i watched all your shows. "to catch a predator." i'm embarrassed because you're a slug. >> he's back. and you won't believe what chris hansen uncovered this time. >> that to me is like really frightening. >> day care providers, who's really running day care centers? maybe not who you think. >> you do have convictions in your past. >> let's go. >> battery, domestic violence. >> bye-bye. >> "dateline" goes undercover and finds people in charge with pasts parents don't know about. drunk driving, even a woman who killed her husband. >> is this someone who should be

running a day care center? >> in state after state, there's shock after shock. >> that's a very good piece of investigative journalism, frankly. >> who's watching your kids? undercover in "the hansen files." welcome to "dateline," everyone. i'm lester holt. it's a question for millions of parents. while you're at work, who's watching your kids? tonight "dateline" investigates the day care industry, the first in a new series of hidden camera reports from our own chris hansen. chris? >> thanks, lester. if you have a child in day care, chances are you've already done some checking, visited the center beforehand, talked to the owner, looked into reference, you probably think your state has done some thorough checking, too. but there might be something about the day care provider you've chosen that no one is telling you. it's a scene that place out

every morning all over the country. about 11 million children are dropped off at licensed day care centers each day as their parents head off to work. but some parents may not know the full story of just who's watching their kids. because some of the care givers entrusted with their children's safety have been keeping disturbing secrets about their backgrounds, like this man who we found driving children for a center in louisville, kentucky. he's had several drug convictions and an assault charge. or this provider in beaumont, texas, who has more than 175 kids in her care. she pleaded no contest to criminal conspiracy after her day care center burned down. and this woman, who runs a center in palmetto, florida, she served prison time for manslaughter. tonight, we go undercover to find out just how easy it is for people with questionable

backgrounds to get jobs in day care. and you'll be surprised by some of their records. child abuse, cruelty toward a child, felony, aggravated battery. >> i forgot about that one. >> you forgot about that one. >> yeah. >> will they come clean when we ask about their past? >> i'm not showing you nothing because you can go and you can [ bleep ]. you're the evil one, you're the demon. >> reporter: so how do parents really know who's watching their kids? these parents were sure they'd done their homework. >> we did our research on the internet. we did our visits. >> we thought as parents we were doing all we could. >> reporter: and you didn't find anything. >> exactly. >> reporter: robert and katie minton's 2-year-old son joshua was the kind of kid who was into everything. his father says he loved fishing, but rarely stood still long enough to catch anything. >> played in the water more than we fished, but -- >> reporter: high energy. >> high energy. not afraid of anything.

>> reporter: the mintons found a care giver for joshua and his sister through someone at work. it was a registered day care run by a woman named vicky childs, the state of oklahoma had given her a good rating. joshua liked it there at first, but over time his behavior changed. >> he would cry whenever i dropped him off. and i would ask my friends at work about that, oh, no, it's normal. >> reporter: then one day the mintons got a call that joshua had an accident. his care giver said he fell while eating pizza. but tragically, it was much worse than that. >> investigators are not releasing any details about what they believe happened to a 2-year-old boy inside this home today. >> reporter: the toddler was in a coma fighting for his life in a hospital room. and it was only then that his parents learned the shocking news about vicky childs' past. not from the day care center,

but from the police. it turns out they'd been investigating allegations of abuse and neglect at vicky childs' center for year. for slapping a child in the head, kicking a child in the back, leaving children unattended and unsupervised. yet she was allowed to continue to operate a day care center. >> we didn't know anything about it. >> reporter: not only that, the mintons were surprised to learn that the state of oklahoma knew vicky childs already had some run-ins with the law including a conviction for tax evasion. yet they licensed her anyway. and they never disclosed that information to any of the parents because even more surprising, in most states, information about child care workers' criminal records is kept confidential. >> we were trusting the state to, you know, make sure that this was a good working facility. >> reporter: but that trust was misplaced. >> childs told officer that she bound his hands with duct tape, then taped his mouth.

