The Bronx day care center where a 20-month-old child, River Edima Wilson, drowned earlier this month has been closed by state inspectors who investigated the center after the August 1 tragedy and discovered violations such as inadequate pool barriers, according to records.
The unexpected closure of Anna’s Butterfly Garden Family Group in Castle Hill comes after state childcare inspectors first claimed to have identified no problems with the institution during four different visits in the months before young Wilson died, according to the New York Post.
The daycare center lost its license on August 6 and continues to have several open citations for failing to notify parents of death or injury, obstructed corridors, and safety and health hazard issues.
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However, according to the records, the facility was examined four times between March 5, 2024, and May 14, and no violations were found. During the last inspection, state inspectors discovered nine violations.
According to one citation, “barriers must exist to prevent children from gaining access to any swimming pool, drainage ditches, wells, ponds, or other bodies of open waters.”
In addition, center operators were criticized for failing to alert parents “immediately” in the event of a death or major incident, while another stated that children cannot be left “without competent supervision at any time.”
Representatives for Wilson’s distraught family are asking for more detail on the conflicting results from the state Office of Children and Family Services, which is in charge of managing child care centers in the Empire State.
“The daycare was certainly inspected, as I understand it, in May. In August, there are now at least nine violations that led to River’s death,” family lawyer James Williams said after the child’s funeral on August 13, according to the New York Post.
“So we hope that the state will take a closer look at how they are inspecting these home daycares,” Williams said. “I hope that it’s not the case that the state missed something. I really hope that’s not the case, but we do know there are several violations, and we do know the state was there.”
Williams also criticized the day care center for “gross negligence at best.”
“A one-year-old child doesn’t go unsupervised and end up in a swimming pool unless someone who was responsible for her care completely fell down on the job,” he added.
The lawyer claimed that Ima and Ifiok Wilson, the parents of the toddler, were not even informed that the daycare center had a swimming pool on its premises for almost a year.
“They found out roughly one month ago, after River had been attending the daycare for almost a year,” the lawyer said. “[They] confronted the daycare owner, who assured them that the pool met all of the state regulations and rules to have a pool on the premises of a daycare.
“Unfortunately, we now find out none of that was true,” he said. “The pool was too close to the house. It did not have the proper alarms on the water. The gates were not secure.”
A spokesman for the Office of Children and Family Services told The New York Post that the department “cannot comment on an active investigation.”
“The safety and well-being of all children in OCFS-licensed day care programs is our top priority,” according to a press release.
The daycare center’s owner, Ana Gonzalez Feliz, who is listed in state records, has not made any public remarks regarding the tragedy or even answered the questions of Wilson’s family.
Nevertheless, Williams stated that the family is still seeking answers, and that the media was invited to Wilson’s funeral in the hopes that it would throw light on the system’s flaws.
“The reason the family invited the media is because the daycare owners and operators and workers still have yet to come forward to explain what happened,” he said. “It’s only through attention from the community, which is brought on by the media, that hopefully these people who have already committed this despicable act will stop torturing this family and come forward with the truth.”
Wilson’s parents have also demanded answers. They believe she was neglected and not cared for at the daycare.
Her mother told News 12, “She had scratches on her face. She had bruises on her face. What happened to her?”
She said of her daughter, “She was good. She was an angel. Came to this world to just bless us.”
According to sources, the toddler appears to have opened a screen door, crawled over a fence, and entered an aboveground pool. Currently, no arrests have been made in the matter, and sources indicate no illegal activity is suspected.
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