A 31-year-old daycare worker is behind bars in McCracken County after deputies say security footage and forensic evidence tied her to severe bruising found on a 3-year-old child's genital area. Sadie Gallatin was arrested Thursday on a warrant and charged with first-degree criminal abuse, more than three weeks after the injury was first discovered at a daycare in the small community of Farley.
According to KFVS12, deputies with the McCracken County Sheriff's Office responded to a daycare on Hovekamp Road in the Farley community in late September after an employee discovered the bruising on the toddler. Detectives said they used security cameras and forensic evidence to determine that Gallatin, who worked at the daycare, was responsible for the injury, the station reported.
Gallatin was taken into custody on the warrant and booked into the McCracken County Jail, per the same report. McCracken County Sheriff Ryan Norman's office announced the arrest in a Facebook post titled “Daycare Worker Arrested for Abuse.”
What the Charge Alleges
Under the statute cited in the case, Kentucky law defines first-degree criminal abuse as intentionally abusing another person, or permitting someone in one's actual custody to be abused, in a way that causes serious physical injury or places that person in danger. Gallatin was identified in the role of a daycare employee in charge of the child's well-being at the time of the alleged abuse.
The daycare where the incident occurred has been identified as Playcare Learning Center Farley. The facility told WPSD Local 6 that it had no comment at the time of the report.
A Pattern Showing Up in State Numbers
The case lands amid a broader rise in reported problems at Kentucky child-care facilities. Hotline complaints about child-care facilities statewide climbed 46%, from 1,244 in 2022 to 1,822 in 2024, according to kentucky.com. Substantiated incidents of abuse and neglect in child care rose 73% over the same two years, from 37 to 64, and serious injuries to children in licensed care jumped 64%, from 466 to 764, the outlet reported.
Those increases coincided with a shrinking workforce. The number of Kentucky child-care workers fell from 11,160 in 2019 to 7,510 in 2024, even as licensed capacity grew from nearly 159,000 children in 2022 to 164,000 in 2024, according to a report from WKMS. A Kentucky Youth Advocates paper cited in that report attributed the rise in abuse incidents to low wages, inadequate training, an entry-level workforce and staff stress, among other factors.
Other recent cases in the state echo the pattern. Madison County prosecutors have charged nine people with child abuse or attempted obstruction of an investigation tied to two affiliated Richmond child-care facilities, per kentucky.com. Separately, WKMS reported that a Leitchfield child-care worker was arrested in March after reportedly pulling a child's hair out and causing a bald spot, and that a Richmond worker was accused of restraining a child and covering the child's nose and mouth.
No information has been released on the condition of the 3-year-old involved in the Farley case, and it remains unclear whether the criminal abuse charge against Gallatin will result in a conviction, plea or other court disposition.