>> reporter: vicky childs told police joshua wouldn't settle down for his nap that day. believe it or not, she said she bound and gagged him as a last resort because he wouldn't stop whining. >> she had literally wrapped his head in tape. >> reporter: wrapped his head? >> all the way around. like not just from here to here. it was all the way around his head. and she had bound his hands in front of him so that he couldn't pull off the tape. >> reporter: what kind of a human being does such a thing? >> i don't know that you can really say she was a human being at that point in time. >> reporter: as joshua was medevaced to another hospital, the family waited for news. >> that's all we could do was just pray. i'd already lost my mom in january, and i was madder than heck. mom, you got to bring him back to me. mom, talk to god. tell him he can't take my baby. >> reporter: it turns out on the

very day that vicky childs bound joshua's face and hands, police were on their ways to arrest her for abusing another child just weeks before. they arrived minutes too late for joshua. he died that night. if they'd only known about that woman's past before he was placed in her care. but is this an isolated incident? we're about to go undercover in day care centers around the country. if states aren't revealing the backgrounds of some day care workers, what will happen if we ask day care operators themselves about their past. coming up -- >> but you never had anything like that. >> no, uh-uh. >> nothing. >> no. >> a day care owner with a secret. what is she hiding from parents? [ dog ] i am a pro baller. 11 years playing the outfield, and i got no plans to re [ female announcer ] aging may slow a dog down, but iams helps keep dogs playing year after year with our age-specific nutritio even for dogs 11 and older

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with a 2-year-old boy dead, the question remains, how could someone with a record have been allowed to run a day care center? sometimes it's a question that gets asked too late. last year this video shocked the country. a child's care giver repeatedly slapping, kicking and throwing objects at an infant. the child was not seriously injured, but what never made headlines was that the woman hitting the child had a previous criminal history for animal abuse. but information like that often never reaches parents. officials in one state say about half of all major incidents causing harm to children involves someone with a previous record.

>> it's insane. it's absolutely insane that we don't deal with this. >> reporter: linda smith is a nationally recognized child care advocate. since this interview, she's become deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development for the department of health and human services. big picture. how good of a job are we doing in this country monitoring the safety and well-being of children in day care centers? >> i think i'd have to give it probably an f to be honest with you. >> reporter: an f? >> f. >> reporter: smith says only 11 states do full background screenings that cross check fingerprints with state and federal databases. the rest of them are all over the map. >> reporter: how bad it is? a recent u.s. government investigation found 24 potential cases of registered sex offenders working in child care centers in just 20 states. how is that possible? >> most states are not checking the sex offender registries. >> reporter: we wanted to find out for ourselves just how

serious the problem is, so we obtained the name of licensed day care provider in five states. new york, texas, kentucky, florida and georgia, and ran them against a national criminal database provided by lexus/nexus, an online data service. we found thousands of cases varying in severity, from vehicular homicide to grand theft, to domestic violence, child abuse, even manslaughter. smith says parents have a right to know about a care giver's criminal record. >> there is a fundamental right that parents have to expect this information. they should not make these decisions blindly. >> so when they're 2 they go in that back room. >> reporter: so are parents always told the whole truth about who's taking care of their kid? we decided to visit some of these care givers undercover posing as parents and sometimes grandparents looking for child care.

>> they're making collages. >> reporter: desiree jones runs a day care in wicky watchy, florida. she takes our family around the day care center and tells them the background checks are rigorous. >> fbi, level two. >> reporter: back in the '90s, jones had numerous arrests for battery. she didn't volunteer that information at first. so i went back to ask about her background. battery, domestic violence in 1998. still, jones insists she makes no secret of her past. >> my record is open to everybody, and these are actually in my file that anybody can read. >> reporter: and you tell the parents of the children here that this is in your background? >> yes, they know. that's never been a secret. >> reporter: she says all her charges were dropped and she's a different person now. but after we asked about her, the state took another look at her record and realized she had pleaded no contest to one of those battery charges, which should have disqualified her. the state has now stopped her

from running a day care center. as our undercover families visit more centers, they're shown a dizzying array of toys, play areas and learning centers. this day care even has a talking bird. >> say hello. >> hello, hello, hello. >> he used to mimic the kids laughing. >> reporter: the bird's owner is melissa van clee who runs a center in clearwater, florida. her center has had numerous violations over the last decade but is considered general until good standing. our undercover family asks her if anyone working here has a criminal record. >> no, uh-uh. >> nothing. >> no. i mean some people have arrest record. one because she didn't have a license for her dog. that's not going to disqualify you from working in a preschool. >> reporter: she makes it sound like there's been just a few trivial complaints but her answer is misleading. in fact, she herself has had

