Parents outraged at Dansville daycare provider accused of leaving children home alone

Posted at: 10/03/2012 5:07 PM | Updated at: 10/03/2012 5:47 PM
By: Ray Levato | WHEC.com

Angry mothers confronted a Dansville daycare provider who is accused of leaving their little ones home along while she went to McDonalds. The moms are determined to see that Shelly Sick, if convicted, gets the maximum the law allows. That could be a year in jail.

Shelly Sick appeared in Dansville court to answer a new charge of endangering the welfare of a child. She pleaded not guilty on seven previous counts, and watching the proceeding in Dansville, the mothers of some of the children who were in her care at the time. They came to court in a show of solidarity.

The mothers were the color purple, signifying their passion for children and held up signs that read, “Shame on You” and “No Plea Deal”. They said they were the voice of the voiceless.

Teresa Quibell, parent, said, “My daughter constantly complained of being thirsty and not having anything to drink. She showed signs of dehydration.  And I would get there and she hadn’t been changed all day. They often were not changed.”

Shelly Sick did her best to avoid News10NBC’s camera Wednesday. She is charged with 14 counts of endangering the welfare of a child for leaving up to seven small children home alone on two occasions while police say she went to a local McDonalds to get food for herself. On September 14, state inspectors suspended and revoked the woman's license after they found the children home without adult supervision. They said they could hear the children inside the house - but no one answered the door. They eventually confronted Sick in her driveway when she returned from McDonalds. One parent says her daughter didn't get the care she deserved.

Brandy Chapman, parent, said, “The minute we got home, his diaper needed to be changed. It was always full, sometimes soiled. Even sometimes when I would pick him up, he had soiled it and I would change him right on the porch. And we always got sarcasm.”

Sick operated daycare for years out of her house on Franklin Street in Dansville. She is also charged with misrepresentation by trying to hide from state inspectors two children above her limit of five. The oldest of the kids was just three and a half. The youngest was Brandie Henry's seven month old daughter.

Brandie Henry, parent, said, “Knowing she was upstairs for at least four hours during the investigation and Shelly never reported her being there. She’s seven months old. I don't know how she kept her quiet for four hours. It brings a lot of questions. It's heartbreaking.”

The mothers also said their children were always kept in a backroom and were never allowed outside to play.

Sick has another court date in December. These are misdemeanor charges. Livingston County Assistant District Attorney in the case. He said there is no offer of a plea deal. Parents were concerned about the possibility.

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