2 weeks Ago
A Lockwood childcare provider has been accused of breaking the leg of one of the children in his care. Paul Nottingham was charged in Yellowstone County District Court with a felony count of assaulting a minor. Nottingham, the licensed director of The Children’s Cloud family care center, allegedly fractured the femur of a baby boy in 2022.
The Billings Gazette attempted to reach Nottingham for comment over the phone and via email, but he did not respond. In September 2022, detectives with the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into Nottingham. The parents of a boy, who had yet to reach the age of 2, had to take their son to the emergency room after picking him up from The Children’s Cloud.
The home daycare at 21 Nightingale Drive. Staff at the hospital allegedly concluded that a fractured femur was a rare injury for a child who didn't yet walk. Hospital staff also reported the injury to Child Protective Services as it is common in cases of child abuse.
The baby’s parents told YCSO deputies they had taken their son to a birthday party the night before dropping him off at Children’s Cloud, according to charging documents, and he didn’t show any signs of distress or injury. A detective spoke with the boy’s mother, who said she left him at Nottingham’s daycare, according to charging documents, and received a call about a half-hour later from Nottingham. During that call, Nottingham allegedly told her the boy was injured while Nottingham was trying to change his diaper.
The boy’s mother then picked him up and took him to a local hospital. Nottingham agreed to speak with detectives about the injured child, court documents said. He allegedly told investigators the boy didn’t show any signs of being injured until he tried changing the baby’s diaper.
He said the boy started screaming when Nottingham picked up his legs to clean him, according to charging documents. Located on Nightingale Drive in Lockwood, The Children’s Cloud has been under the leadership of Nottingham since at least Jan. 2022, according to records from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
As a family childcare facility, The Children’s Cloud is distinct as a daycare in that it operates from a private home and provides services to a small group of children. DPHHS, tasked with licensing and monitoring daycare facilities throughout the state, has conducted annual inspections of the Lockwood daycare since 2022. Through October 2024, DPHHS has investigated The Children’s Cloud for a complaint once.
In 2023, the department determined Nottingham was caring for more children than allowed by regulation. According to DPHHS’s most recent inspection of The Children’s Cloud, conducted in January 2024, the facility met all of the department’s health and safety standards. Yellowstone County prosecutors filed criminal charges against Nottingham on Wednesday.
He is facing one count of assaulting a minor under age 36 months and causing serious bodily injury. Prosecutors have also charged Nottingham with an alterative count of assaulting a minor as a first offence. The former charge comes with the possibility of up to 20 years in prison, while if Nottingham is convicted of the latter, he could be sentenced to 10 years.
Nottingham is currently scheduled to make his initial appearance in court Nov. 19. From July 2016 through June 2023, according to DPHHS data, there were 14 injuries reported at family child care centers across Montana.
During that same timespan, DPHHS recorded one death of a child in a family child care setting. In 2023, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry estimated there were more than 46,000 children living in Montana homes with employed parents and potentially needed care. The childcare shortage was particularly dire for children under the age of 2.
As of 2023, the total licensed childcare capacity met only 44% of the estimated demand for care. The DLI attributed the childcare shortage to a dearth in workers, noting that childcare workers in 2022 saw an average income $26,480 for the year. In the fall of 2023, DLI used federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to launch a pre-apprenticeship program geared toward attracting more people into the childcare sector.
Earlier this month, DPHHS suspended the license of a group child care center in Roundup after an investigation revealed instances of abuse and unsanitary conditions for the children. A DPHHS inspection of ABC 123 Daycare in Roundup found its director, Gail Dotson-Armstrong, had spanked and hit children on their heads as methods of discipline. The inspection also uncovered mouse droppings present in the daycare’s kitchen, per DPHHS records.
Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Public Safety Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..
