Memphis, Tenn.: It Took Three Dead Babies

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Signs of trouble kept cropping up. In December 1998, Demarkus Taylor, an employee of Gloryland Learning Academy, and son of its owner, was arrested for driving the day-care van and its 22 children while stoned on marijuana. Taylor, who had a criminal history, pleaded guilty to reckless driving. The following June, a 15-year-old employee performed sex acts with a 10-year-old girl in the "cubby room" of Tanglewood Child Care Center. He was later found guilty of aggravated sexual battery.

The legislature remained silent. Any child-care-reform bill had to make its way out of the senate committee on general welfare, health and human resources, whose chairman for the past 20 years has been John Ford, 57, a member of one of the most powerful political families in Tennessee. The senator's brother James, a commissioner of Shelby County, owns one of the largest day-care operations in the state, with more than 400 kids enrolled at four locations, funded by more than $1.9 million a year in government subsidies. Ford's sister Joyce Ford Miller is a supervisor at Cherokee Children and Family Services, a broker that has an exclusive state contract to arrange child care for Shelby County's welfare recipients. Last year two Memphis day-care owners filed a federal racketeering suit against Cherokee, accusing the broker of steering subsidized children into centers connected to its board members; John and James Ford and the Rev. Joyner are among the defendants, and they are contesting the lawsuit. "I'm just disgusted with what appears to be a lot of abuse," says Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton. "This has been a cash cow for people who have taken advantage of the system." Senator Ford denies any conflict of interest or even discussing day-care legislation with his brother. He says the lawsuit is "so frivolous it's ridiculous."

A year ago this month, 22-month-old Darnecia Slater was driven to the Children's Palace Learning Center, owned by James Ford. Before parking the van for the day, neither the driver nor the adult rider checked to see whether any children had been left inside. Seven hours later, Darnecia, her core body temperature elevated to 108[degrees], was discovered in the van, parked only 50 ft. from the Children's Palace door. The same day at one of Memphis' other supersize day-care operations, the Pee Wee Wisdom Learning Center, Brandon Mann, 2, was also left inside a day-care van. When he was pulled out after baking for five hours in the 90[degree] heat, Brandon, like Darnecia, was dead of hyperthermia.

This time, with three children dead, politicians went into action. State Representative Carol Chumney, chairwoman of the house family-affairs committee, introduced 10 separate reform bills. Governor Don Sundquist proposed a 128-page package of reforms, including state-funded mandatory background checks for caregivers. The department of human services started a zero-tolerance policy, threatening to shut down centers that proved to be a danger to children. Yet despite the pressure for reform, Ford publicly criticized Chumney's proposals and reminded her that all her bills must go through his committee. So again, nothing happened.