In-home day care operator charged with abusing baby

A woman who runs a day care in her Summit neighborhood home has been charged with felony child abuse after deputies say she slapped a baby girl in the face hard enough to cause bleeding around the baby’s brain.

Seven-month-old Kendra Gaddie was released Monday night from Palmetto Health Richland and slept for 11 hours, said her mother, Michelle Gaddie.

The 38-year-old mother of three says her trust has been shattered.

“I’m petrified,” Gaddie said. “I actually have anxiety when I think about it. I don’t trust anybody. It could be Mother Teresa at this point — I don’t trust her. Do I have to quit work? I don’t know.”

A CT scan detected bleeding around Kendra’s brain, Gaddie said, and an eye scan found retinal hemorrhages — indicating she also might have been shaken.

The baby still has trouble feeding, sometimes vomiting, and her bruises are still visible, Gaddie said, but “she’s doing much better.”

Kendra smiled for the first time since the incident Friday, her mother said. It’s unclear whether she’ll face long-term problems. “We’re just gonna watch her and see if she hits her milestones and make sure everything’s OK.”

Talisha Lavette Smith, 25, of Fox Grove Circle, is charged with child abuse inflicting great bodily injury upon a child stemming from an incident Wednesday at Helping Hands Family Child Care, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. She is free on bail.

If convicted, Smith faces up to 20 years in prison.

“There should be tougher penalties for people who are in positions of trust with our children,” Gaddie said. “Whatever the penalty is, I don’t think it’s ever gonna be enough for me.”

Smith, who declined comment Tuesday, has no history of complaints in the year she has been a licensed day-care provider with the state Department of Social Services, said Leigh Bolick, the agency’s director of child care services.

She has no criminal record in South Carolina, State Law Enforcement Division records show.

Last week, DSS ordered her to close Helping Hands after she failed to renew her permit within 10 days of its March 5 expiration, Bolick said. “We have verified that there are no children there.”

DSS is investigating the alleged abuse, Bolick said, and if the allegation proves founded, Smith would be prohibited from operating a child-care center.

Smith, who is pregnant, has cared for her own son and four other children in her home, Gaddie said.

Gaddie, a software consultant, and her husband, Patrick Gaddie, a soldier stationed at Fort Jackson, have not returned to work.

When Patrick Gaddie picked Kendra up from Helping Hands at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, he noticed “some bruising” on her left cheek, a police report said.

When he asked Smith about the bruises, she told him Kendra “had been trying to sit up” and had “fallen over, striking her head on the bottom of a small rocker,” a police report said.

The couple took Kendra to Providence Hospital Northeast, where hospital officials, suspecting abuse, called the sheriff’s department.

In a subsequent interview, Lott said, Smith admitted slapping the child in the face.

“This was a helpless child who relied upon an adult to care for her,” Lott said. “The child was slapped on the left side of the face, and doctors told investigators that the injury to the child’s brain is on the right side — indicating the child was hit extremely hard.”

Kendra was taken to Palmetto Health Richland for further treatment, Gaddie said, spending two nights in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Gaddie said she found Helping Hands on the DSS Web site. She enrolled her son, Bruce, now 2, in the program in March 2007. Kendra was placed there shortly before Christmas.

The couple interviewed numerous day-care owners, Gaddie said, but felt comfortable with Smith. “We just got a really good feeling from her.”

The Gaddies told Smith how painful it was to lose their 2½-month-old son, Patrick Jr., to pneumonia three years ago. They also have a 17-year-old daughter, Jessica.

They considered Smith a member of the family, Gaddie said, and were saving Kendra’s clothing and bassinet for her.

“I don’t understand why she would do that to our child,” Gaddie said. “I don’t understand.”

Reach Higgins at (803) 771-8570.