Posted on 09/02/2003 9:25:52 AM PDT by bedolido
BARTOW, Fla., Sept. 2 — Paula Burcham ran the kind of day care working mothers dream about.Her house was immaculate, the meals for the children were home cooked. Kids would line up to get a hug from “Mama Paula.”
BUT THE FAMILIES who trusted Burcham didn’t know she was giving over-the-counter medicines to their children without their permission. Now they suspect she was using the drugs to sedate cranky little ones.
On August 15, Burcham was sentenced to eight years in prison for giving a 3 1/2-month-old girl a lethal dose of Benadryl to quiet her. And in the 20 months since Grace Olivia Fields’ death, her parents have found they are not alone in their loss.
In the last three years, at least 10 other cases nationwide of day care workers have been investigated or charged for sedating children with cold medicines and cough syrups. Four other babies have died.
Grace’s mother, Tracy Fields, and other parents are now pushing for new laws that would make it a felony for day care workers to give a child medicine without written permission from a parent or a doctor’s order. One state has already passed such a law.
“I don’t want any other parents to go through this,” Tracy Fields said. “It didn’t take a whole lot for this beautiful little baby to die from an over-the-counter medicine.”
There is also a growing movement among medical examiners for greater awareness of the practice, as some pathologists fear babies who died after being drugged were written off as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome cases.
Burcham poured about a tablespoon of children’s Benadryl into a four-ounce bottle of breast milk and fed it to Grace in December 2001. The dose was three times more than what would be needed to sedate an adult.
Burcham later admitted giving the baby the drug, but denied it was to control behavior. Her critics aren’t swayed.
“She found a way to make those kids sleep half the day,” Tracy Fields said, adding her 2 1/2-year-old daughter told her she was given “bubble gum” flavored medicine before nap time at Burcham’s.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
It took a lot of work to get out of their financial problems caused by a business partner who bilked them out of a lot of money. They paid it all off without having to declare bankruptcy, but it was touch and go for a while.
My 5 YO goes to a day care center for about 10 hours per week after kindergarten because I've gone back to school. I've watched their bus procedure from down the street and I've already dropped in for lunch. I purposely never told them what time each day I will be picking him up.
You HAVE to check up on these people.
I don't know what I'd do if I had a husband who had "discouraged" me from being home. They've been changing things at work and we took a pay cut last year, so I decided to get myself back into school. He was supportive of that too, knowing that if I was comfortable with 2-3 hours of preschool for the youngest then it would be fine.
I used to work in day care and I'm pretty aware of the undercurrents. Last year's program (at the college) was fantastic. I'm still feeling out and watching the new place.
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