Dashay Johnson hopes her horrific daycare experience will be a cautionary tale for other parents. She told WBTV, “Me being a first-time mom, you know, I didn’t know what to look for.”
Johnson had PCOS and was constantly concerned that she would never be able to conceive, so she was ecstatic when she obtained a positive pregnancy test result.
Months later, she gave birth to her son, Jesiah, whom she described as “just a joyful baby.”
It was challenging for the first-time mother, who works in the hospitality sector, to enroll her son in daycare until someone finally suggested Diane’s Home Away from Home in Mint Hill. Everything went well for a while before going wrong.
Narrating what occurred on August 21, Johnson said, “I mentioned to the daycare that I was on my way to pick him up. It was just a normal day. This time he didn’t run up to me.”
“His mouth was drooling, and he had blood in the mouth. I opened his mouth, and I noticed that his teeth were missing. One was jammed deep inside of his mouth, but you couldn’t really see it, and the other one was completely gone.”
When she inquired about the exact time her son’s teeth were knocked out, the owner informed her that it was about four hours before she arrived to pick him up.
Thus, she shot back, saying, “So, my baby was bleeding for four hours. Did you not think to call me?”
While most of the specifics are redacted, a Mint Hill Police Department incident claims that Jesiah’s teeth were “knocked out.” Though no formal charges have been made as of yet, police retrieved his bloodstained garments from the daycare.
It was shocking for Johnson to hear later on, though, that she was sending her child to an unlicensed facility.
According to the WBTV investigation, the property is in a beautiful area, and the house is appraised at more than half a million dollars by the Mecklenburg County property appraiser.
The publication was unable to locate Diane’s Home Away From Home’s daycare license and the NCDHHS also confirmed that the establishment was unlicensed.
The Division of Child Development in North Carolina mandates that licensed daycare facilities fill out a form following a child’s injury and advises caregivers to get in touch with parents whenever a kid is harmed. Parents must be notified before going to the doctor.
According to Johnson’s attorney, Larry Serbin of the Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, a licensed daycare facility must communicate the problem to a parent.
“You never know the real everything until something actually happens. I hate that my child had to be the example of this illegal daycare,” Johnson remarked.
When WBTV notified Diane Barr, the owner of the daycare, about the accusations made by Johnson, Barr first claimed she had never founded the company. However, after learning that records for her enterprise had been discovered dating back to 2011, Barr argued that the establishment wasn’t a daycare. She claimed she was only babysitting Jesiah for Johnson.
