Pregnant mom alleges Bradenton daycare infected her son with COVID, and she got it, too
A pregnant mother is alleging irresponsible behavior after her 2-year-old son contracted COVID-19 at a Bradenton daycare, which she said also infected her.
Mary Furman took her child to A Child’s Galaxy Preschool at 4417 20th St. W., in early December. As a single, working mother, Furman chose the daycare for its pledge to help with potty training her son who struggles with verbalization issues.
Furman said she began to notice that her son would be in the same diaper that she dropped him off in and that the diaper would be soiled.
“They refused to take him” to the bathroom, Furman said. “They said until he started verbalizing it, they wouldn’t take him. I knew something was wrong when they stopped asking me for new diapers.”
Furman filed a report with the Department of Children and Families Services when she picked up her son early one day and found a staff member holding her son, in a soiled diaper, down on a mat with her knee.
According to the DCF report, the case was closed on March 25 as unsubstantiated, meaning a case manager could find no proof. However, DCF was unable to conduct interviews in person because the facility had reported a positive COVID-19 case.
Daycare staff admitted in the report that they were unable to assist with the child’s potty training due to the boy’s verbal challenges.
“Training was too difficult to accomplish in this setting,” staff admitted to DCF, while noting it was due to the child’s “inability to speak to staff and make staff aware of needing to go potty.”
Furman said daycare workers should know that a child can express needs in other ways, and at the very least, there was no excuse to keep him in soiled diapers.
Furman said she had enough. In early March, after witnessing the knee incident, she went to withdraw her son from the daycare. The daycare was closed that day for COVID-19 cleaning, but instead of safely doing the paperwork outside the facility, Furman said daycare director Kristen Terrell required her to enter the facility to complete the paperwork.
On March 5, Furman’s son was diagnosed with COVID-19, and three days later, her test results came back positive.
Furman said both she and her son had severe symptoms, “but he came it through it better than I did. I thought I was going to die.”
Furman feared for her unborn child’s safety, but doctors assured her that there did not appear to be any ill effects.
Furman said Terrell knew there had been a small COVID outbreak. The mom said when she entered the center on a day they were supposed to be cleaning, she didn’t see anyone cleaning or smell any disinfectants.
Terrell, in an initial phone interview, denied any allegations that the daycare had a COVID outbreak.
“Nope, there have been none at all,” Terrell said. “We had one staff member test positive but then came back negative.”
However, the school’s internal memos to parents noted at least two cases in December, and another on March 4, a day before Furman’s son tested positive.
Terrell said that Furman’s claims are sour grapes over the school’s informing the mother that it would not have space for her unborn child after the baby was born.
Terrell did not respond to multiple requests to clarify her original statement on the center’s COVID issues.
Furman complimented the daycare center’s teachers, but blamed Terrell’s actions for getting her son sick and for not getting promised help for potty training. She blames herself for catching COVID from her son.
“I can’t keep from kissing my kid or hugging him when he’s sick,” Furman said. “I’m sorry, but I’ll die first. I know I’m pregnant, but you still can’t do that. It tugged on my heartstrings so I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to hold my kid. I thought he was going do die.”
Since she transferred her son to another school, Furman said the boy’s depression has disappeared and his potty training is going well.
“You can listen to your children even if they can’t verbalize it,” Furman said. “They are trying to tell you in other ways.”