By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Authorities continue to investigate last week’s incident at a Hays daycare that left a Hays infant with a brain injury.
But as officials continue to gather evidence, they are urging people to keep an open mind and not jump to conclusions.
According to Hays Police Investigator Jeff Ridgway, first responders were called to Smart Sparks Daycare, 1202 Motz, on Tuesday, March 21, just before 2 p.m. due to concern of the medical wellbeing of a child. A 5-month-old was taken to Hays Medical Center and then airlifted to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. There, the infant was diagnosed with a brain injury.
Ridgway said Tuesday investigators do not have any new information on the health of the child and that the family is in Kansas City.
Currently, officials are in the very early stages of the investigation, according to Ridgway. He said, with the assistance of several agencies, they are working to put together a timeline of what happened.
“Each has their respective interests and focus of the investigation but altogether, the totality of the investigation is the overall interest of the safety of the child,” Ridgway said.
The Kansas City (Mo.) Police Department, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Kansas Department of Children and Families and the Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center are all assisting or partnering with the Hays Police Department on the investigation.
Ridgway said, from a law enforcement perspective, they are looking to see if any crimes were committed.
“We’re going to be looking at not only is there evidence to show that a crime was committed, but we’re also reviewing, does the evidence show that a crime was not committed?” he said.
Officials believe there were other adults, besides operator Tandra Reif, at the daycare at the time of the incident. Ridgway said they are working to interview those individuals. They are also trying to determine how many children were at the daycare on that particular day. They will work with the Child Advocacy Center to interview any children who might have witnessed what happened.
He said when it comes to potential abuse cases, it can take several weeks to complete the investigation. Officials have to set up interviews with all parties involved and those people eventually might be interviewed by multiple agencies.
“I think everybody would like to see us go faster than what we’re doing, even I perhaps would like to see it go faster but also recognize there are scheduling conflicts,” Ridgway said.
Ridgway said he was aware of prior complaints received about the daycare but referred questions on the severity level to the KDHE.
According to the state’s records, Smart Sparks Daycare had three minor violations between 2014 and 2016, two of which were corrected on-site during the annual survey.
Because authorities are so early in the investigation Ridgway urged people to be “open minded.”
“It becomes important not to jump to conclusions,” he said that past complaints “may be unfounded or may be not relevant.”
State law allows the Secretary of KDHE to issue such an order when, in the opinion of the Secretary, the order is necessary to protect children in the home from any potential threat to health or safety. The order is subject to appeal. Compliance history on this daycare facility can be found by searching the Child Care and Early Education Portal for license No. 0068929 at https://kscapportalp.dcf.ks.gov/oids/.