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FAST FACTS:
(Memphis, 11/10/2009) On Your Side Investigations uncover serious violations inside Mid South daycares, that are putting kids at risk.
Many of the centers have repeat violations.
So how are these centers still in business?
Some critics say the state needs to shut down dangerous daycares sooner.
But the head of child care licensing in west Tennessee says that's not as easy as you think.
At Tender Hearts Learning Center in Arlington, our cameras had no problem finding workers watching the windows.
Maybe that was because they knew On Your Side Investigators wanted to know how the state found five children were able to open a classroom window, kick out the screen and climb outside, toward a busy highway.
Investigators say the children had been left alone in a classroom.
"I don't want to put that on television," daycare owner Angela Deanes told a reporter when he showed up wanting to question her about what was happening inside the center. "I don't want to interview."
But that wasn't Tender Hearts first trouble with the state.
WREG On Your Side Investigators found the same daycare was cited months earlier, after a driver left three elementary school children alone on a running bus.
Deanes would only say the problems with her daycare had been resolved, then closed the door when a reporter asked what had changed.
One person who is speaking out about safety at daycares is Tomeka Bernard.
She calls the the violations still going on inside daycares "frustrating and mind boggling."
In June, 1997, Bernard's four month old daughter, Destiny Williams, was killed when a daycare driver left the girl in a hot van for five hours.
"People are not being made to be accountable for their actions," said Bernard.
- Review of state records show many daycares with violations are repeat offenders
- critics say state discipline is too light
- DHS says focus is to teach not punish
(Memphis, 11/10/2009) On Your Side Investigations uncover serious violations inside Mid South daycares, that are putting kids at risk.
Many of the centers have repeat violations.
So how are these centers still in business?
Some critics say the state needs to shut down dangerous daycares sooner.
But the head of child care licensing in west Tennessee says that's not as easy as you think.
At Tender Hearts Learning Center in Arlington, our cameras had no problem finding workers watching the windows.
Maybe that was because they knew On Your Side Investigators wanted to know how the state found five children were able to open a classroom window, kick out the screen and climb outside, toward a busy highway.
Investigators say the children had been left alone in a classroom.
"I don't want to put that on television," daycare owner Angela Deanes told a reporter when he showed up wanting to question her about what was happening inside the center. "I don't want to interview."
But that wasn't Tender Hearts first trouble with the state.
WREG On Your Side Investigators found the same daycare was cited months earlier, after a driver left three elementary school children alone on a running bus.
Deanes would only say the problems with her daycare had been resolved, then closed the door when a reporter asked what had changed.
One person who is speaking out about safety at daycares is Tomeka Bernard.
She calls the the violations still going on inside daycares "frustrating and mind boggling."
In June, 1997, Bernard's four month old daughter, Destiny Williams, was killed when a daycare driver left the girl in a hot van for five hours.
"People are not being made to be accountable for their actions," said Bernard.
