• Violation

  R 400.8125 · R 400.8125 Staff; volunteer; requirements. (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times.

  On 09/25/2020 1 received a phone call from licensee designee Ms. Lisa Serene indicating that a child exited a classroom unattended. On 9/29/2020 I received a written incident report from Ms. Serene. The incident report stated that Child A left the room unattended on 09/25/2020 at 3:48 PM. The children were coming inside from the outdoor playground. Ms. Ty'Ana Gilbert was changing a diaper at the changing table. Ms. Clara Short counted children once she was inside and noticed Child A was missing. She first quickly looked outside, and Child A was not there. She then looked in the hallway and Child A was standing with another parent outside of the classroom. Child A slipped out of the classroom door into the hallway when a parent left the door open after picking up his/her child. Child A traveled 10.5 feet into the hallway and was missing for around one minute or less. Child A Mother arrived at 3:50PM and was alerted of situation. I conducted an unannounced on-site inspection on 10/01/2020, where licensee designee Ms. Lisa Serene and child care staff member Ms. Ty'Ana Gilbert were interviewed. Ms. Serene indicated that child care staff members Ms. Gilbert and Ms. Clara Short were the child care staff members present in the classroom at the time of the incident. Ms. Serene provided me with copies of the children emergency cards, child attendance and staff attendance. Ms. Serene spoke with both child care staff members that were present to determine how Child A exited the classroom. The child care staff members reported that Ms. Gilbert was changing a diaper while Ms. Short was bringing the remainder of the children in from the playground. One child did not want to go back in the classroom from the playground. Ms. Short went to get that child from outside. At the same time, a parent was entering the classroom to pick up his/her child and upon leaving the room left the door open. When Ms. Short returned into the room, she counted children and Child A was missing. She went back to the playground to check for Child A, then went to the hallway where she found Child A standing against the wall with a parent who was there to pick her their child from a different classroom. Child A was missing less than one minute. The classroom is a toddler room for children ages 1-2.5 years of age. There were two child care staff members and seven child care children present when Child A exited the classroom unattended. Signs have been placed on all doors stating to close the door behind you. A reminder was given to parents to close doors as they enter and leave the classroom. Child care staff members have been informed to make sure all children are in the room prior to initiating a task. 3 Ms. Ty'Ana Gilbert explained that the class was returning to the classroom from the playground. There is a door in the classroom that leads out to the fenced in playground area. She began to change a diaper. As she was changing the diaper, a parent arrived to sign out their child. As soon as the parent left from pickup his/her child, she heard Ms. Short ask, "Where is Child A?" When Ms. Short went into the hallway, Child A was found. Ms. Gilbert is not sure who found Child A in the hallway prior to Ms. Short. Ms. Gilbert believes that the parent who came in to pick up his/her child did not close the door completely, allowing Child A to exit the room. Ms. Clara Short explained that they were returning into the classroom from the playground. There was one child that would not come in from the playground, so she went to get that child off the playground. At the same time, Ms. Gilbert was changing a diaper and a parent entered the room to pick up their child. When she came back in the room with the child from the playground, she counted children and noticed Child A was missing. She opened the door to the playground to look for Child A, then she quickly ran to the hallway where she found Child A standing against the wall with a parent directly across from the room. Child

Child A (1-year-old, male) exited a classroom unattended.

Disposition: Substantiated