EXCERPT FROM: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Tim Eberly
In three days, Amanda Hester would marry the quiet Army Ranger she met on Match.com. She took the rest of the week off to make final preparations.
The important details were covered — even the tiny tuxedo with a brown bow tie for the couple’s infant son Jace.
Hester’s cellphone buzzed as she was about to get her nails done.
The day care center called: Jace had stopped breathing.
Four-month-old Jace Hester is one of nine children who died in licensed day care programs across the state in the past five years.
Five of the deaths, including Jace’s, involved infants who died after they were put down for naps. Five of them were sudden unexpected infant deaths.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation into the infant sleeping deaths also revealed that:
• In four of those five cases, the children were put down to sleep on their stomachs — the dominant risk factor for SIDS.
• All but one of the infant sleeping deaths occurred at smaller, home-based programs.
• All five child-care providers had violated state regulations governing how infants should sleep at the time of the deaths.
• In cases in which infants are unharmed, the state does not fine day care programs that are caught putting infants to sleep on their stomachs.
Bobby Cagle, commissioner of the state agency that regulates child care, said this week that, as a result of the AJC’s reporting, he is hiring an expert to compare the deaths and injuries in Georgia’s programs to those in other states.
“Frankly, as [the AJC’s] investigation has continued, I have continued to ask questions myself,” Cagle said. “And my staff and I have decided that we really want to look more deeply at this.”
He also said he’s looking into providing more SIDS education and wants to find out why more infant sleeping deaths occur in smaller home-based programs.