The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "daycare" ...
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Startribune:The Day Care Threat
Children had been dying in Minnesota child care at an alarming rate and state regulators and industry leaders had overlooked the problem until our reporting laid bare a series of safety failures that led to the spike in deaths. The reporters made dozens of public record requests and analyzed hundreds of cases to uncover wide problems in the state’s in-home daycare system. They almost all the deaths occurred at in-home daycares, which have more lax regulations than centers. The series also uncovered dozens of cases of sexual abuse, gun violence and negligence that harmed children in the state’s in-home daycare system. It revealed how Minnesota has some of the weakest training and supervision rules in the country for these in-home daycares. The reporters also discovered that critical safety records that would help parents identify problem providers were not accessible to the public. The response to the series was swift and sustained. State regulators implemented changes to improve infant safe sleep practices and they are planning legislation this session to shore up some of the safety problems. The series also highlighted how the lack of information about child care deaths is a national problem.
Tags: Child care; safety; daycare system; sexual abuse; gun violence; negligence
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Pawlenty's Pardon
Jeremy Giefer was charged with raping his own daughter and then received a pardon for a 1993 sex-crime conviction for raping a 14-year-old -- the mother of his latest alleged victim. City Pages revealed that Giefer wanted the pardon so his wife could open a daycare center in his home. Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty chaired the board which granted the pardon.
Tags: Geifer; Pawlenty; rape; pardon; cleared; guilty; sex-crime
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Cashing in on Kids
Child-care programs were setup to encourage low income parents to get and keep their jobs. This program covered the cost of child care, but as it turns out "millions of taxpayer dollars" were misused by corrupt parents and daycare providers. Further, this series revealed a number of drug dealers can be tied to the daycare providers. Also, it revealed how regulators overlooked the problem, lawmakers and their weak laws, and workers trying to bring this to attention and their bosses shutting them down.
Tags: child care; corruption; scamming; cost; criminals; daycare; children; fraud
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Believing the Children
This story takes a look at an investigation, which took place in 1991. In 1991, satanic daycare abuse was becoming a national panic and many parents were in frenzy over this. So when Fran and Danny Keller were charged with sexually assaulting a child, everyone just believed it did happen. But many years later, the Kellers maintain their innocence while serving their time in prison. This story reinvestigates the case by retracing the original prosecution and the original police investigation report. As well as utilizing some fresh interviews from the central participants of the case, these include the Kellers themselves.
Tags: daycare; child abuse; sexual assault; prison; crime; innocent; physical; satanic; parents; children; kids
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Day-care dangers; DCFS: Guilty until proven innocent; DCFS Declassified
The series focused on how the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services protects children and found problems, including a state law with wording so flawed it couldn't work, major errors in investigating alleged child abuse that ended up accusing innocent parents and repeated errors in the investigation of a murdered boy.
Tags: children; DCFS; Kalab Lay; custody; child abuse; sex offender
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Dirty Little Secrets
The Toronto Star filed "freedom of information request to municipal and provincial government offices requesting data on inspections, serious occurrences, infection control, food safety, licensing...and enforcement actions by the ministry...and every public complaint against a daycare" over the past three years. "Together, the records painted a portrait of licensed childcare never before seen."
Tags: childcare; Canada; legal cases; daycare; licensing; FOIA
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Target 12 Child Watch: Uncovering Daycare Violations
WPRI-TV investigates reported incidents where young children had been "wandering away from daycare centers" and "children being left sleeping on school buses." They looked into the frequency of these incidents to examine how safe daycare centers are, and inform parents on how to find out more about their child's daycare center. They uncovered cases of abuse and neglect, with unsupervised children finding themselves in harm's way. They also found that 21 of the 59 daycare centers they examined "were in violation of staff to child ratios," 18 of 59 "violated hand-washing procedures," and 15 "had fire safety issues."
Tags: Child care; daycare; unsupervised children; child endangerment; child neglect
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Daycare/Sex Offender Proximity
The state of Colorado is one of 29 states that does not have a law regarding how close a registered sex offender can live to potential victims, such as day care centers. This lack of a "proximity" law led KDVR to investigate just how many sex offenders - specifically pedophiles - were living near child care facilities. They discovered that of about 4,500 sex offenders in Colorado, 64 percent were within 1,500 feet of a day care facility, with many of that 64 percent being pedophiles. There was one situation where a sex offender was living in the same home as a day care owner, who had their license revoked as a result of the investigation.
Tags: Sex offenders; pedophilia; proximity law; Colorado; Department of Human Services; day care centers
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Sex offenders mapped out of the city
An ordinance was passed that would ban sex offenders from within 2,500 feet of a school, park or daycare. This banishment zone covered 82 percent of the city's housing.
Tags: sex offenders; zoning; Taunto, MA; ordinance; mapping; sexual predator
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Recalled Products at Daycare
This investigation found that many states do not require daycares to check and see if they're using recalled products. As a result, several children have died because of recalled products -- like cribs, playpens and toys -- at their daycares.
Tags: Consumer Product Safety Commission; daycare; preschool; injury; parents