BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Prior to the pandemic, our I-team told you about a daycare provider, whose license had been revoked after a child was burned by "hot liquids."
Fast forward a year, the I-Team is getting answers about what really happened.
State documents, obtained by the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team through an official records request, signed by Tara Funderburg, the on-site provider at Moore and More Kids Family Daycare in Buffalo, acknowledge violations dating back to January, 2020.
Those documents explicitly say the "provider failed to take suitable precautions to prevent child...from being burned" and "as a result, child sustained burns from hot food on cheeks and neck."
Last year, after her daycare was closed -- her license suspended and revoked -- Funderburg told the I-Team, "No one was burned," despite the state Office of Children and Family Services making it clear there was a serious problem.
A year later, not only do those documents show Funderburg hid the truth from the I-Team, they show she caused the problem.
According to the documents, Funderburg told the state, she was "in the kitchen, carrying a loosely covered container of hot creamed corn" she had "just heated on the stove and tripped" over a person standing behind her. "The hot creamed corn spilled on [the child]."
The hot creamed corn caused second degree burns on nearly six-percent of the one-year-old child's body. Their face, neck, chest and left hand were burned.
Read the OCFS report:
Beyond that, the state says it was Funderburg who had just removed a child from a booster seat. According to the documents, she put them on the floor while the corn was cooking on the stove. The child's name is redacted so it's unclear if this is the child who was burned
After putting cool water on the burns, state documents show Funderburg took the child to the hospital. According to the documents, someone else at the daycare called the baby's parent.
Funderburg did not answer the door when we tried to speak with her in person. By phone, she declined our request for a comment.
The state Office of Children and Family Services says Funderburg's license has not been reinstated since it was suspended and revoked last year.
