Child Biting Fears After Former Day Care Teacher Charged

This story reminds of us that common asked question - child or adult bite? "At the time I just kind of rationalized it and thought, well it has to be a child bite, I mean surely no adult would bite a child." Marie Campbell noticed a bite mark on her two-year-old son's back in August after she picked him up from day care at First Baptist Church in Topeka. Concerned, she asked his teachers about it. "They didn't see anything and didn't know how it happened," Campbell said. Then, early this month Marie began to suspect an adult bit her son. "Another parent contacted me. She told me that there was another child who had been bit on the cheek by the teacher. And there was also an allegation the teacher hit her in the stomach," Campbell said. 13 News received the mug shot of the accused, Maria Nicole Ortiz. Ortiz was booked into the Shawnee County Jail on three charges: Felony abuse of a child; torture or cruelly beating a child under 18, felony abuse of a child; inhuman corporal punishment to a child under 18, and misdemeanor battery; bodily harm to another. She is no longer an employee at the day care, but is still listed as a substitute para professional for USD 501. Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church Corey Fields did not want to appear on camera but said the church has "not received word of such charges from any official source." The District Attorney's official complaint states the abuse happened November 3. Marie says she would not have known any of this information because First Baptist day care never informed parents. "When do they decide, hey this is important enough to tell parents? I think my child could have been a victim as well." Marie says she understands there are confidentiality issues, but still feels other parents with children in the same room should have at least been informed that there was an investigation. She and another parent who believes his child was bit too, addressed the day care board on Tuesday night. 13 News went to the church, but day care board members would not allow us inside the meeting. Marie and the other parent, who chose not to be identified, came out of the meeting feeling like their questions still were not answered. Marie said Pastor Fields said he was never planning on telling parents, and questioned who told the media. Pastor Fields said in a statement to 13 News, "Everything available to us, including surveillance footage, was inconclusive, which is part of the reason we asked DCF to investigate. We were not in a position to say definitively what happened, and we have a written policy in the day care employee handbook concerning DCF investigations which states that 'information will be held confidential by all individuals involved in the identification, notification and follow-up activities.'" Pastor Fields continued, "As soon as a concern was brought to our attention, we took swift and appropriate action the same day, including discussions with that child's parent. Since we opened in 1978, we had not had any such incidents previously, and we have always sought to be in compliance with KDHE regulations. We are constantly working to make our day care as safe as possible." According to KDHE records, First Baptist Day Care Center has been investigated twice by KDHE, in 2010 and 2011. Both were concerns of poor child care practices, but the minor allegations were not substantiated. Marie says she feels misled. She said she remembers in November her son was having an especially hard time with drop-offs every morning, so she went to the day care to discuss it with teachers. "My child had likely witnessed that incident," Marie said. "He was probably going through a lot of emotions and probably was traumatized by that. And instead of telling me that's what happened, I just assumed it was some kind of severe separation anxiety." Marie has had no real complaints with the day care in the two years her son has been going there, but now feels like she can't trust them. "If something happens again, are they not going to tell us? I can't keep dropping him off there every day knowing that something could happen, and they may not tell me." Marie filed her own reports with Topeka Police and the Department For Children and Families in early January. She has since received a letter saying her son's bite mark is now being investigated. 13 News reached out to Maria Ortiz for comment, but has not heard back. Marie said First Baptist Church called a meeting for all parents who had questions Wednesday night at 6:30.