Thread: Suspect in Texas Day Care Fire Had Few Credentials

Law allowed suspect in deadly day care fire to look after children despite meager credentials
By DANNY ROBBINS Associated Press
DALLAS March 4, 2011 (AP) Jessica Rene Tata was three months shy of her 22nd birthday when she sought to be registered as a home child-care provider in Texas. Her education ended at high school, and there was no indication of formal training in child care.

Even so, the Houston woman had everything she needed under the law to receive the state's approval as well as thousands of dollars in federal subsidies.

Since a fire last month killed four children being cared for by Tata, who is now a fugitive facing charges of reckless injury to a child and child abandonment, new attention has been focused on the adequacy of child-care regulations in Texas and elsewhere.

"You have somebody with no background in child development, very limited regulation and too many children to take care of," said Susan Hoff, a senior vice president with the United Way in Dallas who serves on the board of the Texas Association for Infant Mental Health. "That's a recipe for disaster."

Prosecutors allege the fire started when Tata went grocery shopping, leaving seven toddlers and preschool-age children alone in the Houston house she was renting. Tata fled to Nigeria as authorities began their criminal investigation.During the funeral service in Houston on Thursday for 3-year-old Shomari Dickerson, one of the children who died, the boy's grandfather told mourners that Tata needs to return to the United States.

"You can run but you can't hide," Glenn Price said, with the 100 or so mourners listening. "God knows where you are. What you need to do is ... take up your responsibility. Come forward. If not, God will dispose you and it won't be long before you be right back in this country and you're going to have to face everything that you have to deal with."

Funerals for the other three children who died in the fire were set for Friday and Saturday.

Repeated efforts by The Associated Press to reach Tata have been unsuccessful.

As investigators reconstruct the events of Feb. 24 and Tata's travels since, more details about her have emerged through state records. That story is one of a young woman who was legally able to receive approval from Texas' Department of Family and Protective Services to serve as the sole care-giver for as many as 12 children a day, including some under preschool age, despite no known specialized training.

Tata, operating as "Jackie's Child Care," was approved by the state last March 1 after she provided paperwork showing she was at least 21, had a high school diploma, was certified in CPR and first aid and didn't have a criminal record.

She also signed an affidavit stating that she'd never been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, a felony as an adult or juvenile. The document was submitted without the signature of a notary, even though one was required.

Tiffany Dickerson cries at the gravesite of her son Shomari Dickerson, Thursday, March 3, 2011, in Houston. The 3-year-old died in a day care fire Feb. 24. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday that it obtained documents showing Tata had received three years' probation as a juvenile for setting a fire at a high school in suburban Katy. She was 14 at the time, the newspaper said. The AP could not independently verify the Chronicle's report. It was not clear if the case was handled as a felony or a misdemeanor.

Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Department of Family and Protective Services, said the agency's criminal background checks of Tata didn't show any arson convictions or "dispositions" of any kind. One check was done at the time she applied, and two others have been done since the fire, he said.

A month after being approved to operate her day care, Tata began receiving federal grant money on behalf of the families of low-income children. Five of the children in her care were eligible for that assistance. At the time she fled the country, the total in government money paid to her was $5,773, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, which distributes the funds.

Some in the child-care industry say Tata's lack of experience shouldn't be viewed as a sign of a wider problem with Texas' regulations.

"This is a good example of when one particular individual makes a mistake, we all pay the price for it," said Tym Smith, president of the Texas Licensed Child Care Association, an industry group. "Most follow the rules to a 'T.'"

But for child-care advocates and others, the case speaks to a serious gap in oversight — one made particularly glaring because public money is involved.

According to the Department of Family and Protective Services, more than 6,500 registered child-care homes with the capacity to handle nearly 76,000 children were operating in Texas last year. Registered homes, where single care-givers work in their own residences, aren't held to the same standards as licensed child-care homes and centers, whose operators must complete some level of training prior to approval. The only training required of registered child-care providers are 20 hours that can be completed within a year of opening.

The distinction is important, experts say, because the low end of child care is often all that poorer families can afford.

"If you want more skilled (child-care workers), then you're going to have to pay more money," said Heather Boushey, an economist who specializes in family issues for the nonprofit Center for American Progress in Washington. "And if you have to pay more, then you'll have to subsidize it more. That's the problem."

