Tuesday, February 19, 2008; Posted: 6.43 pm (CDT)

When parents take their children to a day care center, they expect them to be safe. If something does happen, Oklahoma currently doesn't have a law requiring daycare owners to have insurance to cover the 'what ifs.'

"Doctors have told us, 'We don't know if he'll ever walk again.' 'We don't know if he sees or if he ever will see,'" says Edna Pittman.

Her moving testimony before the House Human Services Subcommittee on Social Services brought some to tears. In August of last year, Edna's three-year-old son--Demarion--was left in a vehicle for more than two hours by a home day-care operator.

"His temperature had exceeded 117 degrees," says Edna. "He was in a coma for two months."

To top it all off, the day-care operator was uninsured.

"Currently he's unable to walk," says Edna. "He's unable to talk. He no longer can feed himself. We have to feed him through a tube."

Medical costs have reached more than one million dollars for this family.

"Demarion got hurt six months ago," says Edna. "Today I got two more bills in the mail. I've received bills every single day for the last four months."

State Representative Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, wants to help. House Bill 2863 would have child-care facilities maintain insurance of at least $200,000 per incident.

"We want our kids safe," says Rep. Shelton. "We want our families safe."

House Bill 2864 calls for the creation of a fund that licensed child-care providers would have to pay in to.

"The day-care providers will pay $250 for two years and then $50 thereafter to go into that special fund," says Rep. Shelton.

It's a fund that won't help Edna and her family but maybe those in the future.

"All daycare centers should be required," says Edna. "They are a business. They are making money. They should be required to carry some type of liability insurance."

There is criticism with the funding bill. The bill says if there's not enough money in the fund, then the rest should be paid as the money becomes available. It has some concerned that it could mean constantly playing catch-up.

As for the insurance bill, if day cares cannot afford the insurance then they would have to let the Department of Human Services and the parents know. Both bills passed unanimously in the subcommittee.