Protect Pennsylvania's Daycare Children After Another Physical Assault
The Issue
In March 2026, a 42-year-old employee at a KinderCare in Hatboro, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania physically assaulted a child in his care. Thomas Coleman was not arrested until June 18 — nearly three months after the complaint was filed. He now faces felony charges for endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.
Three months. A child was assaulted at a licensed daycare and it took three months for an arrest.
This is not the first time Montgomery County has seen this. In July 2025, a worker at the Oaks Learning Center — also in Montgomery County — was charged with aggravated assault after a 7-month-old girl was left unresponsive with a brain bleed. A second baby — a 5-month-old — was found to have been assaulted by the same worker in the same facility.
Two daycare assaults. Same county. Less than a year apart. Both at licensed facilities. Both involving children too young to fully protect themselves or speak up for what was done to them.
This is a pattern. And Pennsylvania's childcare oversight system is not keeping up with it.
Children in Pennsylvania's public schools have layers of mandated reporter requirements, rapid response protocols, and child protection systems built around keeping them safe. Children in licensed daycare facilities — often younger and more vulnerable — deserve exactly the same protection. Right now they do not have it.
Pennsylvania needs a mandatory dedicated abuse reporting hotline for licensed childcare facilities. It needs a rapid response protocol ensuring complaints are investigated immediately — not three months later. It needs unannounced inspections and mandatory staff training on child protection. And it needs real consequences for facilities that fail to report suspected abuse promptly.
We're calling on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and the state legislature to pass legislation creating mandatory abuse reporting and rapid response protocols for all licensed childcare facilities in Pennsylvania — because every child deserves to be safe whether they are in a school or a daycare.
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The Issue
In March 2026, a 42-year-old employee at a KinderCare in Hatboro, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania physically assaulted a child in his care. Thomas Coleman was not arrested until June 18 — nearly three months after the complaint was filed. He now faces felony charges for endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.
Three months. A child was assaulted at a licensed daycare and it took three months for an arrest.
This is not the first time Montgomery County has seen this. In July 2025, a worker at the Oaks Learning Center — also in Montgomery County — was charged with aggravated assault after a 7-month-old girl was left unresponsive with a brain bleed. A second baby — a 5-month-old — was found to have been assaulted by the same worker in the same facility.
Two daycare assaults. Same county. Less than a year apart. Both at licensed facilities. Both involving children too young to fully protect themselves or speak up for what was done to them.
This is a pattern. And Pennsylvania's childcare oversight system is not keeping up with it.
Children in Pennsylvania's public schools have layers of mandated reporter requirements, rapid response protocols, and child protection systems built around keeping them safe. Children in licensed daycare facilities — often younger and more vulnerable — deserve exactly the same protection. Right now they do not have it.
Pennsylvania needs a mandatory dedicated abuse reporting hotline for licensed childcare facilities. It needs a rapid response protocol ensuring complaints are investigated immediately — not three months later. It needs unannounced inspections and mandatory staff training on child protection. And it needs real consequences for facilities that fail to report suspected abuse promptly.
We're calling on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and the state legislature to pass legislation creating mandatory abuse reporting and rapid response protocols for all licensed childcare facilities in Pennsylvania — because every child deserves to be safe whether they are in a school or a daycare.
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Petition created on June 22, 2026