Baton Rouge mother takes action after daycare blames baby’s bruises on allergies

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (BRPROUD) – A Baton Rouge daycare is under state surveillance after a mother said she picked up her child with several unexplained bruises on her body.

Chandra’s Childcare & Learning Center in Baton Rouge is a house in a residential neighborhood where, Genene Davis said, her 15-month-old son Gabriel somehow suffered bruising on his face, forehead and back.

The daycare owner said the bruising was due to an allergic reaction to new carpet, but Davis said a doctor told her a different theory.

“He said they were bruises. He actually told me what type of bruise it was, but he couldn’t tell me what the bruise was from or where it came from,” Davis said.

Davis believes the facility is operating without a state license. So we checked and according to the Louisiana Department of Education, it does not have a license. If the facility has seven or more children, a license is required by state law.

We visited the daycare center on Thursday and asked.

“How many children are in there?” we asked.

“We have to say no comment,” said a man who opened the door and told BRProud his name was Mr. Williams.

“But you don’t have a license,” we said.

“We must say no comment, sir,” said the man.

The state Department of Education never returned our calls and emails asking if the daycare was under investigation for lacking a state license.

Davis said she met with the Department of Children and Families Services Friday morning to launch an abuse investigation.

We reached out to DCFS and they released the following statement:

“Due to state confidentiality laws, we cannot comment or confirm the existence of an investigation,” DCFS said.

Baton Rouge police said they have opened a case of animal cruelty to juveniles.

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