FILE – Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / State Rep. Yusuf Hakeem speaks during a meet and greet hosted by the League of Women Voters in the Chattanooga Rooms at the University Center on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Monday, Sept. 24, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tenn.Allegations of sexual battery at a Baptiste Group home for migrant children gave the state an excuse to suspend the facility’s license as political pressure mounted, a Chattanooga Democrat claims.
“That’s my perspective,” state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem said Tuesday. “And what concerns me is that supposedly the state would have been doing on-site reviews every month. But just when this sort of blew up with dealing with the border and children and all of that, that’s when all of this sort of comes out. I know things don’t necessarily have to be fabricated, but the timing of it is very suspect to me.”
Department of Children’s Services Commissioner Jennifer Nichols announced last week the department suspended the license of the Georgia-based Baptiste Group to operate La Casa de Sidney in Chattanooga as a residential child care agency following allegations that a woman working there kissed a teenage migrant boy staying at the center.
DCS found the facility showed an “inability” to hire people suitable and capable of taking care of children, leading to criminal charges and the potential for a youth to be subject to abuse or lack of adequate supervision. The group is appealing the suspension.
Chattanooga Police charged staff member Randi Duarte on June 30 with sexual battery by an authority figure, coercion of a witness and tampering with evidence. All youths have been moved from the shelter.