Texas is one of 11 states that do not require pre-service training for low-level child-care operators, according to data compiled by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.

Linda Smith, the nonprofit's executive director, said her group believes all child-care operators should be required to receive a minimum of 40 hours of training before going into business.

"I know you can't regulate the insanity of a woman leaving the kids to go the store," she said. "But, in some ways, screening and oversight would prevent so much of this."

The Texas state senator in whose district the fire occurred, Joan Huffman, read the names and ages of the four children at the conclusion of Wednesday's session. She told her fellow senators that the tragedy should be a reminder to be "ever vigilant" in ensuring the safety of the state's children.

To date, however, only one bill under consideration deals with training for child-care providers. The bill, introduced before the fire by Sen. Royce West of Dallas, would increase the training hours for employees of day-care centers from eight to 16.

West's bill has industry support, but child-care advocates believe it doesn't go far enough — something they say the Houston tragedy has reinforced.

"Unfortunately, it takes the loss of a child to make people see what should be done," said Melanie Rubin, a consultant for a child-care advocacy group in Dallas.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStor ... 853&page=1

Woman charged in day care fire has fled, official says The owner of a day care center who is wanted in connection with a fire that claimed the lives of four children last week has fled to her native Nigeria, a Texas fire official said Tuesday.
Jessica Tata, 22, was charged on one count of reckless injury to a child after she left a group of children alone inside a home with the stove on, authorities have said. Three other children were injured in the blaze.

"We do know she's fled the country. She's in Nigeria at this time," said Assistant Fire Chief Lisa Campbell with the Houston Fire Department. She added that she believes Nigeria to be Tata's home country.

Woman charged in day care fire has fled, official says
NIGERIA

Share this on:Mixx Facebook Twitter Digg delicious reddit MySpace StumbleUpon LinkedIn March 01, 2011|By the CNN Wire Staff
The owner of a day care center who is wanted in connection with a fire that claimed the lives of four children last week has fled to her native Nigeria, a Texas fire official said Tuesday.

Jessica Tata, 22, was charged on one count of reckless injury to a child after she left a group of children alone inside a home with the stove on, authorities have said. Three other children were injured in the blaze.

"We do know she's fled the country. She's in Nigeria at this time," said Assistant Fire Chief Lisa Campbell with the Houston Fire Department. She added that she believes Nigeria to be Tata's home country.


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Campbell said Tata left on a flight from Dallas Saturday afternoon.

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos declined to confirm Tata's exact whereabouts Tuesday, but urged her to return to Texas, calling Tata a "fugitive from justice." She said nine additional charges are being prepared against the 22 year old, who was born in Texas.

Tata had been licensed since March 1, 2010, with state authorities to run the residential day care center, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. The facility was cited once for not having a fire extinguisher or carbon monoxide detector before she got her permit, according to Carter, but the problem was fixed.

An arrest affidavit claims that Tata "unlawfully and recklessly" caused "serious bodily injury" to at least one of the victims Thursday, after she left that child and six others unsupervised in the home day care facility and drove off in her car.

The blaze itself likely originated on an electric stove inside, which was on and had a pot on it containing oil, according to Houston Fire Department arson investigator Thomas Wood. A definitive cause for the fire will be announced once the investigation is complete.

Neighbors John Chestnut and Geoffrey Deshano told investigators that they heard Tata screaming soon after she pulled into her driveway and went to the front door, the arrest affidavit said. No other adults or day care employees were at the facility, the men said.

The two told reporters that Tata's car was full of groceries when she returned to the house, adding that they called 911 and tried to help get the children out as smoke seeped from the building
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-01/just ... s=PM:CRIME

Daycare Operator Now Charged With Manslaughter In Children’s Deaths
The fugitive operator of a Texas home daycare where four children died in a fire that left three others injured has now been charged with manslaughter.
http://www.kbtx.com/state/headlines/Day ... 60324.html

"How many times does this happen, flee to country of origin!"

"It's time to bring our Troops home and slam the doors shut!"

"And start huckin' all of em' out of here!"

"That's the new thing now for illegal women come here drop Anchor and start a day care center!" Charge Americans out the ass for daycare and then hire all they're illegal sisters and cousins! Seen it with my own eyes!