The Alberta government launched an investigation into day homes Wednesday after an 18-month-old girl died as a result of head injuries allegedly inflicted by her caregiver.
The toddler was airlifted to Alberta Children’s Hospital with critical head injuries on Tuesday and her 23-year-old caregiver was charged with aggravated assault and failure to provide necessities of life.
The child died in hospital later that day, prompting police to say those charges may be upgraded to manslaughter.
Global Calgary identified the day home operator as Erin Jackman, a mother of two young children. However, police in Medicine Hat said they will not release the worker’s name until the charges are formalized before a judge, likely by early next week.
“Now that the child has passed away, we have to wait until the investigation is complete, including seeing the report of the medical examiner,” said Sgt. Stacey Fishley.
The caregiver was released into the community, provided she obey several conditions, including one to stay away from the family of the girl.
The day home had been accredited by the province.
It was overseen by an agency called the Children’s Corner Child Care Centre, according to Yvonne Fritz, the minister of children and youth services.
That agency oversees 120 children in 30 other day homes. The province has contracted services through Children’s Corner for the past 16 years and Fritz said her ministry knew of no previous problems.
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A spokesperson for the centre said it is working with police to aid the investigation.
Fritz said: “I can tell you I’m very saddened by this situation and my thoughts and prayers are with the family of this little girl. We have launched an investigation and the findings will be made public. If those findings show that there’s any need for changes in regard to day homes, those changes will be made immediately.”
Fritz said she expected the results of the investigation to be released within three weeks.
Unlike day cares, day homes are private residences that can care for up to six children, including the owner’s.
The government contracts for day homes with agencies, which then recruit and train people.
The agencies are responsible for ensuring their day home workers meet provincial standards, which include passing a background check, maintaining a safe environment and undergoing some training.
The agencies run most inspections of the day homes.
“Day homes have been regulated for 30 years and we have 2,800 approved,” Fritz said. “We’re not aware of any other incidents of this sort at all in recent memory. This is a very rare occurrence.”
Some day homes operate independently of an agency.
The death has horrified those in the child care industry, and raised concerns about the system.
“I would definitely expect out of the investigation to see some information like what level of certification that day home operator had. Whether she had prior experience, how long she had been in field, if she had passed police checks,” said Nikki Grunwald, owner of the Rainbow Day care in nearby Redcliff.
“All of those things are mandated. We’re all left wondering how that could have happened.”
She said the regulations in place are adequate, as long as they’re being followed.
Traudi Kelm, the president of the Day Care Society of Alberta, said day cares undergo far more stringent regulation than day homes.
“It’s considerably stronger than in a day home,” she said. Also, in a day care, “there are a lot of eyes watching what’s going on. In a day home, there is only one person.”
jgerson@theherald.canwest.com
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