A woman who ran a licensed home daycare in Moore, Oklahoma is now sitting in jail on a $300,000 bond after prosecutors charged her with three counts of child abuse involving infants in her care. Samantha Bailey is accused of physically mistreating babies at her in-home facility, with investigators pointing to video evidence as a key part of their case.
The Cleveland County District Attorney's Office filed the charges against Bailey, according to KFOR.com. Investigators reviewed video allegedly showing Bailey physically mistreating infants while they were in her care, per the probable cause affidavit cited by the station. The alleged abuse took place at a home daycare in Moore, according to the DA's office.
Online childcare directories have listed Bailey as the primary caregiver at Small Miracles Home Daycare, a licensed in-home facility in Moore that has offered care for children ranging from infancy up to age 12, according to entries on childcare listing sites Winnie and Daycare.com. It remains unclear from available records how long Bailey had operated the facility or whether any prior licensing complaints had been filed against it.
Bond Set at $300,000 as Case Moves Forward
Bailey is currently in custody with her bond set at $300,000, the station's report notes. She faces three separate counts of child abuse, a felony under Oklahoma law that touches on some of the harshest penalties in the state's criminal code.
Under Title 21 O.S. § 843.5, felony child abuse in Oklahoma is punishable by up to life imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections, or up to a year in county jail, along with fines ranging from $500 to $5,000, according to Justia Law. The same statute also holds caregivers or household members criminally liable if they willfully or maliciously permit abuse or fail to protect a minor when they knew or should have known of the risk, as explained by the Stillwater Attorney blog, meaning enablers of abuse can face penalties equivalent to primary perpetrators. It is not yet known from available records whether anyone else associated with the daycare faces scrutiny under that provision.
State Licensing Rules Govern Home Daycares Like Bailey's
Oklahoma Department of Human Services licensing rules cap standard licensed family child care homes at seven children under supervision at any one time within a private residence, according to guidance published by Oklahoma.gov. State regulations also require all adults residing or working in a licensed family child care home to complete criminal history background checks, including fingerprinting submitted through the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, per guidance from Brightwheel.
Whether Bailey's daycare had passed those background screenings or faced any prior licensing violations has not been detailed in available reporting. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services Child Welfare Services division tracks thousands of abuse and neglect referrals annually across all 77 counties in the state and typically collaborates with law enforcement and local district attorney offices during abuse inquiries, according to state data published on Oklahoma.gov.
Case Follows Other Recent Moore Child Abuse Prosecutions
This is not the first high-profile child abuse case Moore police and Cleveland County prosecutors have handled recently. In September 2025, Moore officers investigated a case involving the parents of a 6-year-old child, which led Cleveland County prosecutors to file felony charges, according to reporting from KOCO News.
The case also lands amid a broader squeeze on child care access statewide. Oklahoma lost a net 119 family child care homes and 36 child care centers between June 2024 and July 2025, and 55% of state residents now live in what's classified as a child care desert, according to a report cited by the Tulsa City Council. State lawmakers passed House Bill 1847, which took effect in November 2025, barring local municipalities from enforcing building and fire safety codes on family child care homes stricter than the International Residential Code, an effort aimed at preventing further home daycare closures while maintaining baseline safety standards.
It remains unclear whether the video cited in the affidavit against Bailey came from private security cameras inside the home or another source, and the criminal allegations against her remain unproven in court. Cleveland County court records will determine how the case against Bailey proceeds in the weeks ahead.
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