ALFRED — Three families have filed separate civil complaints against a Lyman couple whom they say physically abused and mistreated their young children, who were entrusted to them at the daycare they owned on Route 111.
The nine-count suits were filed at York County Superior Court April 22 by Brett and Hannah Williams, Christopher and Danielle Pouliot and Sara Bachelder against Sunshine Child Care and Preschool LLC and owners Daniel and Cheryl Dubois. The complaints allege assault and battery, negligence, negligent supervision, several counts of negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract. The suits seek judgments against the couple and the daycare, plus costs, attorney’s fees and punitive damages.
The parents say their young children were mistreated and abused at the daycare, which was closed abruptly by the Dubois in January, after word got out that the Department of Health and Human Services had warned the owners about their treatment of children in October 2012, when they issued the daycare a conditional license. DHHS hadn’t informed parents about the treatment; they were later told by DHHS representatives, because the information was considered confidential.
Brett and Hannah Williams visited the daycare before their son was born and enrolled him there when he was 12 weeks old, according to the complaint. The boy had difficulty sleeping at the daycare and suffered from ear infections, according to the complaint. He was moved into the toddler room when two infant caregivers left, even though he was still an infant, and on one occasion, when his parents picked him up, he had been in a crib with no bumpers or other protection, and no staff members in the area to supervise, according to the complaint.
The couple noticed other issues that caused concern, and so removed their child from the daycare in January 2011. In January 2014, they learned their child had been mentioned in a complaint made to DHHS.
According to the civil complaint, the boy was crying, and Cheryl Dubois said the noise was keeping her husband Daniel awake. The suit claims she wrapped the boy so tightly in a blanket that he screamed.
“Cheryl then held (the boy) down in a crib and left him there, crying and screaming,” the suit states. “When an employee went to check on the boy, she found him in visible distress with bloodshot eyes.”
The allegations in the suits mirror the findings of a report by DHHS, made after inspectors began investigating complaints about the daycare.
“Cheryl Dubois grabbed a child by the biceps and slammed the child down onto the floor into a sitting position,” a DHHS summary of deficiencies states. “Cheryl Dubois has been observed by at least two adults pulling a chair out from under a child, causing the child to fall and hit their chin on a table, resulting in the child cutting their chin and bleeding and causing a bruise/mark.”
The DHHS report states that Dubois yelled and swore at children, and forced them to drink their milk. The report claims a parent saw an employee forcibly restrain a child, and that Cheryl Dubois swaddled an infant so tightly, “it caused the child to cry forcibly and for the child’s eyes to become bloodshot.”
Christopher and Danielle Pouliot said they noticed their child being more emotional after enrolling him at the daycare center. He became clingy, and he was often hungry and thirsty when he came home, they said in their suit against the Dubois and the daycare. In January 2013, they noticed a cut on his chin, and said Cheryl Dubois told them that the boy had fallen. Another time, they noticed a bruise on his eye. In July 2013, a former employee called and told them Cheryl Dubois had pulled a chair out from under the boy, which caused him to hit his chin on the table and that he had been force-fed milk. They removed the boy from the daycare.
Parent Sara Bachelder removed her child from the center in May 2012 when she heard some disturbing information about how children were treated there.
“I wanted to cover my ears, I heard more and more horrible things,” she said in a January interview with the Journal Tribune.
In her complaint against the daycare and the Dubois, she said her child was disparaged and made to run repeatedly on the playground without resting.
The suits claim Cheryl Dubois often reminded employees that she knew how to control people because of her experience working in state prisons. Her husband, Daniel Dubois, contacted staff through walkie-talkies, and often became upset when staff and children interrupted his daily activities, the suits claim.
“On one occasion, an employee told Daniel that the infant room should have more staff to better care for the number of babies under their care,” the suits allege. “Daniel told the employee that under law, he was not required to provide more staff, he was trying to run a business and the best interest of the kids cannot always come first.”
Several attempts to contact Cheryl and Daniel Dubois for comment were unsuccessful.
When word of the situation became public late last year, DHHS came under fire for issuing a conditional license, rather than revoking it, and for not informing families of how their children were treated until months after the incidents took place.
In January, the DHHS Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services announced it would add inspection staff and make other changes. A week ago, DHHS said it would add 16 positions, bringing the number of inspectors to 25, which would reduce caseloads from 180 to 80.
As well, DLRS is developing a web portal for parents and others to research licensed providers. The portal will provide licensure status and a history of any licensing actions, including access to statements of deficiencies and plans of correction related to each licensing action. It is anticipated that this will be available early next year, DLRS Director Kenneth Albert said in a prepared statement issued last week.
DLRS has also established a child care licensing advisory panel to review practices that are deficient, to determine whether licensing action is appropriate. The panel will also advise the recommended action, including license revocation when appropriate, he said. The panel is comprised of investigators, DLRS management, representatives from the Office of the Attorney General and other licensing personnel.
As well, when conducting investigations of abuse and neglect, DLRS will inform parents and guardians about the nature of the allegation and what they can expect during and after the investigation, he said.
Maine State Police assigned a detective to investigate the abuse complaints earlier this year. No criminal charges have been filed to date.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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