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.

I spoke with licensing consultant Amanda Wendell on 9/13/2021. Ms. Wendell is the licensing consultant assigned to the child care center. She stated that she had notification from program director Ashely Hudd that a Child A had fallen off a bicycle and chipped his tooth. Ms. Wendell spoke with Child A's Father. Child A's Father stated that they took him to a pediatric dentist who had to extract both front teeth. One of the teeth was split down the middle and pushed into the gums in a "V" shape that made it difficult to extract. When the center first notified Child A's Mother on 9/9/21, they stated that Child A "might have chipped his tooth" around 10:30AM. They called Child A's Father back about an hour later, telling him that Child A was not eating his 2 applesauce. When Child A's Father arrived at the center, he lifted Child A's lip and saw the damage to Child A's mouth. Child A was drooling and there was blood in the drool. He stated that you could also see that one of the teeth was cracked down the middle and the other one was chipped. Child A's Mother and Child A's Father requested a meeting with Ms. Hudd to get further information on how the injury had occurred. I completed an onsite inspection at the child care facility on 9/24/21. Initially I asked to speak with program director Ashley Hudd. A child care staff member indicated that Ms. Hudd was out for the afternoon. I asked if she knew which child care staff member cared for Child A and she reported it was Jennifer Cope. I spoke with Ms. Cope. She stated that Child A was outside playing. He was trying to get on a toddler bike when he toppled over. She believes the bike then hit him in the face. Ms. Cope just caught the tail end of Child A falling, so she went over to him and she observed that he was bleeding. Child A had only been in her classroom for 2 days, but she knew that the Child A's Father had mentioned at one point that he had a chipped tooth. Ms. Cope brought Child A down to Ms. Hudd to see if she could tell if his tooth the same as it was before or if it was worse. Child A had calmed down and he was not bleeding anymore. His lip was pretty swollen, but they did not see a crack down his tooth at that point. Ms. Cope stated that they called Child A's parents, but told them he was acting okay. So, Child A's parents said to just keep him posted. About an hour or so later, Ms. Cope attempted to feed Child A lunch and he started sobbing and refused to eat. At that time, they called Child A's Father and he came to get him. Child A's Father told her when he got there that Child A's tooth did not look like that before. Ms. Cope felt it had gotten worse from when he first fell until Child A's Father picked him up. I spoke with Ms. Hudd on 11/1/21. She stated that she was in her classroom when Ms. Cope brought Child A down to her stating that he had fallen and hit his face on the bike. Child A's mouth was not bleeding and he had calmed down when she observed him. Ms. Hudd did not see a line down Child A's mouth at that time. She told Ms. Cope to speak with the parents and keep an eye on him. Ms. Hudd stated that later Ms. Cope told her that Child A refused to eat, so Child A's Father was on his way to get him. When she observed Child A prior to leaving, she could see the tooth was broken in the middle and believe it had gotten worse over the duration of time. Ms. Hudd met Child A's Mother and Child A's Father at their request. She stated that their concern was the size of the bike that Child A was on. They had thought that Child A was on the preschool size bikes, not the bikes that the toddlers use. Ms. Hudd showed Child A's parents where the toddlers play and that they do not have access to the preschool toys. Ms. Hudd stated that the parents made sure to communicate they did not think Ms. Cope did anything wrong, they just wanted some more information on the accident. 3 Child A is still enrolled at the child care and there have been no further incidents.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.