LARGO, Fla. — There are questions and concerns about why a Florida childcare worker was allowed to stay on the job after 10 Tampa Bay uncovered dozens of complaints over more than three decades.
Rebecca Bird was arrested in July and charged with child abuse after she was caught on camera, forcefully grabbing a 2-year-old. Deputies said surveillance video at the Largo, Florida, daycare where she was working caught her forcefully grabbing a toddler causing him to hit the ground.
The boy's grandmother, Amy — who only wants to be identified by her first name to protect her grandson's identity — said the family sought counseling for the toddler once they noticed a change in his demeanor.
"Now, how does a parent do their due diligence to make sure, because now my daughter has had to place her child somewhere else. She's been mortified and scared to death," Amy said.
In July, 10 Tampa Bay reporter Liz Crawford uncovered that back in 2013, an infant died while under Bird's care. Now, we've found childcare complaints against Bird that date back 34 years.
10 Tampa Bay requested all prior complaints filed on Bird with Pinellas County Child Care Licensing. We received a 108-page file, containing at least 50 complaints over 34 years. Some of the complaints include the following descriptions:
- "...left a crying 8-month-old in a playpen in the house while others were outside..."
- "...the provider leaves the children unattended and she gets locked out of the home a lot..."
- "...caregiver bragging about using childcare money to finance her pot smoking habit..."
- "...yelling at children in care, no heat in home, caregiver gets angry with (redacted) and uses abusive language..."
- "...I asked what happened, she said, Rebecca hit my hand."
10 Tampa Bay showed the complaints to Amy.
"The state says it's OK for her to work, even with this (record) and they tell the facility, she's fine to work. The facility lives off of what the state says and doesn't do their own due diligence," said Amy, who wants to see more oversight over the hiring process for childcare workers in Florida.
10 Tampa Bay also showed the complaints to Bianca Raponi, whose infant daughter, Tamara, died nine years ago while under Bird's care. Raponi said she had no idea Bird had this kind of complaint history: "I would have never put my baby with her."
An autopsy report found Tamara had "white milky fluid in the airways" but the official cause of the 4-month-old death was undetermined.
Bird was never charged in connection with Tamara's death.
After looking through the documents spanning more than three decades with at least 50 separate complaints, Raponi asked, "How is it possible that someone with all of these allegations of child abuse and neglect is able to be around children?"
10 Tampa Bay asked that very question to Pinellas Child Care Licensing, the agency that had a record of all of these complaints.
In an e-mail, a spokesperson said:
"In terms of why the person in question was able to work in child care, hiring decisions are made by employers in the industry. Background checks are done by DCF for child care employees for illegal activity. An employer hiring a child care worker would need to determine if they want to hire someone with any non-criminal activity information they have (past employment referrals, etc.)."
On the Pinellas Child Care Licensing website it says, "Our mission is to protect and promote the health, safety, and mental development of children cared for in children's centers and family child care homes in Pinellas County."
10 Tampa Bay asked Amy what she thinks would have happened if the daycare her grandson was at didn't have surveillance video of the incident.
"It would be alleged and unfounded and it'd be the 109th page (in her file) and she'd be working somewhere else," Amy said.
As for Raponi, she lives with the "what if" every single day.
"My daughter would still be alive if they would have done their job if they would have corrected this, stopped a person who should have never been around children. Period," Raponi said.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to the daycare where Bird last worked to see if they had called Bird's previous employers for a reference.
The pastor who oversees Aldersgate Christian Learning Center said in an e-mail, “All I can share with you is that the state background check was performed and she was cleared to work at the preschool. I cannot share any other information than that."
The state attorney's office formally charged Bird with third-degree child abuse; her arraignment is Nov. 7.
Back in July after she was arrested, Bird told 10 Tampa Bay the charges filed against her were not true before closing her door and refusing to answer any other questions.