Is melatonin safe for kids? Day care head jailed for administering it
Newsy
A day care director is behind bars for giving melatonin to kids under her care, and parents say it could have jeopardized their health. Is that true?
A former Indiana day care director has been sentenced to six months in jail after admitting she gave melatonin gummies to kids ahead of nap time without parental consent.
Tonya Rachelle Voris began her jail term after the sentencing Friday, coming a month after the 54-year-old pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts of neglect of a dependent and six misdemeanor counts of reckless supervision by a child care provider, court filings state.
Voris was the director of New Life Church's Kidz Life Childcare Ministry near Indianapolis when police began investigating a tip of potential child neglect at the center in January 2023.
A probable cause affidavit states the month prior, a parent had asked Voris to give their child a specific amount of pediatric-strength melatonin ahead of nap time, sparking the idea to administer the supplement to other kids.
Around this time, parents began reporting out-of-character behavior among their kids who went to the day care, including increased sleepiness, headaches and bed-wetting, Hancock County Prosecutor Brent Eaton said.
