Minnesota Daycare Deaths Have Doubled in Decade

Earlier this month, an Oakdale day care provider was charged with locking three of her day care children in a backyard shed in February. 

Jennifer Lynn Goldetsky, 43, pulled three of her day care children outside without shoes and jackets and when two Washington County licensors made an unexpected visit to check that Goldetsky was compliant with her license.

According to the criminal complaint, Goldetsky had more children than she was licensed for and in a panic took three of the children out to the shed to avoid getting caught with too many children.

The children Goldetsky locked away did not undergo any fatal injuries, but that has not been the case across the state.

In a separate case, an infant died in an Eagan in-home day care.

Last August, police say, Beverly Greenagel laid 3-month-old Dane Ableidinger down for a nap on a blanket in the basement of her at-home day care facility in Eagan.

Later that afternoon, a 12-year-old child , his blood staining the same blanket that served as his bed. A medical examiner later ruled the boy died of apparent asphyxiation.

The circumstances of the case are all too familiar for Jerry Kerber, the inspector general at Minnesota’s Department of Human Services.

From 2007-2011, there were 51 deaths in licensed childcare facilities across the state, more than double the 25 deaths that occurred at licensed facilities in 2002-2007. All but three of those 51 deaths occurred at small, in-home childcare facilities—like Greenagel’s—rather than larger day care centers.

Most of those deaths, Kerber believes, are related to unsafe sleeping arrangements for infants—which alone or combined with other compliance violations, such as overcrowding, can produce a dangerous environment for children.

“What strikes us is that when providers are out of compliance, it’s not a hypothetical threat to the safety of kids,” Kerber said. “This case demonstrates it’s a very real issue of safety for kids.”

A History of Violations

To minimize asphyxiation risks, state law dictates that licensed daycare providers must place an infant on his or her back in a crib with a firm mattress and a tightly fitted sheet. Day care providers cannot place pillows, comforters or other soft objects in the crib with the infant.

Police say Greenagel broke those rules when she left Ableidinger on a folded blanket, rather than in a crib with a firm mattress. Investigators also learned that Greenagel had 20 children at her day care on the day that Ableidinger died—far more than the 14 children her license allowed her to care for at any one time.

It wasn’t the first time Greenagel was found in violation of state laws. In 2002, county inspectors issued Greenagel a written reminder to remove pillows from infant cribs. In 2007, a social worker observed an infant placed on the floor for a nap at Greenagel’s day care. Again, Greenagel was reminded of state law requirements.

Safe sleeping and capacity violations are among the most common problems Dakota County inspectors find when visiting day care facilities, according to Dakota County Social Services Deputy Director Joan Granger-Kopesky.

The county employs three full-time and three part-time licensors, who visit each of the 822 licensed child care providers in the county at least once every two years following an initial inspection. In Eagan alone, there are a total of 121 licensed facilities, according to county records.

Depending on the severity of a violation and the history of the provider, licensors can issue a correction order or citation, or recommend fines, temporary suspensions, indefinite suspensions or even a revocation, Granger-Kopesky said. But providers can appeal decisions—an action Greenagel took after her license was revoked in February 2011.

The infrequency of licensor visits often makes it difficult to consistently identify and enforce violations, according to Granger-Kopesky. Even if licensors visit a specific provider once or twice a year, there are hundreds of other days throughout the year a violation could take place.

"We have no control over what the provider decides to do when we are not there," Granger-Kopesky said.

Kerber says high caseloads may contribute to the infrequency of the visits.  But problematic day care providers are usually targeted with stricter supervision, he added.

An inspection "every two years for a provider that might be playing by the rules, that might be OK," Kerber said. "At the same time, what we would say is that the providers we know need more supervision are the ones getting more supervision." 

Are State Laws Strong Enough?

The rising number of infant deaths at in-home daycare facilities has the state re-evaluating its own rules.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services is currently consulting with the Minnesota Sudden Infant Death Center to review its recommendations regarding safe-sleep conditions and has received a federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study all sudden infant deaths in Minnesota—with a special emphasis on deaths in child care settings.

The Department of Human Services is also reviewing its training requirements for in-home day care providers. Staff at larger commercial day care centers—where significantly fewer infant deaths have occurred over the past 10 years—are required to have 40 hours of yearly training. In-home providers are only required to have eights hours of training, Kerber said. Day care centers are also required to use baby monitors to observe sleeping infants and physically check on sleeping infants every 15 minutes, Kerber said.

The department may also revise its capacity standards for in-home providers, Kerber said.

"Is it safe to have 10-12 kids and have two of those be infants," Kerber asked. "If you are not capable of ensuring those kids’ safety because of the vast number of kids your caring for … it's really a disservice to those kids."

But Kerber also believes that parents are the first line of defense against a possible tragedy, because they are frequently in contact with providers and are well-positioned to observe the practices of that provider on a regular basis.

Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom, whose office is prosecuting the case against Greenagel, believes Greenagel’s negligence played a role in the death of Ableidinger.  

"We certainly believe that this was a preventable death that would not have occurred with proper monitoring and following proper rules, in terms of where infants should or should not sleep, and that’s the basis for the charges," Backstrom said.

"There are many excellent in-home providers in Dakota County," Granger-Kopesky said. "Many truly love their little ones, and grieve when those children leave. It is the small percentage of providers who choose to break the rules that put the kids in harm’s way."

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