{"id":311775,"date":"2026-08-02T03:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T03:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311775\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T03:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T03:57:11","slug":"family-of-toddler-who-drowned-at-bronx-daycare-shares-message-of-hope-1-year-after-her-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311775\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of toddler who drowned at Bronx daycare shares message of hope 1 year after her death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday marked one year since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/1-year-old-found-dead-in-bronx-daycare-pool\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">20-month-old River Wilson<\/a> drowned in the backyard pool of a state-licensed home daycare in the Bronx.<\/p>\n<p>CBS News New York&#8217;s investigation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/bronx-day-care-death-river-wilson-anas-butterfly-garden-family-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">uncovered serious questions<\/a> about New York&#8217;s daycare inspection system.<\/p>\n<p>For years, inspectors repeatedly found the pool was in compliance, but just hours after River&#8217;s death, the state cited multiple safety violations and shut the daycare down.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, River&#8217;s parents, Ifiok and Ima Wilson, have filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/nyc-day-care-death-investigation-swimming-pool\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wrongful death lawsuit<\/a>. They&#8217;re pushing for accountability and change that they hope will protect other children.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/reid-bronx-child-accide-wcbsff2h-hi-res-still.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"River Wilson \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  River Wilson<\/p>\n<p>                Family handout<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds gathered Saturday at the Wilsons&#8217; home, where River lived and was loved. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I knew that today was going to be hard,&#8221; Ima Wilson said. &#8220;It started off very rough.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But her grief has been met with love.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My support system showed up in ways that I can&#8217;t even explain right now,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The day was filled with photos, memories and prayers, all centered on honoring River&#8217;s legacy, while also celebrating a new blessing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ve all come not only to just support the new baby, but to remember River,&#8221; Ima Wilson said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just really happy everyone came here to support her and the new baby,&#8221; one child said.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/saeidi-11p-pkg-bx-dayca-wcbsim5a-hi-res-still.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"Pink confetti falls from the sky above Ifiok and Ima Wilson \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  Ifiok and Ima Wilson learned they are expecting a baby girl one year after the death of their 20-month-old daughter, River Wilson.<\/p>\n<p>                Photo provided<\/p>\n<p>At nightfall, surrounded by those that carried them through the hardest year, came a moment few will forget; pink confetti filled the sky as the Wilsons learned they are expecting another daughter.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s another chapter in a story that will always begin with River.<\/p>\n<p>The Wilsons say their fight for justice isn&#8217;t over, but they wanted the world to see the joy River brought and the love they say will continue.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One of her favorite words was happy, happy, happy, so I&#8217;m happy, baby girl,&#8221; Ima Wilson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday marked one year since 20-month-old River Wilson drowned in the backyard pool of a state-licensed home daycare&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-311775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}