Montco Daycare Where Teacher Allegedly Assaulted Babies Closes: Report

OAKS, PA — A Montgomery County daycare has been shut down months after police said an employee assaulted and severely injured two babies in her care, according to state officials and a media report.

Oaks Early Learning Center in Oaks closed in December, the Pennsylvania Department of Education said. NBC Philadelphia reports that the closure was the result of another incident, this time involving a baby falling off of a changing table.

The daycare did not immediately report the incident and then attempted to downplay it, the report states.

Specific information about the incident is not known, and it's not clear if additional criminal charges have been filed.

Oaks Early Learning Center has continued to operate since former teacher Catalina Baldwin, 37, was arrested over the summer.

Baldwin, of Phoenixville, was a lead teacher at Oaks and headed up the facility's infant program. She was responsible for feeding, lesson planning, and other "basic needs," she told police in an interview the day that one of the infants was hospitalized.

The first assault occurred around May 29, officials said. The child, a 5-month-old girl, suffered unexplained bleeding in her mouth, which was serious enough that she was taken to CHOP and put on a feeding tube, according to authorities.

The child was in the sole care of Baldwin at the time of the mysterious injury, the DA said. The CHOP Child Protection Team described that injury as “highly concerning for non-accidental trauma/child physical abuse.”

The next incident occurred on July 9, police said. It's not clear exactly what Baldwin did to the child, but later that day, investigators said she searched "shaken syndrome" on the Internet on her phone. She also described the child as a "nightmare" to her coworker in a text, police said.

First responders rushed the child to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in King of Prussia where she was diagnosed with numerous injuries, including a subdural hematoma due to serious head injury, retinal hemorrhages in both eyes, and injuries to the ligaments in her cervical spine. She was then flown by helicopter to CHOP in Philadelphia, where part of her skull was removed to assist with treatment, the DA said. She is currently recovering.

Baldwin was released on bail in September and is currently awaiting trial on several counts of aggravated assault. A trial date has not yet been scheduled but the next pre-trial conference is set for Wednesday.