A Georgia church’s daycare program was temporarily shut down and its leadership team was arrested for allegedly giving toddlers Benadryl to “make them sleepy for their nap time,” authorities said.
The daycare at Forsyth Methodist Church was temporarily shuttered by the Department of Early Care and Learning for placing “the health, safety, and welfare of children in imminent danger," local media reported.
The child care agency’s order on March 10 came one day after the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced an employee at the daycare center was administering Benadryl to toddlers “to make them sleepy for their nap time.”
Police accused daycare teacher Kendasja Hughley of giving the drug — which is advised not to be given to children under age 6 without the consent of a doctor — to three 2-year-old toddlers on March 6 before lunchtime so they would be sleepy come nap time.
The sheriff’s office determined Hughley had given the children Benadryl after reviewing surveillance footage and speaking with witnesses, the authorities said.
Parents reported their toddlers seemed “sluggish” and “not normal" when they picked them up from daycare on multiple occasions, the child care agency’s order said, according to WGXA. The staff didn’t tell parents that their children had been given the medication.
No doctor’s notes were on file for any of the three children who were given Benadryl, the child care agency said in its order.
Another teacher reportedly witnessed Hughley giving the doses to children and then reported it to the director, the sheriff's office said. Authorities said the director, Cathy Stevick, didn’t report it to the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning until three days later — after the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook about the incident.
The Independent has reached out to the church for comment.
Hughley was charged with six counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, two counts of reckless conduct and eight counts of simple battery. Stevick was charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse. Shelby Webb, a teacher, was charged with one count of simple battery and one count of cruelty to children.
All three were arrested on Tuesday and have since been released, jail records show.
