Socastee daycare that hired woman who abused children sued for negligence

SOCASTEE, S.C. (WBTW) — A Socastee daycare that hired a woman who abused multiple children is being sued.

The complaint against My Sunshine Child Development Center was filed Thursday in Horry County Common Pleas Court, accusing it of negligence in hiring Alexandria Allabaugh.

Allabaugh, 30, pleaded guilty July 10 to three counts of third-degree assault and battery. Under terms of the deal, Allabaugh was sentenced to three years in a correctional facility suspended after two years of probation.

News13 has emailed My Sunshine for comment.

Allabaugh was accused of pulling several children from sleeping mats and shoving one of them into a chair. Police responded to the day care on Feb. 16 for reports of child abuse that happened two days earlier.

Allabaugh in multiple instances “forcefully” pulled children from their sleeping mats on Feb. 14, warrants show. In one instance, she allegedly pulled a girl from her sleeping mat, kicked her and shoved her into a chair.

The day care released a statement on March 5, saying that Allabaugh was fired by its director before the allegations surfaced. The day care contacted police and the South Carolina Department of Social Services along with parents.

“We had no indication that Ms. Allabaugh would ever commit such an act. It is our priority to keep all children in our care safe,” the statement said.

A parent whose child attended the day care for nearly four years told News13 last month she was surprised by the incidents because she’s never had a problem with any of the caregivers.

“They’re doing background checks, you have to go through a background check to even get a job there. So, maybe they should do a more intense background check, or I mean, if there’s something that’s not popping up on there, which, I don’t understand,” Michealle Dwyer said. “They have cameras that are in the classrooms, I know that for a fact. And the cameras in the classroom and in the office can see all of them, so maybe install more cameras if need be.”

Parents of some of the victims spoke out in court ahead of Allabaugh’s plea deal.

“I honestly don’t know what to do to console my daughter, to try to get her to understand that she’s safe,” Leah Vanasperen said. “I mean, it happened, but now, how do I deal with that? I would like to see something happen to show that it mattered.”

“My son is three, he’s not very verbal and it affected him tremendously,” an unnamed parent said. “It’s gotten to the point that he doesn’t want to sit in his room, he gets scared. He even says, ‘mommy, Ally hit me, mommy.’ Now, he’s starting to speak up and it is just random.”