three arrests for driving while intoxicated. one of them a felony conviction. she's also pleaded no contest to resisting arrest and to possession of marijuana. not only that, she's been charged with a violent crime, battery. facts she wasn't revealing to our undercover family. a few weeks later, we returned, and this time i go along as a family friend. i ask her how carefully she screens potential employees. how often do you come across somebody who has got a criminal conviction in their history? >> never. >> reporter: she even pulled out a thick notebook of regulations, showed us the list of crimes that aren't allowed. so no drug abuse, no alcohol abuse, physical violence. >> no, absolutely not. >> reporter: that wouldn't be allowed. bear in mind, she's been arrested for all of those thing. and you have any criminal history? >> no. >> reporter: not at all? >> no. >> reporter: there's something you need to know.

i'm chris hansen with "dateline nbc." >> i think you need to go. thank you. >> reporter: you do have convictions in your past. >> thank you. >> reporter: no. >> no, thank you. bye-bye. >> reporter: dui. battery, domestic violence. >> bye-bye. >> reporter: but you just lied to me. she was right, she did pass her state screening because of the way the law works. carrie hepner is a spokesperson for the department of family and child services. she explained that having committed a crime doesn't automatically disqualify a person from child care. these are crime scene photo from the battery case. i showed her proof of van cleave's history of violence, pictures of her boyfriend after she beat him on the head with a blunt instrument in front of his own daughter. >> as heinous as this might

look, and it does, depending on how that offense was dispositioned, it may not necessarily automatically be a disqualifying offense. >> reporter: in other words, there are ways to make one's past invisible. in melissa van cleave's case, she made a deal pleading no contest in exchange for having the charge reduced from battery to disorderly conduct. so when the state licenses agency ran a background check, there were no red flags. >> if you were to ask me if i think parents knew this, i would say no. they see a license on the wall and they assume that everything is good that the individuals have been screened to the highest standards. >> reporter: that makes linda smith cry foul. she says states can't afford to take chances. >> if i'm going to make an error between the rights of an adult and the rights of a child, i will always err on the side of the child. >> reporter: smith says the bar

has to be set high when it comes to kids because they're so vulnerable. >> if you're working with children 12 hours a day. if you don't have, you know, good self-control, things go wrong. >> reporter: don't some people deserve a second chance if a crime was committed 10, 15, 20 years ago? >> crimes directly against children, i say no. >> reporter: then what is this woman doing with a day care license? should somebody with your criminal history be running a caday >> yes. >> you abused your own child. m nasal allergy symptoms. they can hit you year round... indoors or out. achoo! prescription nasonex is clinically proven to help relieve nasal allergy symptoms... including congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. [ female announcer ] side effects may include headache, viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds, and coughing. infections of the nose and throat and eye problems including glaucoma or cataracts may occur. have regular

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everything appears normal at this day care center in louisville, kentucky. but this center has been cited for numerous safety violations as well as incidents where children were unsupervised and injured. >> everybody is checked out. >> everybody is checked out that comes here. >> reporter: if everybody is checked out, then why is this man, chris wells, driving children for the center? he's had numerous arrests including burglary, assault, terroristic threats and drug possession. his brother, who own the center, knows about wells' background, but denies that he ever worked there. and yet, here he is, unloading kids from the day care van. and take a look at this day care center we visited in beaumont, texas. its owner has some secrets, too. >> we did, didn't we, honey? >> reporter: louise hill is

licensed to care for 273 children. several years ago hill was charged with criminal conspiracy for burning down her own day care center. she served ten years probation. but that's not the only center she's owned that burned. she's had three fires at her day care center. no children were harmed in those fires. she was only charged in one of the incidents. but we discovered that when hill applied for a day care license, she was asked about her background and signed an affidavit saying she never had a felony record. so i went back with our prospective parents to visit a second time as a concerned friend. but hill was less than open about her past. what about conspiracy involving arson? >> no. never had a problem with it. i ain't never had no problem with it. >> reporter: nobody here has a criminal background including yourself?

