'Betrayal': Family of Toddler Abused at Navy Day Care Launches Claim that Service Negligently Mishandled Their Case

The parents of a toddler who was physically and mentally abused by federal employees at a Navy day care in Hawaii two years ago announced a claim Wednesday accusing the service of negligence, poor oversight and mishandling their case, according to legal documents shared with Military.com.

Jeremy and Kaitlin Kuykendall, represented by Just Well Law PLLC out of Austin, Texas, said that child care workers at the Ford Island Child Development Center, or CDC, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam pinched, slapped, squeezed, shoved, shook, threw and smothered their child, according to the claim, which was announced in a press release from the law firm this week.

Video shared with Military.com by the family appears to show separate instances in which CDC workers pinched Bella, the Kuykendalls' daughter who turned three years old in May; grabbed her by the arm; dragged her in the day care; hit her on the head; shook her; and squeezed her in a headlock before she collapsed in pain or shock on a small couch meant for children in the facility.

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The video from August 2022 also showed images of Bella's body with injuries, including bruises, scrapes and red marks on her face, which were confirmed by medical evaluations at the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Hawaii, according to the claim.

In an interview with the family, Bella's mother, Kaitlin, said that her daughter is traumatized by the incidents and is afraid of community situations or new environments -- and that Navy and federal officials were negligent in their handling of the case.

"It just feels like betrayal," Kaitlin Kuykendall told Military.com in a phone interview Wednesday. "Because we were lied to by the people we thought cared about us and our family and would be there to protect children."

Military.com reached out to the Navy for comment regarding Wednesday's claim. The director of public affairs for Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Chuck Anthony, replied Wednesday and said "we do not comment on pending litigation."

Kaitlin's husband Jeremy, an Army officer, spent hundreds of hours reviewing the footage, which "ultimately confirmed" the family's worst fears, the claim said. In April, Military.com published an investigation that featured the Kuykendalls, along with other families whose children experienced abuse and systematic mishandling of their cases at military CDCs around the country.

Hours after the article was published, the Department of Defense launched an inspector general review of the issues raised by the Military.com investigation. But that has proven inadequate to the family, which is still seeking justice, according to their attorney.

This week, in a report accompanying its fiscal 2025 defense spending bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee directed the secretary of defense to initiate an independent review of the abuse at the CDCs within two months, according to an excerpt of the report provided to Military.com by the office of committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Thursday. Bill reports do not carry the weight of law, but the Pentagon typically follows directions included in them.

The committee tasked the Pentagon to review how it approaches transparency, victim support and communication with families, and manages its investigations -- issues that were woefully lacking, according to Military.com's investigation. The subcommittee also charged the Defense Department to produce a report roughly seven months from when the review begins.

"In addition, the committee directs the Department of Defense Inspector General to conduct an investigation into referred reports of child abuse at the Ford Island Child Development Center near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and brief the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate of its findings," the report said.

In the claim, which was also shared with Military.com, the family alleges that the government -- specifically the Navy -- failed to properly hire, train and supervise its CDC workers, resulting in the abuse. Two center employees, Analyn DeGuzman and Marilyn Kanekoa, were charged over the abuse last summer.

The claim said that, because federal employees charged with the safety and management of the CDC did not act urgently, those employees were allowed to continue their employment at the CDC for months. In January, DeGuzman and Kanekoa were sentenced to 30 days and eight days in jail, respectively, for misdemeanor assault for their involvement in the abuse.

The family notified the director of the CDC about their concerns in late August 2022, around the time they had Bella medically evaluated, according to the claim. The claim said that the director assured the Kuykendalls that she would investigate the concerns, but eventually stonewalled them from reviewing the footage that the director had apparently seen herself, causing the family to languish for months.

That alleged stonewalling was rife with miscommunication from officials, which fueled concern from the parents, according to the claim. In one instance, an investigator approached the parents and asked "where the baby garment with semen on it" was, the claim said.

"It might have been an honest miscommunication, but it set the tone for our paranoia," according to the claim, which quoted Kaitlin. "We constantly went back and forth between wondering if we were crazy or if it was even worse than we thought."

Federal officers failed to adhere to monitoring policy, which, according to the claim, mandates that CCTV footage be displayed in the lobby during working hours. When Bella was abused, fewer than five TVs were operational, with none showing footage from Bella's classroom, the claim states, hindering visibility and "effective monitoring."

"There is a cover-up here," Kristina Baehr, the attorney representing the family, told Military.com in an interview Thursday. "This family needs relief for the harm to them."

The claim was filed under what is considered "pre-litigation," Baehr explained in the interview. Essentially, the claim, which is called an SF-95, puts the Navy on notice.

The service now has six months to respond to the claim and make a settlement offer, the details of which were redacted from the claim. Once the six months have passed, the family can file a federal tort claim, which allows those who have been harmed by the federal officials to bring a claim against the government, Baehr said.

Baehr, who also represents claimants against the Navy's disastrous Red Hill water contamination incident in Hawaii, where thousands of gallons of jet fuel spilled into the military community's tap water in 2021, said that both cases indicate deeper issues in the service's handling of "bad conduct."

Kaitlin Kuykendall told Military.com that her family was also affected by the Red Hill spill while they were stationed in Hawaii, adding to their hardship.

No one on the government side has expressed sympathy or acknowledgment "of what they've put us through," she told Military.com regarding the abuse case. "All we wanted was accountability."

"Families have the right to expect that when they drop their little [one] off at day care, that little [one] will be safe," Baehr said in the interview. "That little [one] will be cared for. There will be food provided, there will be water provided, they will have their diapers changed, they will play.

"And they have the right to expect that the government will follow its own policies to ensure the safety of those in their care," she said. "And that's what didn't happen here."

-- Rebecca Kheel contributed to this report.

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