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Brooklyn day care owner fined by NYC for child safety concerns tried to operate in NJ
By
Karen Yi
Published May 29, 2026
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Karen Yi / Gothamist
By
Karen Yi
Published May 29, 2026
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The owner of a Brooklyn daycare that shuttered this year amid child abuse allegations tried to open a new space in New Jersey.
It's the second time that Shareece Dukes, who ran the Eva Crèche Child Care Center in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, tried to relaunch her business in a new jurisdiction after previous problems prompted closures, records show. In the most recent case, New Jersey officials suspended her registration after Gothamist inquired about it.
Dukes is still facing financial penalties by New York City health officials after videos surfaced of Eva Crèche workers mishandling children, including forcibly grabbing and dragging toddlers earlier this year. The city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings held a hearing in early May on the summonses but Dukes didn’t show and could face as much as $10,000 in fines.
Dukes’ attorney George Gilmer declined to comment.
In April, Dukes registered a new daycare out of her home in Monroe Township, New Jersey, to care for five children, records show. New Jersey doesn’t require providers who care for up to five children in their home to get a license to operate. They can, however, voluntarily register their programs if they want to enroll children whose care is subsidized by childcare vouchers.
Officials with New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families, which licenses providers and approved Dukes’ registration, told Gothamist her registration was suspended pending an investigation after Gothamist asked whether the state was aware of Dukes’ prior history in New York. City health officials said they also reached out to the state once parents informed them of the new facility this month.
Jason Butkowski, a spokesperson with the New Jersey agency, said Dukes cleared the required background check but did not disclose any previous out-of-state childcare businesses. He said no children were enrolled in her program.
In March, New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which licenses childcare centers in the city, issued a series of summonses against Dukes and her Executive Director Gigi Freeman. The summonses allege they failed to “act reasonably or take any necessary precautions to protect a human life” in several instances where children were forcibly handled.
Freeman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
According to a copy of the summons viewed by Gothamist, staff members dragged a child by their sweater, forcibly picked up a child by the shoulders and dropped them, and held a child continuously upside down while taking them to another room. In another instance, a worker also forcibly picked up a child by the back of their onesie, shoved them into a crib and threw a bottle into the crib, the summons said.
William Fowler, a spokesperson for the city’s health department, said the agency worked together with impacted parents.
“The vast majority of childcare programs in New York City provide safe and loving environments for children, but if we find a program operating in a way that puts children at risk, we step in and hold them accountable. Following an investigation into Eva Crèche, and with the help of impacted parents, we did just that,” Fowler said.
“We continue to ensure this provider does not open another childcare center in New York City and work with our partners in other jurisdictions to do the same.”
Rebecca Gerstein, 37, whose daughter attended Eva Crèche, said parents found out about Dukes’ new location in New Jersey, named Adorn Childcare, earlier this month and began reaching out to local officials.
“She shouldn't be allowed to work with children. I think she's shown no accountability, no lessons learned,” Gerstein said of Dukes. “I do not believe that she is showing signs of someone who has learned from this and will do better.”
Dukes’ New Jersey registration, which was listed online earlier this month, is no longer available. Her website advertising her new home program is also not working and a Google posting for the business said it is permanently closed.
Before Dukes ran Eva Crèche, she had another home-based location in Crown Heights called Inspiring Minds that was licensed by New York state, Gothamist previously reported. That facility was ordered closed for failing to allow health inspectors inside and having more children than allowed.
Dukes then obtained a city license and opened Eva Crèche in 2021. She voluntarily closed the center in January after a whistleblower employee began texting parents videos of their children allegedly being abused. Parents and a former worker also said the space had three times the number of children that was allowed.
“ This is going to be a very long game of Whack-A-Mole because she is going to just keep trying to do this, and we're going to keep trying to stop her,” Gerstein said.
Tagged
brooklyn
childcare
new jersey
public safety
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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