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Parents: Baby found tied up during surprise visit to Monroe Co. daycare

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swaddling

MONROE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A Monroe County daycare facility can no longer care for babies six weeks to one year of age, following complaints that an infant was found tied up at the facility. The Department of Human Services told WVLT News that an educator was also banned from the property when children are present.

Monroe County parents Linell and Andrea Miller said that they were stunned by what they discovered when Linell arrived early on August 30 at Teachers' Tots Learning Center, located on site at Madisonville Primary School, to pick up their 9-month-old child.

When Linell walked into the daycare with his mother, Linda, he said that he found his child laying on its stomach, tied up with a sheet.

The Millers filed a police report with the Madisonville Police Department which alleged that the child was tied with one sheet around its chest and arms and another tied around the legs.

The Madisonville Primary School houses the separate daycare, which is meant for teachers who want to drop off their kids while they work at the school. The principal said the director of the child care center has resigned, and that the employee who was over seeing the infant room at the time of the incident, has left the daycare as well.

According to the police department, a meeting between the director of the daycare and parents was set up for Sept. 7. The case was turned over to the Department of Human Services and the Department Children's Services.

The Millers say that they did meet with the director of Teachers' Tots Learning Center, but did not feel that the meeting was a resolution to their concerns.

According to the DHS compliance history database, the learning center does show a complaint was lodged on August 30.

"On August 30, a 9-month-old was restrained in a blanket during nap time and was also covered with another blanket,"
the complaint stated. Within the same section on the database, it also states that a three-month-old had been "swaddled" on a "regular basis."

On Thursday evening,

DHS confirmed that the agency was "supporting an investigation by law enforcement and the Department of Children's Services into allegations involving an educator" at the daycare center.

According to a DHS spokesperson, the educator has been placed on a safety plan that bars her from being on the property when children are present.

The child care facility was also placed on a safety plan that prevents them from caring for babies six weeks to a year in age.