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On June 5, 2026, the Office of Childhood received allegations that on May 14, 2026, Child A (5-years-old), eloped from the facility and made it onto the road the facility is located on, which is West Florissant and was picked up by the daycare's bus. When Parent A was notified about the incident, she was told Child A had ran across the parking lot and then was found, not that Child A had made it to the street. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Jackie Ruth found these allegations to be substantiated based on the following rule violations:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)1. which states: "Caregivers shall not leave any child without competent supervision."
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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."
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5 CSR 25-500.102(1)(E) which states: "Caregivers shall have knowledge of the needs of children and shall be sensitive to the capabilities, interests, and problems of children in care."
On June 11, 2026, CI Ruth conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and held an in-person interview with the director, Lateafah Evans. Lateafah stated that Child A (5-years-old), was not picked up on West Florissant Ave. and did not make it to the street. The bus driver found him on their property in front of the building, and he had been outside for no more than two minutes. Child A's bus typically arrives between 11:10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. to take him to the Special School District (SSD). On May 14, 2026, the day of the incident, caregiver Donee Johnson brought Child A upstairs at 11:15 a.m. but the bus was not there yet, so they returned downstairs. Donee was putting out cots and when she turned around, Child A was gone, so she went upstairs to look for him. Upon opening the front door, she saw the bus driver walking up with Child A. After reviewing the video footage, Lateafah saw that Child A had gone out the front door and over by the fence of the toddler playground at the front of the building. The bus pulled into the cul-de-sac and parked by a pole, and the driver retrieved Child A and walked him to the door just as Donee opened it looking for him.
She called Parent A (parent of Child A), to report that Child A had gotten out of the building. Parent A said this was part of his Autism and mentioned that Child A has done this at home and at his previous center. She fired Donee, who was the teacher caring for Child A, although Parent A did not want her fired. She scheduled a meeting with Parent B (parent of Child A) to view the video footage, but Parent B did not attend, leading them to reschedule for the following Monday. However, Parent B sent a text saying, "don't worry about it" and declined to view the footage. Child A returned to the center, and they followed up with Parent A, who said everything was fine. Parent A then requested to see the footage after returning from being out of town. When Parent A came for the meeting, the footage was no longer available because it had not saved after that length of time. Parent A also checked with the furniture store next door, but they did not have the incident on camera and did not see Child A. She and the owner, Victoria Smith, thought everything was fine, but Child A did not return to the center after May 21, 2026, and did not attend graduation on May 28, 2026.
On June 11, 2026, while present at the facility, CI Ruth conducted an interview via phone with LLC Member, Victoria Smith. She stated that Parent B did not attend the first meeting they scheduled to review the video footage, and when they rescheduled, he declined to come. At the meeting after that with Parent A, Parent A said that someone told her that Child A made it to West Florissant Ave. They asked which employee told her that and she would not give the source out. She told Parent A about their solutions like the door alarm and extra trainings for the staff. She talked to the staff about keeping an extra eye on kids who like to wander.
On June 11, 2026, while present at the facility, CI Ruth observed a screenshot text message conversation between Parent B and the facility. CI Ruth observed that the conversation was initiated by Parent B at 2:03 p.m. on an unknown date. Parent B wrote, "I'm just not gonna worry about it. Thanks for the communication and concern." The facility's written response was, "Okay. Thanks for letting me know. My door is always open for communication." Parent B responded with a salute emoji.
On June 11, 2026, while present at the facility, CI Ruth observed that Child A's classroom was in the back right of the basement area of the facility. To go from upstairs to downstairs, CI Ruth observed a half-wall gate that was latched, two sets of stairs, and a door to enter the basement area.
CI Ruth observed that to get upstairs, Child A would have left his classroom, walked down the hall of the downstairs area, opened the basement door, gone up two flights of stairs, opened the latch of the gate at the top of the stairs, went past the kitchen into the open area of the upstairs, and then out the front door. CI Ruth observed that the front door had a push bar and a deadbolt lock. CI Ruth observed an alarm on the door that made a faint beep when the front door was opened and closed.
