JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A day care facility in Northwest Jacksonville has agreed to shut down after the Department of Children and Families received a report that a 4-year-old boy was abused by an employee there.
DCF said when it went to the facility, God's Precious Little Miracles, to look into the allegations, it found a 2-year-old who had been left in the facility's van for about 20 minutes.
DCF said it also found that most of the employees at the facility had not had their backgrounds screened for any criminal or disqualifying offenses, as is required by state law.
One of the employees, Janice Jordan, had been convicted of two felony battery charges in 2006. DCF said according to their regulations, Jordan should never have been cleared to care for children.
"We take these allegations very seriously, and we are investigating them thoroughly," said DCF Northeast Regional Director David Abramowitz. "We are working with law enforcement in our investigation. Child safety is the first priority of DCF."
DCF said its Child Protective Investigations team is probing the allegations of abuse. Investigators said an employee at the facility had taken 4-year-old twins home with her to babysit them. After that, one of the children, a boy, was found to have several bruises, investigators said.
Both children were taken to the state's Child Protection Team for examination, investigators said. They said the child who had bruises was taken to a local hospital and is now at home.
The DCF investigator who then went to the facility saw a 2-year-old girl who had been in a van owned by the facility for about 20 minutes in high heat, investigators said.
The parents of both the 4-year-old boy and the 2-year-old girl have been contacted by DCF, investigators said. They said the girl was taken to a local hospital for observation.
The day care's director Karen Brown denied the allegations and even working for the center, even though her name was on the report.
"I don't hire anyone," she told Chanel 4. "I work at a nursing home."
Another employee, Adriannia Hester has hired an attorney since she spoke to Channel 4 on Wednesday, but admitted one of the major DCF violations happened in her van.
"Is this the van that the 2-year-old was left in?" Channel 4's Emily Turner asked Hester.
"Yes," she replied. "But you'll have to talk to my attorney."
"There is time for an appeal. In this case, with allegations, they agreed to close their doors," DCF spokesman John Harrell said. "Investigation continuing, we need to find out exactly what happened with these kids. They're doing better now, thankfully, but they were at risk, especially the 2-year-old left in that hot car."
The facility, located at 1780 W. 45th St., has been operated by the Church of Miracles, Healing and Prophecy. State law allows child care facilities that are operated by churches to be "religious exempt," meaning that they can choose not to be licensed or inspected by DCF. However, the facility must be accredited by a state-approved agency. Additionally, religious exempt facilities are required to have their employees complete background screening through DCF.
DCF said its Child Care Licensing program found that most of the people working at the facility had not had their names submitted to the department for the required background screening. Under the law, the facility could no longer be considered an exempt facility, DCF said. The department said it treated the facility just like any other unlicensed facility, telling the operator that it needed to cease and desist operations, and the facility agreed to close its doors.