Day Care Provider Allegedly Kills 2-Month-Old In Minnesota

A Minnesota woman was charged with second-degree murder for killing a 2-month-old whom she looked after in her home without a license.

Sarah L. Kortan, 30, called police June 20 about a infant not breathing. When they reached the scene, they found the child lying unresponsive and also noticed bruises on her face and white foam coming out of her nose.

The child was taken to a hospital where doctors found she had little to no brain activity. Josephine, the victim, also had symptoms of being shaken. Two days later, she was taken off life support.

Post-mortem revealed the child suffered multiple skull fractures and severe eye injuries. Kortan told police she dropped the infant who hit her head on the stove and the floor.

Kortan was offering in-home day care at her home in the Prairie Rose Apartments in Red Lake Falls through Facebook and was looking after two other children aged 8 and 12, who were both at the former's home when the incident took place.

State records showed Kortan did not have license as a day care provider.

Chelsey Howell, the baby’s mother, has been in prison since February on drug charges.

A few months ago, Kortan started a GoFundMe page where she wrote she wanted to adopt a baby as she was unable to give birth.

Kortan is set to appear in court Wednesday and is currently in prison, Star Tribune reported.

In a similar incident, a day care owner was sentenced in January to 30 months in prison for killing a boy with an overdose of Benadryl.

Carol Cardillo, who operated an unlicensed day care out of her home in Fairfield, Connecticut, never admitted to killing the boy, who died in March 2016 and said she was very sad about what happened to the 4-month-old infant.

“I am very sad this happened to a beautiful little boy, but this has also caused great havoc in my family,” she said, local daily CT post reported.

Fox 61 reported Cardillo's lawyer said she did not kill the child intentionally.

A survey by National Institute of Child Health Development in 2007 said only 10 percent day cares in the United States provided high-quality care and since it a very poorly paid job, it does not attract highly skilled people and most of them have minimal or no training in safety, health, or child development.

The day cares are not inspected regularly by state authorities and even if they are, most of the times they are not shut down due to parental pressures and lack of alternatives.

Sue Lahmeyer, former district director of licensing for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said, “You know, when we walk into some of these places, they’re meeting the letter of the standards, but it’s like a warehouse for children. You know it when, as the inspector, you are the most interesting thing the kids have seen all day. They attach themselves to you and are trying to engage because there’s nothing else going on for them,” New Republic reported.