East Brunswick Daycare Denied Admission To Baby Exposed To Hep C

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — An East Brunswick daycare center violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it denied a baby admission after the boy's mother disclosed the child may have hepatitis C, said U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.

The daycare is Children’s Choice Academy, located on West Ferris Street in East Brunswick. The business provides daycare services to approximately 70 children.

According to the settlement (made public on Tuesday), the boy's mother told the daycare that her infant son was exposed to Hepatitis C at birth. However, due to her son's age — he was only an infant — no accurate diagnosis could be made as to whether or not her son actually carried the virus.

The mother said she told Children's Choice about his possible exposure when she submitted her application. However, daycare employees told federal investigators something different — they said the mother told them her son was exposed to and/or was positive for Hepatitis B and/or possibly even HIV.

The daycare told her they could not enroll him in their program.

That is against the law, said Carpentino.

“The ADA prohibits day are centers from denying services on the basis of disability or perceived disability,” Carpenito said. “Today’s settlement sends a clear message that denying access, or suggesting that a person should seek services elsewhere, is discrimination that this office will take action to address.”

On Tuesday of this week, Carpentino announced the daycare made the decision to settle with the federal government over the issue.

Under the terms of the settlement, the daycare must pay $5,000 in damages to the boy's mother. The daycare must give her the check within ten days of the settlement, which was signed Tuesday of this week.

Children’s Choice Academy must also implement policies and procedures to ensure that children with disabilities are afforded full and equal treatment; will publish on its website a statement of its policy on the prohibition of disability discrimination, and will provide mandatory training on the ADA and its prohibition of disability discrimination to all employees.

You can read the entire settlement yourself here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/press-release/file/1227216/download