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Baby found dead in unlicensed daycare
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A baby boy died on Valentine’s Day while being cared for at an unlicensed home daycare in the northwest corner of the city, police and provincial government officials say.
He’s the fourth child to die in unlicensed child care in the GTA in the last seven months.
Police confirmed they were called to the apartment building at 20 Broadoaks Dr., near Keele St. and Finch Ave. W., on Feb. 14, where they found a 4-month-old boy without vital signs.
He was taken to hospital and declared dead on arrival, said police spokesman Const. Victor Kwong. Police are investigating the case as a suspicious death, as they are required to do for all child deaths.
The boy’s cause of death remains unknown.
The Education ministry, which oversees all child care in the province, confirmed the death occurred in an unlicensed daycare.
“My ministry has begun an investigation and will fully co-operate with any other authorities conducting investigations about this incident,” Education Minister Liz Sandals said in a statement.
The ministry has had no complaints about the daycare, Sandals said, but she was unable to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.
Ahmed Bamaga, head of the Saudi Student Association at the University of Toronto, said he spoke to the child’s father after the incident and confirmed both parents were students from Saudi Arabia.
Police were not able to confirm the identities of the baby or his parents.
Late last year, the provincial government introduced the first reforms in a generation to the law that governs child care, reducing the number of children allowed in an unlicensed environment, stiffening fines for those who care for too many kids and giving ministry officials new powers to shut down violators immediately.
Because of a severe shortage of licensed daycare spots, an estimated 80 per cent of children in the province are in unlicensed care, with no oversight and few regulations. While many of these daycares provide exemplary care, ministry reports show that 40 per cent of those inspected since 2012 were caring for too many kids, and some had serious lapses in health and safety.
On Wednesday evening, a man who answered the door at the daycare acknowledged that a boy had died there. He denied running a child care business on the premises and claimed to be caring for the child of a friend.
Neighbour Annie Vera said she would often see the woman down the hall entering her apartment with “about five” children in the morning. Typically they were toddlers, but Vera said she had recently seen the woman carrying a baby.
“It was very tragic,” Vera said, describing how she’s seen police stationed outside the apartment door.
“She is very kind, very genuine,” Vera said. “I feel bad for both sides.”
Building superintendent Roman Goral said the woman who lives at the apartment has three daughters and runs a child care business. “They’re very nice, very respectful people,” he said. “I wish I had more tenants like this one.”
Goral said the parents of the deceased baby do not live in the building.
Following the death of 2-year-old Eva Ravikovich in an unlicensed Vaughan daycare last summer, the Education ministry revealed it had received four complaints about the operation, but failed to follow up.
Police found 27 kids in the home and 14 dogs, while public health officials found the potentially deadly bacteria listeria in the kitchen.
Sandals later pledged to make inspection reports available in an online database so parents could find out if any unlicensed daycare in the province has broken the law.
In November, 9-month-old Aspen Moore died in an unregulated Markham home daycare.
Last July, 2-year-old Allison Tucker drowned in her babysitter’s condo. Maria Sosa, 34, was charged with manslaughter in January.
If passed, the new legislation would impose a hard cap of five children under age 10 for unregulated home daycare operators. Currently, caregivers don’t have to count their own kids in the maximum of five.
They would also be limited to just two children under age 2. Currently, unregulated caregivers can look after five babies in addition to their own kids.
The new daycare legislation will also close a 1993 loophole that has allowed private schools to operate preschools without a daycare licence.
Currently these programs operate without any rules in stark contrast to licensed daycare centres which must follow strict health, safety and programming rules and are inspected annually.
Torstar News Service
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