Blaine child abuse case sparks change at Capitol
Blaine child abuse case sparks change at Capitol
A bill before lawmakers would require licensed daycare centers in Minnesota to have security cameras accessible to parents in both infant and toddler rooms, and outdoor play areas.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Child abuse at a Blaine daycare could change the landscape for all the state’s childcare facilities.
Pushing for protection
Closing gaps:
The victims include the toddler daughter of a lawmaker who’s now trying to close any gaps to make sure kids are safe.
Rep. Nolan West, (R-Blaine), said Thursday this has been an awful situation, but at least this time it happened to someone with the power to do something about it.
Surveillance cameras inside Blaine’s Small World Learning Center confirmed a parent’s worst fears: employees were abusing toddlers.
One of them admitted her role Wednesday, and families found out one piece of evidence that made the charges stick.
"We were told yesterday, if not for the video, there would be no charges at all," said Suzanne Dickison, grandmother to one of the victims.
Video proves case
Retention needed?:
But Small World only kept a week’s worth of video, so several suspicious marks on kids couldn’t be proved as abuse.
Rep. West doesn’t want that to happen again.
His daughter was one of the victims, and he’s authored a series of daycare bills as a result.
One of them will require daycare centers to have cameras in their infant and toddler rooms and to store footage for at least 60 days.
Background checking
Need to expand?:
Another will expand background checks for daycare employees.
"This is an effort to get on the front end and prevent these abuse cases from happening first place," said Rep. West.
The bills are widely supported by parents of abused children and by some business owners, including Hoang Murphy, who runs a homeless shelter where he wants to make sure the population of almost 300 children is always safe.
"Right now, I don't think I can say that," Murphy said. "Not with the certainty I would like. And that's because we have a dangerous gap in our childcare background check system."
What's next:
West’s bills are all moving forward, but they’re also still taking shape.
For example, the 60-day retention period for video was 90 days just last week, but he changed it because he says 60 days is much more affordable.