Officials: Wappingers Falls day care under investigation following abuse allegations
The Office of Children and Family Services has “initiated an investigation” into Kidz Town in Wappingers Falls after a child care worker was accused of abusing a preschooler.
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A Dutchess County day care with a history of violations and complaints is now under investigation after an alleged incident of child abuse.
A representative with the Office of Children and Family Services says the state agency has “initiated an investigation” into Kidz Town on Route 9 in Wappingers Falls after a child care worker was accused of abusing a preschooler.
News 12 spoke to the toddler’s mom by phone who said she was alerted by state officials that her 2-year-old was involved in an alleged incident at the facility but said the day care has not provided any further information.
News 12 spoke to an employee at the facility on Wednesday about the allegations who asked she not be identified.
“It’s a fallacy that’s blown up,” says the woman. “I think it’s unfortunate that it’s gotten to the point that you are here interviewing me about these claims when we are all doing our job well and the kids are well taken care of.”
News 12 talked to Kidz Town director, Agnes Lopez, by phone. She says the staff member involved in the alleged incident was let go and three others quit. Lopez wouldn’t say what happened but claimed no child was ever hurt.
The Office of Children and Family Services oversees licensed day care facilities in New York state.
According to the agency’s online records, this isn’t the first time Kidz Town is being looked into. OCFS issued the day care center nine violations for mostly fire safety issues last August that are still not corrected, according to state records, and has investigated ten other complaints about the facility since 2020, three which were substantiated.
Two of the founded complaints were for not having enough staff and another was for the facility’s failure to have visitors sign in, according to OCFS records.
Lopez says the facility is now “all staffed up,” and that most of the recent violations have been fixed. She says she’s waiting on the facility’s landlord to fix safety issues with the building that OCFS cited them for.
Wappingers Falls police referred News 12's questions about a possible law enforcement investigation into the child abuse claims to the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and State Police. News 12 is waiting to hear back from those agencies for information.
