to "the big room" at about 5:00 p.m. She was off the clock at that point and not responsible for Child A. Tyra and Cameron were on the clock and responsible. Cameron reported that she and Tyra were clocked in and in charge of the class. The babies moved from their class to "the big room" at about 4:30-4:45 p.m. when there were about four to five babies left and seven to eight preschoolers left. Tyra reported that she was there, on the clock and in ratio when the incident occurred. She and Cameron were in charge of their class. They took the babies to "the big room" at about 4:00-4:15 p.m. They had three babies from her room, three toddlers and about two preschoolers left at that time. Carnisha reported that she was clocked out, waiting on her ride. The babies go over to "the big room" about 3:30-4:00 p.m. There were about four or five babies and about six or seven preschoolers.
Based on the information provided by staff, infants/toddlers were moved from the approved infant/toddler area into the preschool area as early as 3:30 p.m. There were between four to five infant/toddlers and between two to eight preschoolers present together with two caregivers. The preschool area is not approved for infant/toddler care.
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