CI Ruth observed the front area outside the building has a grassy yard on both sides of the walkway leading up to the building. CI Ruth observed a Little Free Library in the front yard, a few feet from the street.
CI Ruth observed that the facility is located in a cul-de-sac off a side street called Parnello Dr., which intersects with West Florissant Ave. Parnello Dr. is approximately 450 feet long. CI Ruth observed a store called Tony's Furniture, that is located on West Florissant Ave., to the right of Parnello Dr. The store is located in front of the facility, and their parking lot is separated from the cul-de-sac by a rectangular grassy median that connects to the facility's yard. CI Ruth observed that West Florissant Ave. is a busy four-lane road with a center turn lane, and the speed limit is 35 miles per hour.
On June 11, 2026, CI Ruth conducted interviews via phone with Parent A and caregiver, Donee Johnson.
Parent A stated that she first received a call from Lateafah, who told her that Child A had gotten outside the building. Lateafah said Child A was outside for approximately one minute when he was picked up in the parking lot by the school bus driver, who brought him back to the daycare before taking him to school. At that point she was not overly concerned because they got Child A right away and he is known to elope due to his autism spectrum disorder. She said that Child A is socially nonverbal; he can count and say the ABCs. but he cannot talk about the situation. Parent B asked to view the cameras and was told no, that only the owner can access the camera. Parent B scheduled a meeting to see the footage but that did not pan out. She was told they fired Donee, because it was unacceptable for him to get out, but she did not want that based on what she was initially told. She did not have concerns about Donee and said she worked well with Child A. She later got a call from her god sister, who said she spoke to a friend working at the facility and was told that Child A had actually been out on West Florissant Ave. and that this was the third time he had gotten out. She does not know the name of the employee who shared this information with her sister. She spoke to someone at the bus company who told her that the driver was crying because they picked Child A up from West Florissant. She called the facility and told them she heard a different story about the situation and wanted to come view the camera footage. At the meeting, she was told that the footage automatically deletes after seven days, and they no longer have it. She questions if they are telling the truth about the situation because they did not save the footage, and West Florissant is a very busy street. She went to the furniture store in front of the daycare and asked to see their camera footage, but they did not see anything. The owner of the store said if he was on the side of their building when he got picked up, the camera angle could not see that. Their back camera was blurry so they could not see anything there either. She decided to disenroll Child A from the center because she feels she learned the truth about the situation.
Donee stated that around 11:15 a.m., she took Child A upstairs for the bus, but it was not there so she brought him back downstairs. A couple of minutes later, as she was getting cots ready, the staff upstairs called down saying the bus had arrived. She noticed Child A was no longer in the room and began looking for him, checking the bathroom and other classrooms before going upstairs. Autumn told her the bus driver had come in and said Child A was outside of the building. Donee spoke with the driver at the door, and the driver said she saw Child A when she was pulling in, almost near West Florissant, but did not say specifically where. Donee said it all happened within minutes and believed Child A must have run out right after they returned downstairs. She stated Child A is very routine and schedule-based, so he was likely going to look for his bus. She did not see Child A leave the classroom. She said nothing like this had ever happened before, although Child A had run out of the classroom in the past. She said she is no longer working at the center, having left voluntarily because she needed a break from child care.
On June 15, 2026, CI Ruth held interviews via phone with the bus monitor Patricia Henderson, the bus driver Denise Harris, furniture store owner, Abdul Rahman, and director, Lateafah Evans.
Patricia stated that they were coming down West Florissant on the way to the daycare to pick up Child A. About half a block before they got to the intersection where they turn for the center, the driver saw Child A right by the street and it looked like he was going to cross the street. The driver stopped the bus and she jumped off and grabbed Child A. Then they traveled up the road that leads to the daycare. She left Child A on the bus with the driver and went to the door. When they opened the door, she asked if they knew where Child A was and they called down the steps that the bus driver was here for Child A. Then they started looking around and panicking because they could not find Child A. She said to them, "You know why you can't find him? Because he is already on the bus and we had to grab him to keep him from going in the street to get hit." She said there were four young girls there and she did not see the director. One girl went down to get his bookbag. and another said, "oh no, oh no I'm going home." She left and they continued on their route. When they got to the school, she reported the incident to Child A's teacher.
