CHESTER, Va. — The Virginia Department of Education intends to revoke the religious exemption granted to Fortress of God Childcare after a child from the daycare was found wandering in a nearby road on Friday.
An exemption is required for a religious childcare facility to operate.
Under Virginia's state code, religious institutions that run daycares are exempt from a number of state licensure requirements that would be required of a typical non-religious affiliated child day center., but they have to have to file a "statement of intent to operate a child day center” to the state.
Any person who operates a childcare facility without a license or religious exemption can be charged with a misdemeanor.
VDOE Senior Communications Advisor Todd Reid said the letter of intent to revoke "does not mean that they have to cease operations immediately. This begins the process that proceeds until a decision has been rendered by the hearing officer."
VDOE's Assistant Superintendent of Child Care Health and Safety signed a letter dated Feb. 25 that was sent to the daycare’s Administrator Monique Ede announcing the state’s intent to revoke the exemption.
In the letter, Wiliams states that based on findings from inspections in January, October, and December last year, and January this year, the state determined the facility was in violation of several state codes, which placed the “health, safety or welfare of children at risk.”
Those inspections were different from the incident on Feb. 21 when a 3-year-old from the school ran into the road.
Watch: Boy found wandering from Chester childcare center was not wearing a coat
However, the letter does reference that incident and states the “department reserves the right to amend this Notice of Intent to include any findings of noncompliance in response to the incident on February 21, 2025 when a child was found off-site and unsupervised.”
The facility's religious exemption expired on Dec. 3 last year, but the state did not receive completed paperwork to renew the exemption at Fortress of God Childcare until Jan. 28 this year.
Yet, the daycare remained open, and the state even visited the facility for an inspection in late December due to a complaint, which the state validated.
"Typically a facility that is already open is allowed to stay open while it completes its paperwork. We allow them to operate in good faith if they are moving forward so that we don't displace children. In this case there was a lot of back and forth because of confusing paperwork submitted by the religious organization that needed to be resubmitted," Reid said.
Watch: Virginia daycare where child was found wandering in road had prior violations
One day before the state’s letter stating its intention to revoke the facility’s religious exemption, VDOE sent a letter to Fortress of God stating its request for exemption had been approved and retroactively reinstated the exemption starting on Dec. 4 last year.
VDOE said that the letter sent on Monday was something issued “in the normal course of business.”
The daycare has 15 days from receipt of the intent to revoke notice to appeal the decision.
If they do not, VDOE can move forward with issuing an order to revoke the religious exemption.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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