Family relieved after scary baby swap at daycare

PARAGOULD, Ark. (KAIT) - New mother Sammi Chipman showed up to Paragould’s Tiny Blessings on Friday after work to find out her child was sent home with another parent who didn’t realize it wasn’t his kid.

When Chipman arrived at the daycare she knew something was wrong because she can usually spot her child, that is when an employee handed her someone else.

“They try to hand me a child which was not mine, I asked them multiple times where my child was and they asked me are you sure this isn’t your child,” Chipman said.

Her 3- and 1/2-month-old son Ridge was sent home with Kyle Cross, according to a Paragould Police report, another parent at the daycare but someone the Chipmans had never met.

“We had no idea who this man was, where he was, or where he went,” Chipman added. “We still to this day have no idea where he went this entire time.”

It took around one hour for Cross to return with the child.

The police report said employees at the daycare were worried Cross was intoxicated due to the “mannerisms and the odor of suspected marijuana emitting from his person.”

That is when an altercation started in the parking lot because Chipman said she had the same question as everyone else, “How does this happen?”

“How could you not know that’s not your child? How could you take someone else’s child and have no remorse,” Chipman said.

Paragould’s Tiny Blessings announced new stricter policies when parents or guardians pick up their children which their owner said was because of “COVID restrictions” but Chipman doesn’t believe it for a second.

“They are putting all these protocols in because of COVID regulations which are not true,” Chipman said. “They are supposed to have a sign-in, sign-out sheet, they are supposed to show IDs, there are a lot of things they are supposed to be doing that they have not been doing,” Chipman said.

One of the co-owners of Paragould’s Tiny Blessings Kimberley Baker released a statement saying:

“We are cooperating with all investigations concerning a matter that happened Friday. We are cooperating with families, state, and local DHS authorities.”

The Chipman family was refunded all the money they had spent at Paragould’s Tiny Blessings, and an employee at the daycare was let go.

Shortly after this story aired on Region 8 News at Five on Monday, April 17, the daycare shared a response on its Facebook page claiming the report was inaccurate.

As of 8:15 p.m. on Monday, the Paragould’s Tiny Blessings Facebook page appears to have been deactivated.

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