>> not that i know of. i mean, you can check. >> reporter: then i told her who i was. i'm chris hansen with "dateline." and we've been doing some checking. >> get the camera out of here. get off of my property. >> reporter: there were three fires at your day care centers. >> get off of my property. >> reporter: and in 1987 you pleaded no contest, nolo contendere, to conspiracy. i understand that. have ufr had an incident where somebody lied? we showed what we found to linda smith now with the department of health and human services. >> it just makes the case for why this country needs to take action. >> reporter: this is a woman who had three different fires at three different day care centers. >> there's no way i can say there's an excuse for that. there just isn't. >> my daughter --

>> reporter: smith also has little tolerance for this woman. debra giles runs a center in orlando, florida. giles tells our undercover family that she love all the kids in her care. >> i choose each one of as one of my children. >> reporter: she pled no contest to felony charges for beating her own 12-year-old daughter causing bruises all over the child's body. she also pleaded no contest to a battery charge. so i went back with our undercover parents and asked giles whether the people who work at her center have undergone background checks. >> every five years. >> reporter: every five years. >> we're supposed to do a background. >> reporter: and what about your background? what about your background? >> i don't do nothing so -- >> reporter: nobody here has any criminal history? >> no. no. >> reporter: not the employees or you? >> well, i had something going

on with myself, but i had a -- >> reporter: she said there had been an incident but insisted that her daughter was just trying to get her into trouble. that's when i told giles who i was. i'm chris hansen, by the way, with "dateline." i told her we knew about her arrest record, not only for the incident with her own child but also assault on a pregnant woman. and in 1995, you were accused of aggravated battery -- >> oh, yeah, i forgot about that one. >> reporter: you forgot about that. >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: should somebody with your criminal history be running a day care center? >> yes, because simply because i do not condone abuse when it comes down to my children. >> reporter: but you abused your own children. >> no, sweetheart. i never abused my child. i'm not that type of person, number one. number two, when it came down to my child, my child was rebellious against me. okay. i spank my child. >> reporter: that's what she told the state, too. and they took her word for it.

but the police report tells a different story. giles admitted she beat the child with a belt and police found bruises on the child's arms and legs, chest, neck and thigh. so why is giles operating a center? it turns out she got something called an exemption, which allows her to care for kids despite her record. "dateline" has learned that more than 6,000 people with disqualifying crimes have been granted exemptions in florida in the past decade. nearly half of them are felons. >> well, it's an art of balancing the idea on the right to give someone a second chance. >> reporter: carrie hepner, the spokesperson for the florida department of children and families, says the state still gives exemptions despite statistics indicating that one in five ends up back in jail. that's why linda smith says states should never make exceptions when it comes to a violent crime.

the risk is too high. >> i can't, for the life of me, understand, you know, sort of the logic that would say that that's okay. coming up -- a woman with a past that's even more disturbing. she shot and killed her husband. what's she doing caring for kids? is this someone who should be running a day care center? >> the quesp ♪ ♪ imagine your teet are giant glass sculptures covered in yellow graffiti. ♪ ♪ most whitening toothpastes only remove stains from the surface of your teeth but there's also a layer beneath called dentin. dentin discolors over time. rembrandt deeply white toothpaste uses the same enamel-safe whitening ingredient dentists use to noticeably whiten teeth from the inside and out. rembrandt deeply white. whiten inside and out. ♪♪ that aroma calls to you ♪ ♪ time to jump in to something new ♪ ♪

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linda brooks has been licensed to run a day care 3 f1 center for more than a decade. even though she served prison is this someone who should be running a day care center? the florida department of children and families, carrie hepner. >> the question is should or can. and in the state of florida, is this an individual that's been

able to run a day care have? yeah, it has. >> reporter: but after the state gave brooks a license she had more arrests and restraining orders and her centers began to have problems. she's been fined multiple times for sears yus violations. infestations of rodents and roaches, repeated safety problems posing a danger to children, yet she was allowed to continue to operate. carrie hepner says that's how the system works. >> unless we have a child, unfortunately, who has been seriously harmed or even killed, it is not easy to suspend or revoke a license. >> reporter: but there's even more. who does brooks have on her payroll at her day care center? jocelyn blake who pleaded no contest to felony forgery. and latronda brooks, she pleaded no contest to felony intent to defraud. she's also been charged with felony grand theft. she's pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

