CHARLESTON – Three more lawsuits have been filed against a Cross Lanes daycare center for the abuse and mistreatment students.
The three latest complaints were filed November 15 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Amy Williams and Dreamland Development LLC doing business as Cross Lanes Child Care and Learning Center as well as unidentified teachers at the facility. It isn’t clear from the complaints if the unnamed teachers are the same person.
These lawsuits follow more than a dozen others filed in the last few weeks.
Cary
| Courtesy photo
“Our voices are united, echoing the strength of the innocent who have suffered,” attorney Michael Cary told The West Virginia Record. “We will not rest until every wrong is righted and every accountable party is held to the fullest extent of the law.
“This is not just a fight for justice; it is our unwavering commitment to triumph over evil. Together, we will shine a light on the truth, ensuring that our collective strength and resolve bring the healing and reparation that our community so desperately deserves. Justice will prevail.”
On October 27, the West Virginia Department of Human Services placed the facility on provisional license status and reduced the facility’s capacity to zero.
Williams is the director of the child care center, and Amber Seiler is a former daycare worker at the facility who taught F.B.’s three-to-four-year-old classroom. Seiler was named as a defendant in the other lawsuits, but she isn’t named in these latest three.
Seiler, 29, of Kenova has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery in addition to a felony count of battery and assault of a disabled child. She currently is being held at South Central Regional Jail on a $50,000 bond along with two $1,500 bonds for the misdemeanors. Seiler waived her preliminary hearing, and her criminal case now will go to the grand jury.
In the first of the new complaints, Tera Cooper as mother of a girl identified only as L.K. claims her then three-year-old daughter was hurt after she fell backward from a stool on February 3, 2021, and sustained a significant head injury. She says she never was provided any sort of incident report or documentation of the injury. Cooper blames a lack of supervision for her daughter’s injury.
On March 26, 2021, Cooper says she told Williams about an injury to her daughter’s finger that had not been reported. And on May 12, 2021, the girl’s father voiced concerns to a worker that his daughter was left unsupervised during bathroom breaks and ended up playing in her own feces. The complaint says Williams abruptly hung up on the father during a phone conversation about it.
“The very next day, defendant Amy Williams met plaintiff Tera Cooper at her vehicle and informed her that her children were no longer welcome at Cross Lanes Child Care and Learning Center,” the complaint states.
In the second new complaint, Alycia Marks as mother of her son identified only as G.P. was enrolled in the one-year-old classroom taught by the unnamed teacher.
Marks says her son had a black eye and significant scratches to his face when she picked him up October 3. She was told by a daycare employee the deep scratches came from toy blocks in the classroom.
“When plaintiff Marks questioned how her minor child was injured and to view video footage from inside the classroom, employee Chris Williams stated that Ms. Marks could not view the video footage from inside the classroom because ‘a black eye was not serious enough,’” the complaint states.
On October 22, Marks says her son was injured again with a busted upper lip that required medical treatment. She says she also was told the unnamed teacher would allow her son to cry for hours at a time while in the classroom.
In the third new complaint, Celsie Caldwell as mother of a two-year-old boy identified only as C.G., who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She says Williams told her the facility was “good with children with Autism.” He was in a classroom with a teacher identified only as Ms. Traci.
On April 23, Caldwell says her son had a handprint mark on his cheek when she picked him up. She was told another child left the mark.
On October 1, Caldwell received a call saying her son had thrown up.
“The minor child repeatedly states, ‘Traci made me puke,’ when referring to the incident,” the complaint states. “Caldwell also noticed that every day when she picked him up that he was filthy from head to toe and would need a bath as soon as she got home with him.”
Caldwell also says at least one employee reported concern about Traci to Williams, who then terminated the reporting employee.
The complaints also say several eyewitnesses say the unnamed teacher would excessively scream at the infant children in the classroom.
The complaints accuse the defendants of negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and a tort of outrage. It also accuses the facility of negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent retention.
The plaintiffs say their children have suffered physical and emotional harm, including pain and suffering, emotional and mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, indignity, embarrassment, humiliation, annoyance, shame, inconvenience and other damages.
The complaints seek compensatory and punitive damages as well as any other relief.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Cary of Cary Law Office in Charleston.
Cary previously represented other parents who sued the same daycare center in 2021. The facility denied those allegations and filed a counterclaim against those parents accusing them of defamation on social media. An undisclosed settlement was reached in that case.
The recent DoHS decision followed serious non-compliance with state child care licensure regulations, a DoHS release says.
“The action today will result in the center not being able to serve any families or children while it’s under investigation,” DoHS Secretary Cynthia Persily, Ph.D., said in a press release. “Our priority remains the protection of children, and we are taking every step necessary to uphold that commitment. We understand the significant impact this closure may have on families, and we are here to support them in finding safe, alternative child care arrangements.”
According to the release, the DoHS Bureau for Social Services found evidence of violations concerning both physical and psychological punishment of children and a failure to meet mandatory reporting and supervisory standards.
Those include subjecting a child to physical punishment, engaging in psychological punishment, failing to report serious occurrences within the required timeframe and failing to supervise teaching and support staff and to conduct regular staff meetings.
“Our children are our most precious and vulnerable members of society,” Cary previously told The Record. “When they are harmed, it is our duty to stand up for them and make sure their voices are heard.
“Protecting children is not only a legal obligation, it is a moral imperative that defines our commitment to a safer future. I will stand for justice and I will stand for our children.”
Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers 24-C-1271 (Cooper), 24-C-1272 (Marks) and 24-C-1273 (Caldwell)