Day-care vehicle cases not that rare

Children have been left unattended in licensed day-care center vehicles at least 11 times in the past 2½ years in Virginia in procedural lapses similar to last week's tragedy in Richmond, state regulators say.

The Virginia Department of Social Services recorded 11 cases since January 2007 that violated the agency's licensing code requiring day-care center staff to verify that all children have been removed from a vehicle at the end of any trip.

"There were 11 instances of us finding out during an inspection or an investigation that a child had been left on a van," said R. Brent Kennedy, operations manager for the division's licensing agency. "There could be more, we just didn't know they happened."

The names and locations of the centers, along with details about what occurred, were not immediately available without further research by the department.

That code section was put in place in June 2005 to help prevent tragic missteps similar to what occurred Monday involving an employee of Yellow Brick Road Day Care & Learning Center in Richmond. Andrew Joseph Johnson, who was under the care of the center, died of environmental heat exposure after being left alone in a day-care center van for at least four hours, authorities said. He was 13 months old.

Virginia social-services regulators are conducting an investigation that could cost Yellow Brick Road its license to operate. In addition, center employee Keishawn L. Whitfield, 23, who was driving the van, has been charged with felony child neglect. Richmond prosecutors are contemplating additional charges.

Kennedy said the state requires day-care operators to have transportation policies and procedures in place to ensure children in their care be safely transported and accounted for at the beginning and ending of any trip.

"But we don't have any requirements about how they ensure that no children are left on vans," he said. "It's up to the facility to develop [a plan]. We will look at their policies and procedures, and if they didn't follow them, then we would cite that violation."

A copy of Yellow Brick Road's transportation policy wasn't immediately available. Kennedy said he could not share the specifics of the center's policy because it is part of the agency's ongoing investigation.

Valerot Whitlow, owner of Yellow Brick Road and mother of Whitfield, declined to provide a copy of the policy or discuss those procedures.

In an interview last week, Whitlow said she is revising her center's transportation policy for children, adding more checks and balances to make the center as safe as possible. She said social-services officials have a copy of her old policy.

"I want to get the loopholes out," Whitlow said.

Whitlow did say that only she and Whitfield had driven children for the day-care center, and not any other employees. Whitfield is no longer employed at the center, she said, so only she will do the driving for now. She has five employees.

Whitlow said her son is not "mentally able" to work for the center because of Andrew's death and added that he is undergoing counseling. He has been released on $20,000 bond pending an Aug. 4 preliminary hearing.

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In addition to the 11 cases of children being left unattended in a day-care facility vehicle, state regulators have recorded four cases since January 2007 in which a day-care center violated the state's licensing code requiring at least one day-care employee or the driver to remain in the vehicle when children are present.

Regulators also have recorded two violations of a requirement for a "communication plan" between day-care center staff and employees who are transporting children on a field trip.

Those violations were recorded at licensed day-care centers and do not include family day homes, certified preschools, children's residential facilities and religious-exempt day-care centers, which follow separate regulations.

Kennedy said some day-care centers use visual aids to ensure that all children are removed from a vehicle.

In such cases, employees typically walk to the back of the van or bus, checking each seat as they proceed. After ensuring everyone is out, they put up a noticeable sign, flag or other object to signify they have completed their inspection.

Another employee, perhaps the program director, then follows up 15 or 30 minutes later "to see if that red flag is in the back of the van," he said.

Other facilities, Kennedy said, simply use a roster or checklist system, checking off each child's name each time they get on or off the vehicle.

"Some facilities will have two people on each van -- one person who rides in the back and one person who is the driver," he added. "And they'll both make sure the children get off the van and into the classroom."

The state's day-care transportation codes are not among those that inspectors most frequently cite for violations. The code sections most often violated by day-care operators involve documentation issues unrelated to transporting children, Kennedy said.

For example, since January 2007, inspectors issued 1,113 citations for violations of a code section that requires day-care operators to include in each child's record the name, address and phone number of two people to call in an emergency if a parent can't be reached.

In addition, inspectors found 661 violations of a code section that requires documentation of a negative tuberculosis screening for each staff member of a day-care center and individual from an independent contractor working at the center.

Day-care centers in Virginia normally undergo unannounced state inspections every six to eight months. The state had conducted 14 inspections at Yellow Brick Road since 2004, none of them related to complaints. Inspectors found regulatory violations on 11 occasions, but most were minor and quickly corrected.

The last inspection, on Feb. 3, found Yellow Brick Road to be substantially in compliance with state requirements and recommended renewal of the center's license for two years. However, the inspector also noted the lack of criminal-background and Child Protective Services checks for three unnamed employees.

Whitfield had been charged in late 2007 with felony possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it. He initially pleaded guilty to the offense but later withdrew his plea. A judge found in January that the evidence was sufficient to convict him of felony cocaine possession, but he took the case under advisement and put Whitfield under supervision instead of convicting him.

Yellow Brick Road reopened Thursday, three days after the toddler's death. But Whitlow said she had only five children that day, compared with as many as 37 on an average day. She said she believes news cameras outside the business kept some customers away.

She also said she was sorry for Andrew's family.

"We, the staff and the director and the driver are so sorry for what happened," Whitlow said. "We all love Andrew. We miss him dearly."

"I close my eyes at night, and I see that baby smile," Whitlow said. "He had the most beautiful smile in the world."

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .

Staff writer Michael Martz contributed to this report.