Oak Grove's Little Me Childcare has license suspended after children found wandering outside

Little Me Child Care in Oak Grove, Minnesota is indefinitely closed, after the state suspended its license Friday.

The daycare was operating pending an appeal of an order of revocation that was issued Sept. 7, 2016.

On Sept. 5, the Department of Human Services received a report that two toddlers left the building unsupervised and were located on the service road behind the building.

Under state law, if a childcare center has a report of possible violation while pending appeal of revocation, the license will be suspended.

In a letter to the license holder, Amber Brick, the Minnesota Department of Human Services says, “Due to the serious nature of the report under investigation, the Commissioner of the Department of Human Services cannot ensure the safety of the persons served in your program. Therefore, the Commissioner is immediately suspending your license to provide Child Care.”

According to state records, Little Me Child Care has been in violation of health and safety laws 77 times since it opened. Many of those violations were repeat offenses.

On March 23, 2016, a DHS licensor discovered that employees at the center had been falsifying health policy consultation records. Instead of having a consultant come in every month and review the center’s policies, records claim they were photocopying an original and changing the date.

Records also claim a lack of documentation and training.

In one instance, documentation wasn’t available to show that there was at least one CPR certified staff member at the center at all times.

Health and safety were also violations listed in the order of revocation.

In the spring of 2013, DHS determined through staff interviews that there was inadequate supervision at the center the day a child removed a screw from a table and attempted to swallow the screw. The Heimlich maneuver was performed to remove the screw.

Fox 9 contacted the license holder, Amber Brick, for comment. Brick stated that she sold the business to her business partner Jessica Bachman a month ago and had no comment on the license suspension.