Parents in Monroe County claim their infant had a sheet tied in a knot around his legs and another sheet tied around his chest and arms when they arrived to pick him up at the Teachers' Tots Learning Center, Inc. in August.
Linell Miller and his mother, Linda, told Madisonville Police that they arrived at the center around 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2018 and when they got there they noticed the 9-month-old boy was tied up.
The director, Rodney Phillips, was contacted and a meeting was set up for Friday, Sept. 7, 2018 with the mother, Andrea, and father, Linell, the incident report states.
The report was filed on Sept. 10, 2018 and as a result, the Department of Human Services and Children Services was notified and responded to the daycare.
According to DHS's website, Teachers' Tots Learning Center, Inc. had to close its infant room to retrain staff after a complaint about an infant who was "restrained in a blanket during nap time and also covered with another blanket".
The DHS complaint also said a 3-month-old had been swaddled on a regular basis and infants napping in a "pack n' play" were covered with blankets.
"Due to educator’s knowingly not following safe sleep procedures by swaddling infants and using blankets they did demonstrate capability of performing their duties satisfactorily," DHS wrote in the report.
A re-evaluation visit on Sept. 20, 2018 found no violations, according to DHS.
DHS press secretary Sky Arnold issued the following statement to 10News Friday:
"The Tennessee Department of Human Services is supporting an investigation by law enforcement and the Department of Children’s Services into allegations involving an educator at Teachers’ Tots Learning Center. Teachers’ Tots is a child care agency for employees in the Madisonville Primary School.
As part of this investigation, TDHS has placed the educator accused on a safety plan that prevents her from being on the property while children are present.
Additionally TDHS has placed the child care agency itself on a safety plan that prohibits Teachers’ Tots from caring for babies 6 weeks to a year in age."
10News reached out to the daycare but has not been successful in getting through to anyone.