Nashville Tennessean
The Tennessee Department of Children s Services suspended the license of a Chattanooga shelter housing unaccompanied migrant youth.
The state agency, which last year licensed The Baptiste Group to operate a residential child care facility, took the action Thursday after a former employee was charged with sexual battery in connection with a reported incident at the La Casa De Sidney shelter.
The Chattanooga Police Department on Wednesday said a 35-year-old woman who had been employed at the shelter was charged with sexual battery by an authority figure, coercion of a witness, and tampering with evidence. . The facility has proven an inability to hire individuals who are suitable and capable of caring for children within the facility s care resulting in significant criminal charges against at least one staff member and potential for youth to be subject to further abuse or lack of adequate supervision, reads a statement of facts signed by DCS Commissione