just a few years ago, linda brooks pleaded guilty to another felony, this time financial fraud. but there's no system in play for the court to report her arrest to the day care licensing agency. and since florida only runs these background checks every five years, it was unaware of the conviction, that is, until we mentioned it. >> this particular case for you exemplifies where the weaknesses are in the current exemption process. >> reporter: actually if somebody gets an exemption, but then gets in trouble again, you wouldn't know it about for potentially five years. >> potentially five years. >> reporter: and on top of that, brooks seems to have found a way to scam money in the process. her center gets government subsidies for each child with financial need. but when we visited her day care, she had only five kids, and on another day no kids the entire day. but according to state records, brooks claimed 26 kids on both of those days. in fact, over the past ten

years, brooks has received nearly $1.5 million in government subsidies. shortly after our own investigation, the state discovered something else. >> when they submitted their attendance no child ever missed a day. >> reporter: she was scamming? >> yes. >> reporter: sharon oaks headed up the investigation for the local florida agency that oversees government funding of day care centers. she showed us page after page of sign-in sheets from brooks' day care. all of them, she says, containing fake signatures. is this the most flagrant case you've ever seen? >> in terms of dollar amount? yes. >> reporter: the worst? >> yes. >> reporter: brooks' funding was pulled, and she was forced to close down. when i caught up with her, brooks agreed to an interview saying she was eager to tell her side of the story, but her lawyer canceled at the last minute. remember linda brooks was operating a day care center with the state's full knowledge that

she'd served time for manslaughter. but what if someone who committed a heinous crime wanted to slip by state background checks undetected? >> i would say we have a strong network. >> reporter: kentucky state representative kelly flood believes her state does a good job screening day care workers. how extensive is the background check as we speak here today? >> in kentucky, it is extensive. >> reporter: what kinds of crimes would preclude somebody from working in a day care center here in kentucky? >> violent crimes, any crime where a weapon has been used, any crime that involves sexual predator behavior. >> reporter: so we chose three women and submitted their names for day care licensing in kentucky. this one in virginia was recently convicted of murder for hire. this one was found guilty of shooting a policeman in alabama. and this woman in texas was convicted of killing her husband

and her own two children. all three of these women have been executed. we took the social security numbers and dates of birth and we submitted those identities to the state of kentucky, and none of these crimes were detected. these people passed the background check. >> that says to me that we have two large a hole in the system. i think that is a very good piece of investigative journalism, frankly. >> reporter: part of the problem is that many states, including kentucky, don't do nationwide background checks, just statewide. so if someone had committed a crime in another state, you'd never know. but it wouldn't have taken anything as sophisticated as a government background check to defecttect the crimes these women had committed. all it took us was a google search. coming up -- >> you are a piece of [ bleep ]. >> he's been running a successful day care operation for 13 years. so what's behind this?

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we've shown you how you could be left clueless about the criminal history of your child's care giver. but it's not just parents. this woman also found herself in the dark about some of the people who worked for her. >> still trying to wake up from the nightmare that i can't seem to wake up from. >> reporter: katie mohammed ran day care centers in florida. four summers ago she took her

first vacation in years. while she was gone her staff hired a new driver for one of her centers. her name amanda inman. did you have any idea that amanda inman had two obstruction resisting arrest charges, driving an unsafe vehicle, no license and several other driving related offenses? >> no, i didn't. and none of my staff were aware of that. >> reporter: mohammed says all she knows that is the state gave inman a clean background check. if you had known amanda inman had this record relatinging to driver safety, would you have hired her to drive kids? >> no, i wouldn't have. >> reporter: one day last august amanda left a 2-year-old child inside the van. but the person who was supposed to double-check the van was this woman sh petra rodriguez perez. she didn't look inside the van either. she also had a record. as it turns out. worthless checks, driving without a license. >> i didn't have any idea about

