KinderCare Chain to Admit Diabetic Kids

The Justice Department announced Thursday that the nation’s largest corporate-owned day-care chain has consented to accept diabetic children and monitor their blood sugar under an agreement that settles claims that the chain discriminated against children with the disease.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno praised the agreement with KinderCare, which operates more than 1,100 facilities around the country, as an example of how corporations can comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act without litigation and major expenses.

The agreement settles a lawsuit brought by the American Diabetes Assn. and others on behalf of Jesi Stuthard, a 3-year-old boy with diabetes who was denied enrollment at KinderCare in Columbus, Ohio, because company policy prohibited the facility from administering blood-sugar tests.

Under the agreement, which Justice Department officials cited as a model for all day-care centers and schools, KinderCare staff will look after the needs of diabetic children according to written instructions provided by parents and updated every six months.

Typically, Reno said, this will involve administering a test in which a finger is pricked to obtain a drop of blood. The sample is then tested with a hand-held machine that measures the child’s blood glucose. If it has fallen below a specified level, day-care providers will give the child a glass of fruit juice or some other source of sugar.

Such tests are routinely performed several times a day on diabetics to ensure that blood-sugar levels have not dropped dangerously low as a result of insulin injections. KinderCare will not be obliged to give insulin shots.