Denise stated that she was driving the bus and she found Child A on the side of the furniture store, close to the intersection of West Florissant. Patricia got off the bus and grabbed him and then they went to the daycare. Child A stayed on the bus with her while Patricia went to talk to the daycare staff. She said she was glad they got there in time, or it could have been worse. When they got to Child A's school, Patricia got off the bus and let them know what happened.
Abdul stated that Parent A came into the store and asked him to look at video footage. The back view of the camera is very blurry and black and white, so they looked at the side footage and did not see anything, but that does not mean it did not happen. He said Child A could have been hugging the building or was just out of view of the camera. They saw the bus enter the road but did not see Child A. He no longer has any video footage because a month has passed and footage is not stored longer than that.
Lateafah stated she was on her way back to the center and arrived about five minutes after everything happened. She saw the camera footage, which showed Child A coming up the steps with Donee, who opened the front door to check for the bus and then returned downstairs. Child A came up the stairs again and went out the door, walked over by the infant and toddler playground, and appeared to hear something. He walked across the lot and was in the side yard by the cars. Then the bus arrived, and he walked over to it while still on their property. Child A exited the building at 11:18 a.m., and the bus driver came to the door at about 11:19:50 a.m. She said it is not true that no one knew he was missing because Donee was already coming to the door. She said it all happened in sync and the neighbor next door called at the same time to say someone was coming to the door without knowing what was happening. The driver had Child A on the bus and they took him to school afterwards. She does not believe he was picked up by West Florissant. Child A has never done this at the center before. He does not escape the classroom, though he does wander around the room, and his classroom has a door on it but he has never tried to leave.
She stated that they did not delete their video footage but learned that the camera system only stores footage for seven and a half days, which they did not realize until Parent A called two weeks later asking to see it. They called their tech company who told them the footage cannot be recovered. She stated that they were transparent with Parent A and Parent B and were open with communication. Parent A never said why she suddenly wanted to see the footage, but they did not question it. She said they hate that it happened and are taking precautions to prevent it from happening again.
On July 1, 2026, CI Ruth conducted an interview via phone with Parent B, Child A's aunt, Kelli Starks, bus monitor, Patricia Henderson, and Child A's school teacher with SSD, Hannah Spain.
Parent B stated that Parent A informed him of the situation and he arrived at M.EL.K. at approximately 3:30 p.m. The director told him that Child A had gotten out of the building and was in the parking lot in front of the daycare. They had fired Child A's teacher before he arrived and said she was no longer in the building. He felt the teacher worked well with Child A, but believes the daycare was not being open about what happened. The director did not give him any other details or cooperate immediately with showing the video. She told him he needed to contact the owner because she was not authorized to show the footage. He and the owner set up a meeting, but he was unable to attend because of work. He later spoke with the director, and they planned another meeting, but he could not attend, again due to work. He texted the facility that he would not be able to make it and appreciated their willingness to meet. He said they took that message to mean everything was fine when he only meant he could not come. Parent A then took over handling the situation because her schedule was better, but when she met with them, they told her the footage was no longer available.
CI Ruth observed a screenshot text message thread from Parent B. The conversation is between Parent B and the facility and is timestamped Monday, May 18, 2026, at 2:03 p.m. CI Ruth observed that the conversation was initiated by Parent B, who wrote, "I'm just not gonna worry about it. Thanks for the communication and concern". The facility's written response was, "Okay. Thanks for letting me know. My door is always open for communication." Parent B responded with a salute emoji.
Kelli stated that she used to work at the daycare and is friends with some staff. She did not want to disclose who told her about the incident, but the teacher who told her said they brought Child A up for his bus early and then went back down because it was not there. Child A's teacher turned her back to lay down cots and then he was gone. He got back upstairs and out the front door. A child from one of the toddler rooms upstairs saw Child A and said he went out the door, but no one looked or tried to stop him. The neighbors next to the daycare called to let them know that Child A was outside and he was walking on the lot toward West Florissant. She does not know how long Child A was outside. This same teacher also told her this was not the first time he has gotten out and they would not show Parent A the footage.
