Identity of child who died at Speedway daycare released
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — Authorities are trying to determine what caused the death of 10-month old baby girl after she was found unresponsive at Speedway daycare facility.
Speedway police say they received a 911 call Wednesday that a baby at the Miracles and Blessings Daycare Ministry was not breathing.
When authorities and paramedics arrived, they discovered one daycare worker performing CPR on the child. Authorities also say there was one worker and 36 children in the facility.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office identified the the child as 10-month-old Taliah Brigham. The cause and manner of death were still pending on Friday.
It’s not clear if the staffing ratio had any effect on the child’s death, but police say it is an issue they are investigating.
“I think it’s alarming but obviously the Department of Child Services is going to be handling that part of the investigation,” said Lt. Trent Theobold with Speedway Police. “That is something that’s more their area. As a police department we are investigating that this is a death investigation.
“It’s very concerning,” he said later.
Lt. Theobold said that the worker told authorities that she found the baby girl unconscious in a car seat. The child was taken to Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Theobold said that authorities were told Thursday morning that the child died.
When I-Team 8 attempted to interview several daycare employees, they closed the door and locked, saying: “No,” when asked if they could comment on the situation. Multiple calls and messages were left for the daycare’s operator, all of which were not returned.
The facility appeared to be open and operating on Thursday. Numerous parents continued to drop off their children at the daycare facility. Some spoke to I-Team 8 but asked not to appear on camera. They said that the daycare’s operator was devastated by the child’s death but that they had full confidence in the facility and its operators.
24 Hour News 8’s Jeff Wagner spoke to another parent who said she trusts the facility “100 percent.”
“I really feel bad for the mom. Everyone’s concerned about like the workers here but the mom, she lost a child,” said a parent who asked we conceal her identity.
Both the Family Social Services Administration and the Department of Child Services are investigating this case.
Marni Lemons, a spokeswoman for FSSA, declined to discuss specifics of this case because of the ongoing investigation. However, she did say that because the facility was part of a ministry there is no limit on how many children it can accept. However, because the daycare accepts federal child development vouchers for low-income families, the daycare is required to follow certain staffing requirements.
In this case the facility should have had one daycare worker for every four children. Theobold said at the time police arrived, around 2 p.m. Wednesday, there were 36 children.
“It’s not that many children when I come like that,” the mother said. “When I come in the morning, come in the afternoon, there’s always three to five adults here.”
Despite the investigation, the mother won’t change which daycare watches over her child.
“I’m gonna keep on bringing my son here, I don’t have any problems with them at all,” she said.
State records show that the facility had minor compliance issues when it opened in 2015, Lemons said that those were corrected a month after inspectors conducted their initial visit.