CHESTER, Va. — As a single mom, Natasha Hughes searched for a daycare that was convenient to work.
"I have a 5-year-old and a 9-year-old who needed care while I’m at work,” Hughes said.
Fortress of God Childcare in Chester fit the bill.
Watch: Chester daycare owner will appeal decision to revoke religious exemption
It accepted her government subsidy, offered full-day daycare for her 5-year-old and before and after school care for her 9-year-old.
So, she enrolled them in January.
But, she said she started to feel uneasy about the place.
“Within that time frame, I started seeing red flags, maybe the biggest one was not being able to go beyond the lobby entrance,” Hughes said. “To this day, I don’t know what her teacher’s name is. I just know there is plenty of staff in and out, and I saw different ones every day.”
Her fears reached a tipping point when she saw the news that a 3-year-old from the daycare was found wandering in a nearby busy road on Feb. 21.
Watch: No charges after Virginia boy wandered away from Chester daycare, police say
Violations issued by the Department of Social Services state a 17-year-old was alone and supposed to be watching four children ages 3 to 5 at the facility when they left the kids unsupervised for about six minutes and one of the kids escaped.
While on site, the DSS inspector found a number of repeat staffing violations.
Among them, the inspector noted two infants sleeping in a classroom unsupervised, and encountered a person who was not a staff member, but who was supervising three infants alone.
When the inspector spoke to that person, they reported that they stopped in to help due to the incident, but did not work there.
The administrator of the daycare told the inspector that many people showed up at the center to offer support, and she did not know who that person was.
“If I could have pulled my children out that day, I would have. Unfortunately, I am a working mom, single, two children, I have to work and they have to be in care, so I left them there for at least another week before I could pull them and make arrangements,” Hughes said.
During that time, Hughes said her 9-year-old came home and claimed he was left alone in charge of younger children and felt threatened by a teacher, so she filed a complaint with the state.
An inspector found the preponderance of evidence gathered during the investigation did not support the allegations, and, therefore, the complaint was determined not to be valid.
Still, the inspector did cite the facility for enrolling a 9-year-old when their religious exemption, which is required for a religious childcare facility to operate, only permits them to have kids up to the age of 7.
“This is news to me. Even today I didn’t realize that the cap was 7 years old and my son is clearly 9,” Hughes said.
The administrator of Fortress of God told CBS6 she did not look carefully at the date range for her religious exemption, and it was an oversight.
But, Hughes said she pulled her kids out of Fortress of God the next week, and also received a message from the administrator of the daycare, which announced her plans to retire.
A portion of that message, which Hughes showed CBS 6, states:
“The recent incident, while it occurred due to actions of another staff member, has weighed heavily on my heart. As the business owner I take full responsibility for what happened. The thought that a child’s life could have been in danger is something I will never be able to forget. I cannot carry this burden and believe it is in the best interest of everyone that I retire and step away from this responsibility.”
But, as CBS 6 reported last week, the administrator changed her mind, kept the daycare open, and decided to challenge the state’s intent to revoke her religious exemption.
Hughes said she disagrees with that decision.
“I really don’t believe she should be in business,” Hughes said.
We asked the administrator to do an interview to give her side of the story but she declined.
Hughes said that if the state ultimately decides to renew the administrator’s religious exemption, they need to do a lot of unannounced inspections of the facility, even though state code does not mandate any inspections of religious daycares.
“You think, in order for her to be allowed to continue to operate, there has to be something in place where she will be inspected?” CBS 6 reporter Melissa Hipolit asked Hughes.
“Absolutely, on a continuous basis for at least six months to a year,” Hughes replied.
"How frequently?” Hipolit followed up.
“Every day would not be too much for me, but at least on a weekly basis, a couple of times a week unannounced,” Hughes said.
The administrator has an informal conference with the Virginia Department of Education related to her appeal on April 9.
She said the daycare has made improvement to ensure children are safe, and this was a learning experience that taught her a great deal.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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