Day care crisis:
Operators lose licenses, still stay in biz
SOMETIMES WHEN day care providers are accused of breaking rules, they get a second chance. Then a third, a fourth, a fifth and so on.
Take the case of Athena Skeeter, a day care operator now awaiting trial for allegedly beating 20-month-old Cardell Williamson to death. Skeeter was charged Aug. 22, 2014, with pummeling and stomping little Cardell and then placing him in scalding water.
This was not the first time Skeeter was accused of violence against a child, records obtained by the Daily News reveal.
In June 2008, the city Health Department got a fairly detailed tip that Skeeter was seen at a playground grabbing a 5-yearold boy, pulling him off playground equipment and slamming him to the ground.
According to the tip, the boy’s arm was broken in this incident and Skeeter warned the child, “I’ll f--k you up” if he revealed what happened.
Investigators learned the boy’s arm had indeed been broke ken, but the ch child did not im implicate Sk Skeeter, sayin ing he “fell of off the monke key bars.” Th The boy’s m mother said sh she believed Sk Skeeter and th the day care op operator deni nied hurting th the boy. In the end, the statesta Office of Children and Family Services deemed the abuse allegation “unsubstantiated” and found Skeeter in compliance with all regulations.
Cardell’s father, Carlyle Williamson, 57, didn’t know about any of this when he enrolled his son in Skeeter’s day care in Claremont, the Bronx. A city benefits program he was in required him to seek employment. Skeeter’s Happy Face program was near his Bronx apartment.
“They had to be a licensed child care provider,” Williamson told The News. “They gave me the green light. She came up A-OK.”
In her statement to police, Skeeter said, “I was wrestling with Cardell. I flipped him onto the bed. I had a lot of stuff on the bed. I lifted him by one arm and one leg and threw him to the floor. The floor was hardwood. I stepped on his stomach three times. I didn’t use full force. I then threw my son on top of Cardell and stomped on his stomach three times.”
In November, Williamson’s attorney, Neil Wiesner, sued the city, alleging negligence in sign- ing off on Skeeter. He noted she had no insurance on her day care center.
“How could they let her operate without insurance?” the lawyer asked.
Williamson is furious at the city and heartbroken at the loss of a son he was trying to raise on his own. He recently visited his son’s gravesite in Linden, N.J., placing a single white rose on the unmarked flat stone in the snowy turf.
Though the state crime victims board paid for the burial of Cardell, it did not fund a tombstone. In his continuing grief, Carlyle hopes to one day see one sitting above his son. Right now, he can’t afford it.
“Some days I have good days, some days I have bad days. Some days I just break down and cry when I look at his pictures,” he said. “I didn’t get a full good life with him. There’s a lot of things I wanted to do. Halloween. Christmas. All of that.”
At times, the city appears to drop the ball on investigating complaints.
The News revealed on Thursday that an internal email stated that city policy is for inspectors to make three unannounced visits at different times when checking tips on the existence of an unlicensed day care. But a city health department spokesman says inspectors have discretion to do fewer visits.
In the case of SoHo Day Care, an unlicensed facility where an infant died in July, an inspector looking into a tip made one visit that
lasted about an hour and closed the allegation as “unsubstantiated.”
That incident was one of 100 cases in the last three years where allegations were closed as “unsubstantiated” either because the inspector couldn’t gain access or simply couldn’t determine whether a day care center was operating.
The state also plays a role. The Office of Children and Family Services oversees more than 9,000 of the city’s 11,513 sites, but relies entirely on the city inspectors to check them out.
Sometimes, it appears, operators who lose their licenses over serious violations stay in business anyway.
In July 2014, city inspectors investigated a complaint about an in- cident at Happy Angels Group Family Day Care on Wilson Ave. in the Bronx, records show. First they learned an assistant who wasn’t approved by the state to work in a day care was monitoring seven children, including four under age 2.
According to a report obtained by The News, inspectors learned the assistant put one infant in a bouncer seat to nap in a separate room outside her view. While she was preparing food in the kitchen, the child somehow injured herself.
Neither the assistant, nor the operator could explain what happened, but inspectors say the child “required emergency medical attention,” the report states.
The list of injuries was sobering. She suffered “bruising and cuts to her face on the bridge of her nose and swelling to her upper lip,” according to the report. And she had “bruising and swelling above and below her left eye” and “bruising and scabbing on her right hand and scabs on her right ring finger.”
On Aug. 8, 2014, the state revoked Happy Angels’ license. Just three weeks earlier the state issued a license to Happy Angels Group Family Day Care II. It happens to be located just one floor above in the same small brick house.
Last month, the provider, Jose Diaz, told The News: “That incident happened with an employee that used to work here. It’s in court. We’re trying to clear our name.”
“The employee was off the payroll right away,” he added.
“Many owner/operators have multiple child care programs,” the state Office of Children and Family Services said. “By law, each one must be evaluated independently. A problem may exist at one site but not the others. There are currently no violations against Happy Angels Group Family Day Care II warranting license suspension or revocation.”
With Gnomiki Day Care in M Midwood, Brooklyn, the city and st state took two different app proaches to punishment.
On Sept. 11, 2014, the city Dep partment of Investigation c charged owner Viktoriya Fedoro ovich with three felonies, includin ing criminal possession of a fo forged instrument.
DOI caught her submitting b bogus documents claiming her e employees had been trained, and re recommended that both of Fed dorovich’s two facilities on O Ocean Ave. be closed.
Her city-licensed facility at 2 2221 Ocean Ave. was shut by the c city Health Department immediately.
The state Office of Children and Family Services didn’t initiate revocation until after Fedorovich pleaded guilty in October. Fedorovich appealed.
During a Dec. 1 inspection by city inspectors, Gnomiki was cited for submitting fraudulent training and CPR certifications.
On Jan. 13, a woman who identified herself as Viktoriya answered the phone. She told The News, “The kids are sleeping. You can’t come in.”
Questioned about her license, she said, “My English is not so good,” and hung up.
A week after The News’ visit, she withdrew her appeal of the state’s revocation.