specifically that about that. >> reporter: perez made head counts three times that day. she thought the child was already inside the day care center. >> you checked her off but you didn't see her? >> no, i didn't because i went into the bus log. that's how i do it every day. i don't go into the rooms. >> reporter: not going into the rooms and actually seeing the child turned out to be a fatal mistake. >> she's not breathing or anything. >> she's not breathing? >> no. >> reporter: 2-year-old haley brockington was left in the van for six hours in temperatures as high as 135 degrees. perez and inman pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. mohammed has had to close all four of her centers. but of all the day care owners we visited, the most perplexing was this one. sam simpson. simpson and his wife run

storybook ranch in tampa, which was started by simpson's mother 32 years ago. back in the 1990s, simpson was arrested for battery twice. both times he served probation. that was enough to get turned down for child care licensing, but the state reconsidered because simpson's mother wanted to hand down the family business to her son. so florida said as long as he stayed out of trouble, he could run the center. he has had a clean record since, and we thought he might be a good example of someone who put his mistakes long behind him. so i went back to talk with him. the visit went fine. >> we have to go do early child care training. >> reporter: until this. i wanted to ask you if you yourself had a criminal history? >> no, i do not. >> reporter: you do not. >> no. >> reporter: you've never pleaded guilty to any crime. >> no. >> reporter: nothing? then what is this? >> that loobks like a photograph

of me when i was wrongfully accused of battery. >> reporter: wrongfully accused. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: i told simpson we were with "dateline" and said we'd seen the police reports on his earlier charges. an incident in which he pleaded guilty to physically attacking his first wife then fleeing from police. and a second case involving injuries to a different woman who claimed simpson got mad when she wouldn't have sex. he was found guilty of battery. simpson says both incidents have been misunderstood, but says he did take anger management courses. >> that is a whole different time in my life. i was a kid. >> reporter: simpson said we weren't being fair. said he's been running the center without incident for 13 years. >> and i met the requirements. i had to jump through a lot of hoops, mr. hansen, to get this position. >> reporter: i understand that. but the more i tried to ask questions, the more heated the conversation got. >> this is a waste of my time.

we have done nothing but provide exemplary service to the people of this area for 32 years. and you guys come in here with this [ bleep ], wasting my time? >> reporter: this is how we find these things out. >> this is nonsense. you're the evil one. you're the demons. i watched all your shows "to catch a predator" you are a piece of [ bleep ]. >> reporter: i came here to give aw chance to talk about this. >> you can go and you can [ bleep ] a rope and you can pay money to to get any information else about me. i'm embarrassed because you're a slug. you're a slug. >> reporter: we're happy to leave then. >> thank you. all of you, get the hell off my property. good day. from storybook ranch, you guys are pieces of [ bleep ] garbage and hell awaits. >> reporter: we smoehowed the tape of simpson to linda smith who is now with the department of health and human services. >> you pushed his buttons, obviously, but so do little kids. when you have ten toddlers in a room, you know, that's a

stressful situation. and someone who cannot control their, you know, their own anger like that, that is frightening. >> reporter: this was our parents' third trip to simpson center and his temper flared only after several minute of my questioning. his day care center has gotten good ratings from state inspectors and simpson has received numerous certificates for child care training over the years. simpson's lawyer later requested a sitdown interview, but then canceled. so far, we've met a lot of day care operators who concealed their past. now we've been doing an investigation. now it's time to tell some parents the truth. coming up -- >> she doesn't even have bad credit. >> did she happen to tell you that she had an arrest record of any kind? >> uh-uh. no. >> and coming up sunday on "dateline" -- >> now! >> we are back on the case with our hidden cameras.

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how can you check on your day care center? join me and a team of experts for our first ever google plus hangout web chat. we'll answer your questions monday at noon eastern on "dateline nbc".com. pam stewart runs a family day care home in irving, texas. our prospective grandparents paid stewart a visit one day. >> hi. >> reporter: she told them she had openings, but she said she

wasn't prepared for company. >> after-school's crazy. i promise you it's not a good time. because the after-school kids are wild because they've been sitting in class all day. and those who have been here with me all day are wild because they're ready to go home. >> reporter: when a day care won't let parents drop by unannounced it's a possible red flag. it turns out stewart has reason to be secretive. several years ago stewart was charged with child abandonment after she left her own 14-month-old son in her van on a searing hot day in august while she ran errand. the child survived. a grand jury indicted stewart. she agreed to a plea bargain and served 14 months probation. you might be surprised to learn that despite this, stewart is still transporting preschoolers in her van every day. so a few weeks after that first visit, i returned with our

