Testimony in the third day of the trial of Payton Gann in the death of four-month-old Autumn Wells, from childcare consultant Lea Rae Gaines of the Alabama Department of Human Resources, painted a horrifying picture leaving little doubt that unless changes are made to the oversight of daycare facilities and the training and certification of daycare workers, Wells’ death at Tiny Tigers Pre-K in Red Bay, as horrible as this sounds, could just be a statistic in the state.
In fact, Wells’ death isn’t the most recent at a daycare facility in the state. In Demopolis, police charged Versa Mae Simmons, an employee of the former Tender Years Preschool & Nursery, with murder in the March 25, 2024, death of five-month-old Brayden Robertson. Court documents stated Simmons had abused, beat, and/or mistreated little Brayden on more than one occasion, and Brayden was allegedly not her only victim. Simmons was indicted also on 18 charges of aggravated child abuse. As happened with Tiny Tigers, Alabama DHR visited Tender Years the day after the death and noted deficiencies.
Obviously, no one can prevent every bad actor from doing what he or she intends to do, whether with malice or, as was determined with the guilty verdict against Gann, recklessness. However, something has to be done. If there are no policy changes from the Alabama Legislature or state DHR, or a commitment to radically beef up monitoring of daycares in the state, it’s only a matter of time until another child dies at a daycare in Alabama – and the DHR leadership, as well as the Alabama legislature, which provides funding for the agency, will have that child’s blood on their hands because the system is broken, they know it is broken, and it desperately needs to be fixed.
In the case of Tiny Tigers Pre-K and its owner, Angelene Chamblee, details revealed at Gann’s trial paint a picture of a facility and owner that completely skirted the rules and then hid the evidence of such through forgery. Do we have the answers on how to fix it? No, we don’t. We’re not in the business of overseeing childcare facilities. However, we are smart enough to listen to those who have put forth reasonable ideas. These include:
• Mandating continuous HD video and audio surveillance in all areas throughout daycares, covering every possible square inch of rooms and spaces, remaining in operation at all times anyone is in the building, and severely penalizing those facilities, to the point of closure, for failure to maintain such systems. People tend to act differently when they know they are being watched.
• Requiring employees of daycare facilities to be licensed and receive training at state-directed training centers on an annual basis and submit to annual background checks that must be reported to the state as a condition of annual license renewal. Yes, this would put a burden upon daycare facility owners and those seeking employment there, but aren’t our children’s lives worth some inconvenience? Should the Legislature choose to do so, to lower the barrier of entry for those who wish to receive such licensure, it could partially or fully fund training through the state’s numerous community colleges as part of its workforce development program.
• Hiring more social workers whose sole responsibility is to make periodic, surprise visits to daycare facilities. We know from personal experience social workers are overworked, overburdened, underpaid, and carry caseloads much greater than they should. For clarity, we do not see this as being a problem caused by the state’s social workers. This specifically goes directly to Montgomery – and Jackson; Mississippi, you’re not off the hook here, either. The Legislatures have got to provide funding necessary to hire more social workers and pay them adequately.
This is just a start. Again, there are likely other good ideas that can be implemented.
We call upon Rep. Jamie Kiel and Sen. Larry Stutts to take the lead in working to update state laws that will take into consideration these and other ideas to dramatically improve daycare monitoring and the training and certification of daycare owners and workers in Alabama, and to increase funding at Alabama DHR to specifically hire more case workers and pay all adequately. On a personal basis, we’d like to suggest any legislation requiring video cameras in facilities be named after Wells and Robertson.
In Mississippi, we call on Representatives Bubba Carpenter, Tracy Arnold, Donnie Bell, and Randy Boyd, and Senators Daniel Sparks and Chad McMahan to take a serious look at state laws on daycare facilities and do their part to improve the oversight of these facilities and protect our children just as we call for it in Alabama. And the same issues exist in the Mississippi Department of Human Services: More social workers are needed, and they need to be paid better. Legislators, make these things happen.
Something’s got to be done. Two dead babies in the past three years is two too many.
