By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 04/12/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Child-care licensing officials and El Paso police detectives are looking into the possibility that there was "neglectful supervision" when a 4-year-old girl apparently hanged herself Friday morning on the jungle gym of a licensed home-based day-care center.

Licensing records show that the home, operating as Vulcan Day Care, had violations last year for lack of supervision and having too many children. Those violations were fixed, record show.

Friday morning, the girl was found with a jump rope around her neck in the yard of the home in the 4900 block of Vulcan Avenue near Diana Drive, police said. She was in stable condition Friday evening at Thomason Hospital.

For much of the day, detectives with the Crimes Against Children Unit, crime-scene investigators and a mobile command center were on the residential block sealed off by yellow police tape.

Nearby Lee Elementary School was not affected.

"I heard a little girl had an accident. ... It's a sad thing," neighbor Fred Adams said.
The girl, whose name was not released, was initially in a "comatose condition" but later began to breath on her own, said Paul Zimmerman, spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Child Care Licensing.

"We are looking into neglectful supervision, were the kids properly supervised," Zimmerman said. "You have to (be able to) see, to hear and to know what the child is doing, and you have to be close enough to intervene."

Zimmerman said three children were at the home during the incident. Police at the scene said the caregiver is the girl's grandmother, who went to help another child when the hanging occurred. There was no answer at the home Friday night.

Records show Vulcan Day Care has a capacity of 12 children. The administrator-operator is listed as Manuela Suarez. The center was inspected at least six times last year.

On Nov. 19, 2007, an inspection found the child-care provider was outside with a group of children while an infant and a school-age child were alone in the home without supervision. On July 9, 2007, the provider was caring for 11 children, including two infants, in violation of the child-caregiver ratio. The violations, including others involving record-keeping, were later fixed.

In El Paso, there are 310 licensed child-care homes, which have an unannounced inspection at least once a year, Zimmerman said. A day-care center's Texas state record may be viewed at DFPS - Search Texas Child Care.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.
El Paso Times reporter Gustavo Reveles-Acosta contributed to this report.

Child found hanged: Police investigate day care - El Paso Times