family. this time stewart cautiously let us in, but as soon as i asked about her past, we weren't welcome. >> that has nothing to do with you right now at this time. so if you would, please, leave, that would be fine. thank you. >> reporter: so do the parents who trust their children to stewart's care know about her record? holly whitaker is a single mom who says she was careful when she lookeded for someone to watch her two children. >> a lot of the day cares around here. >> reporter: holly found stewart listed under affordable day care on the internet. then she actually ran stewart's name through an online database. >> i checked her out. she doesn't even have bad credit. >> reporter: but apparently whatever database holly searched didn't turn up stewart's charges. >> did she happen to tell you that she had an arrest record? >> uh-uh. >> reporter: when we told her the details that stewart had left her own child in a van, she was shocked.

>> well, that's horrible. why was she given a license? i mean today she would have been given a stricter punishment, i'm sure. >> reporter: she's right. as a result of a tragedy a few years ago after a child died after being left in a day care van, texas has toughened it regulations. but the state won't comment on why stewart is still operating. and holly is concerned. >> i'm going to, you know, ask her about it and, you know, see what she says. >> reporter: but we found another parent with a child in stewart's care. vanessa says she already knew about the incident. here's what she says stewart told her. >> she was out of that car for five minutes. the windows were cracked. and she actually had a vision of the car. from where she was. that's what she told me. >> reporter: the officers involved tell a different story. they, in fact, went into that bank and they could not see the car.

>> okay. >> reporter: we told vanessa that a police witness estimated stewart was in the bank as long as 20 minutes. the child had been in the car long enough to start to have symptoms. >> oh. >> reporter: heavy perspiration. but like many parents vanessa thinks that because the state has approved stewart, she must be okay. >> the state said it's okay for her to keep her day care going. who am i to judge her? i want to trust they're doing their job. >> reporter: and holly whitaker has also decided to keep her daughter in stewart's care. she says she spoke with stewart and trusts that her child is safe. >> i trust that the states are doing their job. >> reporter: that's a typical reaction according to linda smith. >> parents trust, they assume things are being done and they trust the state. when the state is letting them down, you know, i mean, it's the worst of all, i think, betrayals of government.

>> reporter: florida's carrie hepner says her state takes very seriously the decision to give someone a second chance. >> there's not always a guarantee that this individual will not turn back but there's also the opportunity that they won't. >> reporter: but not everyone agrees it's that simple. >> you never know when someone's going to snap. >> reporter: you met katie and robert minton earlier. their son joshua died afford his caregiver bound his head and hands with tape when he wouldn't settle down for a nap. the mintons say if states are going to give second chances to day care workers who have committed crimes, parents deserve to be told. >> had we known, we would have pulled the kids directly once we found out. >> there's no way we would have left our kid in there. and neither would any other parent. >> reporter: so what can be done? linda smith told us there needs to be a federal law requiring fingerprinting and cross checking with all national databases.

>> if we don't figure out how to do this better, we're going to pay the price. >> reporter: smith said states need to clamp down on who gets exemptions and that they should be mandated to disclose the past history of day care workers to parents. >> parents need to know. or that person shouldn't be there. >> reporter: as a result of the minton tragedy, oklahoma now has a registry called joshua's list, which makes public the names of anyone with a criminal record applying for day care in that state. >> why did josh have to die before they would do something about it? >> reporter: as for joshua's care giver, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but the mintons say they're serving a life sentence for the state's mistake. >> joshua doesn't get a shot at redemption. he's gone. what kind of second chance does he get? >> chris, i'm surprised to hear

that only 11 states do thorough and extensive background checks on day care operator. what else can parents do? >> it surprised me, too. but the lesson here, lester, is that parents have to be their own advocates. you have to get references from other people who have experience at that day care center. you need to show up unannounced quite honestly. and if a day care provider has a problem with it, that's a warning sign. we have a whole list of tips and information for our parents at datelinenbc.com. >> chris, thank you. >> thank you. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline" friday, we'll see you for "dateline" sunday at 7:00, 6:00 central. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com