FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Parents will now have to find a new place for childcare after a judge upheld a decision to revoke the license of a Forsyth County daycare. This comes after the owner was charged with failure to report the alleged sexual abuse of a toddler.
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Attorney Casey Stevens said when his client, the father of a preschool girl testified in February, he was hopeful the days of Cornerstone Schools operating its childcare center would be numbered. A judge agreed, affirming the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning’s decision to revoke Cornerstone’s license. Cornerstone now has less than 30 days to close.
“That is the reason we have mandatory reporting requirements. It takes the discretion out of it,” said Stevens.
This all centers around Steven’s client, coming to Cornerstone last March after his little girl said she’d been touched inappropriately by worker Tulsi Patel. But the owner Angela Martin, said on the stand in February she told the father: “I just said, I don’t believe anything happened, which I didn’t,” said Martin.
Martin didn’t report the alleged abuse until months later when Patel was working at another daycare center and was arrested, and charged with physically and sexually abusing 12 preschoolers.
In a statement from Angela Martin’s attorney, Brian Hansford said:
“The fundamental problem with this ruling is that the facts surrounding Cornerstone School’s handling of the potential child abuse report were selectively interpreted to support revoking its license.
However, when the situation is evaluated within the timeframe during which the school was responsible for the child’s safety, the record shows that school management fulfilled its legal and ethical obligations. Unfortunately, the judgment in this case appears to have been improperly influenced by events that occurred after the employee in question left Cornerstone.
State regulations require the reporting of any suspected child abuse. That obligation was met. The school acted responsibly and in consultation with the child’s parent. Neither party—parent nor administration—found sufficient cause to report abuse at that time.
What this ruling seems to ignore is that the later discovery of the employee’s alleged misconduct at a different job is irrelevant to the question of whether Cornerstone acted appropriately while she was employed there. The administration handled the original concern thoroughly and transparently. The father of the child was given immediate access to the employee, surveillance footage was reviewed, and other staff who worked with the employee were made available for questioning.
Despite there being no clear evidence of abuse, and despite the parent not requesting the employee’s removal, the administration nevertheless offered to terminate her employment immediately. The parent declined. His child remained enrolled at the school through the remainder of the academic year. At the hearing, he testified plainly, “Tulsi Patel is a good actress.”
To be absolutely clear: Cornerstone’s administration could not substantiate any abuse and acted in accordance with both the law and the parents’ expressed wishes. No mandatory reporter involved at the time—including individuals professionally obligated to report—believed there was reasonable cause to do so.
This ruling unfairly penalizes the school for responsibly navigating a difficult situation and does so by retroactively imposing consequences based on information that was not available—and not relevant—at the time.”
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“Your job is to report it and let the authorities do what they need to do we are dealing with objective criteria versus people making their own subjective analysis of the situation,” said Stevens.
DECAL Commissioner Amy M. Jacobs also added, “Judge Stephanie Howells has affirmed DECAL’s decision to revoke the license of Cornerstone Schools, located at 4888 Browns Bridge Road, Cumming, Georgia, 30041. This decision underscores the importance of adherence to laws that protect our children and ensure their safety.
The revocation was necessary following the center’s failure to report an allegation of sexual abuse to the Department of Family and Children Services, as mandated by law. This omission led to the arrest of one of its staff members, highlighting a grave lapse in the duty of care owed to the children.”
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