Wichita daycare suspended after operator forced foster child into hot bath, order says

An emergency suspension was issued for a Wichita daycare after the operator forced her foster child to sit in a hot bath, causing second-degree burns all over the child’s lower half, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment order signed Thursday.

The 29-year-old Wichita woman, who operated His Loving Hands Home Childcare at 357 North Erie, admitted to smacking the child on the back, causing bruising, and “making (the child) sit in a hot bath, resulting in the burns,” the order says.

She was arrested Monday at the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County on suspicion of one count of child abuse, but has not yet been charged. The daycare facility became licensed on June 17.

The woman could not be reached for comment.

Child taken to hospital with ‘second-degree burns’

Authorities first contacted the woman after one of the two foster children in her care was taken to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis with “superficial second-degree burns spanning (the child’s) buttocks, posterior thigh, genitalia, inner thighs, and tops of the feet and deep second-degree burns to lower extremities,” the order says.

She initially gave differing statements to medical staff and law enforcement about what happened, the order says.

That was on Sept. 5.

Her child and other foster child were placed in police protective custody the next day, the order says.

“Upon arrival, staff noted that both children needed baths,” the order says.

Her child had a “small scratch on his face, red marks on his back, shoulder and knee, and a small abrasion on his heel,” the order says. The other boy had missing teeth and bruising on his chest and legs, the order says.

The woman’s home address is listed in the 1200 block of N Erie, which is less than two miles from the daycare, records show.