Two months after a toddler drowned in a New York City day care’s pool, her family says they’re still waiting for answers, accountability and action.
The family of 1-year-old River Wilson announced Tuesday they’re suing the daycare, Ana’s Butterfly Garden Family Group, and its owners.
Wilson’s family lives right around the corner from the daycare, but they say they’ve had no explanation from its owners. The Wilson family say they hope the lawsuit will highlight the need for safety regulations at daycare facilities.
They said the daycare had a duty to watch, supervise and keep River safe.
“No parent should have to beg for answers for your child’s death”
River’s father Ifiok Wilson spoke when he announced the lawsuit.
“No parents should have to beg for answers for your child’s death. No parent should be forced to grieve in the dark waiting for a phone call with answers that never come. Yet this is the misery my wife and I live every day,” he said.
“Only after River’s death did the state finally discover that the pool was dangerously close to the property, that it was neither high enough or secure enough to prevent a baby from access,” Rep. Ritchie Torres said.
Police said River Wilson was found unresponsive in a backyard swimming pool at Ana’s Butterfly Garden Family Group in the Bronx on Aug. 1, 2025.
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New York inspectors repeatedly said the Bronx day care was safe before River’s death. Then, a CBS News New York investigation uncovered new details about the facility by pressing the state for transparency to protect other children.
Day care inspectors found violations after toddler’s death
River’s parents said they did not know the day care had a pool until July, the month before they buried her, but she had been enrolled there for nearly one year.
The day care’s pool and barrier has been the subject of scrutiny. Prior to River’s death, inspectors with the Office of Children and Family Services had marked the facility as safe on at least eight occasions. However, after the 20-month-old’s death, inspectors said the pool was too close to the house, and the fence surrounding it too short.
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So how could that happen at a daycare that had been marked as safe on at least eight prior occasions?
For weeks, OCFS dodged our questions and refused to release Commissioner Dr. Damia Harris-Madden’s public schedule. OCFS said in a statement: “The death of a child is an unspeakable tragedy and our hearts go out to this grieving family. OCFS works diligently to protect the safety and well-being of all children in licensed day care programs. We undertake extensive inspection and safety protocols to verify licensed programs have the appropriate safety measures in place to properly protect the children in their care. Unfortunately, OCFS cannot comment further on this active investigation.”
So, we went to the person who appointed her: Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“Do you think day cares should be allowed to have pools? Any how many in New York currently do? OCFS has not answered this question for more than two months,” investigative reporter Mahsa Saeidi asked.
“We can get that answer for you. No listen, I’m a mother, I’m a grandmother,” Hochul said. “That’s just stunning at every level, the pain that family must be feeling.”
“I’m aware that there were inspections done months before, and that perhaps, there could’ve been a change in circumstances since that time,” the governor continued, “but I don’t want to speak prematurely because this is just too important.”
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Saeidi asked if pools should be banned at day cares.
“That’s something. I’m willing to look at all safety measures, whether it’s alarms, whether it’s banning,” Hochul said.
The “change in circumstances” the governor referred to is the state now claiming the day care altered the height of the fence without telling OCFS. But the pool’s location was also a violation and that, presumably, did not change.
Banning pools at home day cares nationwide
Torres is pushing to ban pools at home day cares nationwide.
“If we know that residential swimming pools are the leading cause of death among toddlers, then why do we allow them in residential day care centers?” Torres said. “I have no confidence [in OCFS], and I feel like the strongest guarantee of child safety is no swimming pool at all.”
In 2019, father Doug Forbes learned his 6-year-old daughter, Roxie, drowned at a day camp in California.
“She was a child with extraordinary compassion,” he said.
Since then, Forbes has been an advocate for drowning prevention.
“I also believe that no day care facility should be proximate to a body of water,” he said.
Both drownings in the Bronx and California had the same deadly combination: a pool and a lapse in supervision.
“The best way to honor your child is to fight for justice,” Forbes said. “That’s my belief, to make sure that the people that contributed to their child’s death are held accountable in some way.”
“We have the power to prevent drownings. The question is do we have the political will? And what is needed is River’s Law,” Torres said.
River’s Law would ban pools at home day cares nationwide. The bill is still in its initial stages.
Meanwhile, the medical examiner’s office has not yet released the cause and manner of River’s deaths.
The Bronx day care operator, Ana Gonzalez, has not been charged and we have not been able to reach her for comment.
The NYPD and Bronx District Attorney said they’re still actively investigating the case.