A New Jersey mother is demanding answers in the daycare death of her 4-year-old son, Yasmir, who became unresponsive while in the care of Blooming Hearts Child Development Center on Aug. 14. “Everything is hard without him, and I would do anything to bring him back,” Shayna Robbins told Baller Alert.
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Robbins remembers Yasmir as a loving child whose smile was infectious. He had cerebral palsy and could not walk or talk, but she said he had his own way of greeting people and showing his joy. “He was always smiling. He was always joyful,” she said. “As soon as you see him, his smile lights up the whole room.”
Robbins said Aug. 14 started like any other day. She dropped Yasmir off at the center before heading to work. At about 11:42 a.m., the facility called to tell her he was unresponsive. She arrived around 12:05 p.m. and said she found her son still slumped over in a chair.
She immediately yelled for staff to call 911, and an ambulance arrived around 12:15 p.m. Robbins was told Yasmir had been eating when he became unresponsive. “He was being fed pureed food at the time. I’m not sure what happened,” she said. Yasmir was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to Robbins.
More than two months after the daycare death, Robbins is still waiting on an autopsy report. She said a civil investigation is ongoing and she is working to obtain surveillance footage from the center.
Yasmir had attended Blooming Hearts since he was 4 months old. Robbins said she never had a problem with the facility before and trusted its staff with her son. According to the center’s website, it accommodates children with special needs, and its staff is trained and certified in first aid and CPR/AED. Baller Alert reached out to Blooming Hearts Child Development Center for comment, but no one answered.
Robbins said she wants accountability, a full account of what happened to her son, and changes that keep another family from living through the same loss. While she grieves, she is also using his story to push other parents to speak up for their children. “Be your child’s advocate. You are your child’s voice at the end of the day,” she said.
Parents, she said, should never have to wonder whether their children are safe in someone else’s care. “I’m a mother who wants answers, and I’m not stopping until I get them.”
