A northwest Iowa woman has agreed to shut down her daycare operation after a child was nearly strangled there last week.The Appletree Daycare Center in Milford is closed. An attorney for daycare owner Roberta Fedderson notified officials that Federson would not protest the petition filed by the Dickinson County Attorney’s office.
The petition asked that Fedderson be permanently barred from providing daycare services in Iowa. With her agreement, that order went into effect at midnight. Last Wednesday, a five-year-old girl was found unresponsive at the center, with a jump rope around her neck. The child was hospitalized, but authorities say she recovered.
According to Roger Munns, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, the Appletree Daycare had been on "provisional status" before last week’s incident. Munns says that status was "based on a pattern of safety issues" at Appletree.
D.H.S. workers are helping parents who took their children to the now-closed daycare find an alternative caregiver.
AUDIO: Ryan Long reports on Appletree Daycare Center. :49 MP3