Patricia stated that she did not call 911 because their protocol is to call their bus dispatcher who then deicides what to do. She radioed it to the dispatcher and when they got to the school, she got off the bus and went inside to tell the teacher. She is unsure what they did from there. She said they were on West Florissant getting ready to turn on the street to the daycare and Child A was on the corner, in the parking lot of the furniture store, going toward the street. They turned on the street and then she got out and got Child A. She left Child A on the bus with the driver and went to ring the bell of the facility, and said she was there for Child A. They did not know he was gone and were looking for him. She purposely did not tell them at first that she had Child A to test if they knew he was missing. When she told them that she found him all the way down by West Florissant, they began to panic. A girl came up with his backpack and another girl said, "I am going home". The director at the daycare was not there and the office lights were off.
Hannah stated that when the bus dropped off Child A, the aid pulled her aside and looked like she was spooked, like something had happened. She was told that they were driving down West Florissant, and they looked on side of road and saw Child A walking by himself. They pulled the bus over and went to get him and put him on the bus safely. Then they drove to daycare and said they were there to pick up Child A, but the staff said they did not know where he was. She was told that they did not know he was gone, and a girl said it was her last day and she was going to go home. Hannah said that Child A does not have any safety awareness and does not know how to look both ways, so this was quite frightening to hear. She then told her direct supervisor because she was unsure if she should report it because it came through a third party. Her supervisor called the bus company and as far as she knows it was reported. She also called Child A's mother to tell her what the bus driver said. She did not get the whole story out because Parent A said she was aware of the situation because the daycare called her. She did not tell Parent A that the bus aid said he was almost on West Florissant because when Parent A said she was aware, she assumed Parent A knew all the details.
On July 6, 2026, CI Ruth conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and held in-person interviews with the director, Lateafah Evans, and caregiver, Autumn Lawson.
Lateafah stated that when she watched the video footage, Child A first went to the side of the building by the toddler playground. He then walked across the front yard by the library box, then to the grassy patch between the concrete of their cul-de-sac and the furniture store lot. Then the bus pulled up into their cul-de-sac and the driver retrieved Child A from that grassy spot. The driver put Child A on the bus with the other driver and came to the door.
Autumn stated that she was not in a classroom that day and was cooking in the kitchen. She heard Child A and Donee come up and say the bus was not there so they returned downstairs. She was serving lunch upstairs and remembers hearing the basement door open and close, but never heard the front door or the door alarm. After she served lunch, she returned to the kitchen and got a phone call from the neighbor next to their building. The neighbor was saying that a child was outside the building in the parking lot, and as the neighbor was telling her this, the bus driver knocked on the door. The bus driver came in and told her that they had just picked up Child A down on the sidewalk at the intersection of West Florissant. She called on the walkie-talkie to Donee and asked where Child A was, to which Donee responded that they were looking for him downstairs. She then told Donee that the bus driver already had him and found him outside. No one knew he was gone before she called down to Donee, and there was no call on the walkie-talkie that a child was missing or had eloped. She said that Child A wanders out of the classroom often and they find him in other areas of the downstairs, but he has never gone upstairs and has never eloped from the building before. She told Lateafah about the incident and they called Child A's mom. She did not see the video footage.
On July 6, 2026, CI Ruth conducted an interview via phone with the facility LLC Member, Victoria Smith. Victoria stated that she watched the video footage. She saw that Child A went to the side of the toddler playground, then he stopped and turned. He walked across the yard in the grass and past the library box and then was out of view of the camera. She could not see the bus pull up because the camera angle does not show that area. The next thing she saw was the bus driver came to the door and rang the bell. She said that from the time she saw Child A outside to when the bus driver came up, it was no more than 40 to 50 seconds, and the whole event according to the camera footage was from approximately 11:18 a.m. to 11:18:42 a.m. They no longer have the footage because it deleted after a week. They contacted their tech company to try to get it back but were unsuccessful. She is unsure why there is a discrepancy between what she saw on the video verses what the bus drivers are saying verses what Lateafah said she saw in the video. They will make sure this does not happen again and will do more trainings on active supervision.
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