• Violation

  R 400.1936 · R 400.1936 1 Animals and pets. (2) Animals and pets that are potentially aggressive or in poor health shall be separated from children in care at all times.

  On 09/21/2021, I spoke with Mrs. Nichols by telephone. Mrs. Nichols stated she was extremely upset as an incident occurred at her home. She explained Child A was bit by one of her dogs (Maya-Retriever, Labrador mix) on the arm and his face was injured as well. Mrs. Nichols had already contacted Child A's Father and he was picked up from the home. She instructed Child A's Father she had cleaned his injury as best she could and to follow-up with a doctor as soon as possible. She was having the dog (Maya) removed from the home. None of her dogs in the home has ever harmed a child in her care as she been caring for children for approximately 24 years. She was waiting to hear back from Child A's parents of any updates. I informed Mrs. Nichols she would need to complete an incident report on department form with the required information and forward to me once completed. I told her I would provide a blank copy by email for her to complete. On 09/21/2021, I forwarded a copy of a blank incident report (BCAL-4605) to Mrs. Nichols by email. 3 On 09/21/2021, I received an incident report from Mrs. Nichols by email. The incident report stated the following: "11:50 a.m. After feeding children lunch, I was in the kitchen cleaning the mess/dishes, Child A and Child B were in the living room. Child E was in the high chair. About 30 seconds after I turned to do dishes, I heard Child A yell after Maya made a snarling noise, ran to check on Child A immediately and saw the bite on his arm. I noticed some marks on his face, not sure but I believe marks were made by the couch rivets as he was being knocked down. " On 09/22/2021, I spoke with Mrs. Nichols by telephone. She would forward me pictures of Child A's face as she did not get a good picture of Child A's arm where bit. She did speak with Child A and Child B's parents the previous night. Child A was doing okay. She expressed to the parents how sorry she was this incident occurred at her home. She told them that Maya would no longer be in the home. It was the intent to bring Child A and Child B back her home for child care. On 09/23/2021, I completed an onsite investigation. I interviewed Mrs. Nichols. She stated the incident with Child A and Maya occurred soon after the children had finished lunch. She was in the process of cleaning up after the children and taking care of the dishes. Mrs. Nichols showed me where she was standing in the kitchen when she heard the growl from Maya and yell from Child A. The kitchen is directly open to the living room; however, standing at the sink there is no clear view or visual access to the living room. She had her back turned away from the living room as she cleaned the dishes. Once she heard the yell and growl, she immediately went over to see what had happened and discovered Child A was bitten on his right arm by Maya. She also observed some injury to the right side of Child A's face. Child A was crying after the initial attack but calmed down after she soothed and cared for his injuries. She initially thought as Child A was being bit, he had injured his face on the couch rivets. It was not until she received pictures from Child A and Child B's parents, she observed the injuries being consistent with being attacked by Maya. She does not know what happened to cause Maya to bite Child A as nothing like this has ever happened before. There has never been any indication that any of her dogs in the home were aggressive, ill, or did not like children. Mrs. Nichols only allowed the dogs outside the bedrooms for a bathroom break and then they go back into the bedrooms. She had a total of three dogs but had her daughter to pick-up Maya and take her out of the home. She does not want any more incidents between Maya and the child care children. I recommended Mrs. Nichols ensure the two remaining dogs are secured away from the child care children during operating hours and to allow them outside when the children are napping. Mrs. Nichols would follow the recommendatio

Child A (20 months-old male) was bitten by Mrs. Nichols, licensee's dog at the child care home.

Disposition: Substantiated