North Texas mother grateful congressman's bill could give parents federal rights at daycare centers
FRISCO — At 31 years old, Ariel Murphy is watching the harvest of hard-sown seeds to bounty. But this is not a field she saw herself sowing.
"Like if I close my eyes, I could tell you everything that happened like every day in sequential order," Murphy said.
U. S. Representative Pat Fallon filed a bill called "The Kairo Act" for parents with children at Headstart and licensed daycare centers. Sadly, its inspiration comes from the arrest of Jessica Joy Wiese in December 2018.
McKinney Police and Collin County Prosecutors said the 50-year-old injured Murphy's baby son, Kairo Grant.
Murphy, a mother of four, said she called Kairo's father wondering if something hadn't fallen on him on the ride from daycare. According to Murphy, she put him in the Joyous Montessori because it was close to home.
"And I pulled his left leg out first, and I noticed a bruise right above the sock line that went all the way to his knee," she said.
Concerned, Murphy said she started calling the school early the following morning because it was closed at the time of the discovery. Her calls and conversations with daycare officials turned into a criminal investigation.
Wiese, a nurse stripped of her license for painkiller use, a state board said, was working at the facility. Kairo was under her care.
"I called his dad, and I called my mom, and I'm like, 'I have to go get him,' after McKinney PD—they were like, 'Hey we need you to come down and see something,'" Murphy said. "And I'm like, 'They NEED me to come?'"
Murphy said what police showed her on videos still haunts her today. She had to identify her son, who was still an infant.
"To experience having to watch your child be abused in that way. Like, I wouldn't wish it on her," Murphy said.
Kairo's injuries were broken ribs, a femur, and potential complications doctors still monitor.
"You got to watch for learning and development. You know, he was shaking a lot upside down by his ankles by this woman," Murphy said.
Investigators connected Wiese to seven other children under her care. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison for injury to a child. Wiese was found guilty of one case in December 2019. She took a plea in the remaining cases.
"I tried to get the other moms on board as well. And I'm like, 'It's so important whether you help or not, it's getting done.' That was my angle on it," Murphy said.
Scarred by the incident, Murphy said she second-guessed her family's decision. Then, she started working with Texas lawmakers to ensure parents who had children could gain access to video and documents for safety reasons. She said Kairo's daycare center at the time of the crimes would not provide those resources.
"The struggles and the pressures and the worries of a mom going back to work anyway," she said. "This is why we have the anxiety. This is why they don't want to go back [to work]."
In particular, she names Representative Scott Sandford's efforts to stop educators from floating from district to district after committing bad behavior. She also worked with Senator Angela Paxton on Texas's Kairo and the Kids' Law. The legislation gives parents who have children in childcare facilities access and a bill of rights they did not. It became law in September 2023.
Now, Fallon is pushing a similar bill on the Hill in Congress called the Kairo Act.
In a statement to CBS News Texas, Fallon said:
"The potential impact of the Kairo Act is huge. Not only will parents be able to get accurate and timely answers about what may have happened to their child, but it will also deter future abuse of children at daycare centers."
Fallon's office submitted the bill even though national lawmakers were not in session. The Kairo Act would impact federally funded childcare centers.
If the law comes to fruition, the centers must create a bill of rights for parents, hand over the video to parents within two days, and provide a list of other benefits Murphy did not have during Kairo's ordeal.
"Oftentimes, children too young to speak are some of the most common targets. We can never tolerate the abuse of children, and we must achieve transparency when it comes to those entrusted to look after kids," Fallon said.
Six years later, Kairo is in kindergarten and is firmly the baby brother of Lailoni, Akai, and Donovan. He loves video games and Avatar: Way of the Water.
"They know how to fight," Kairo said.
His family has fighters, too. Murphy wants to increase prison sentences for child injury cases like her son's.
