A parental lawsuit against the co-owners of the Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center in Scranton and one of their employees claims that worker abused a child and the co-owners knew about it but failed to report it to authorities.
The allegations in the negligence lawsuit filed Thursday in Lackawanna County Court mirror those surrounding the state’s Oct. 3 shutdown of the day care center at 1228 St. Ann’s St. in West Scranton and criminal charges that followed against co-owners Amy Ware and Erin Pallo and employee Vanessa Molina-Ramos.
The lawsuit by Rayon Young of Scranton, identified as the father and natural guardian of the boy, names the day care center and the three women — Ware, Pallo and Molina-Ramos — each as defendants. Efforts to reach the defendants on Monday were unsuccessful. The lawsuit identifies the child by initials and does not state an age.
The April 30 incident underlying the shutdown, criminal charges and lawsuit came to light on Oct. 3, when the state Department of Human Services closed the center and told parents they would have to make other arrangements for child care. In revoking the center’s license, the state determined that conditions there constituted “incompetence, negligence, misconduct in operating the facility or agency, a mistreatment or abuse of clients, likely to constitute immediate and serious danger to the life or health of the children in care,” according to the Oct. 3 emergency removal order.
According to court documents involving the shutdown and filing of criminal charges: The state department investigated from Sept. 9 to Oct. 2 and determined the April 30 incident of alleged abuse involved Molina-Ramos spanking a 1-year-old boy, pulling his hair, hitting him on the head with a bottle of baby formula and tossing him from a rocking chair to the floor; and two other employee witnesses separately telling Ware and Pallo; and their reviewing of surveillance video of the room and seeing the actions, but not reporting the incident to the state as mandated by the Child Protective Services Law.
Soon after the shutdown, authorities filed criminal charges against Ware, Pallo and Molina-Ramos. Ware, 43, of Factoryville, and Pallo, 43, of Clarks Summit, each face a third-degree felony charge of failure to report or refer to appropriate authorities an incident of abuse of a 1-year-old boy at the center on April 30, 2025. Molina-Ramos, 48, of Taylor, who is accused of hitting the boy on the bottom, pulling his hair and throwing him on the floor, faces a felony count of endangering the welfare of a child and a misdemeanor count of simple assault.
The lawsuit also claims the co-owners failed to train staff in mandatory reporting of suspected cases of child abuse; and had overcrowding from failing to abide by state regulations on the ratio of children to employees, among other allegations. Prepared by plaintiff attorney Anthony Piazza III of the Piazza Law Group of Dickson City, the lawsuit seeks over $75,000 on each of five counts. They include one count each against the center; Molina-Ramos, individually; Ware and Pallo, jointly; and two counts against the center and the three women, jointly.
Two Scranton Police SUVs are parked outside the Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center at 1228 St. Ann St. in Scranton on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO).
Officials gather outside the Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center at 1228 St. Ann St. in Scranton on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO).
A Scranton Police SUV is parked outside the Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center at 1228 St. Ann St. in Scranton on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO).
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Two Scranton Police SUVs are parked outside the Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center at 1228 St. Ann St. in Scranton on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO).
Originally Published: October 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM EDT