Additional allegations of neglect surface against Caregiver Inc.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Another mother is coming forward with allegations of neglect after she alleges her son escaped from Caregiver Inc. supervision while he attended the day program.

Maria Badger sent her son Rayshamond Holman to Caregiver Inc. day program. Caregiver Inc. is a Texas-based company with locations in Indiana.

Badger says her son has autism and has escaped under their supervision multiple times. “I wanted to cry, but I held the tears back because this hurts,” Badger said.

Every time Rayshamond, known by his loved ones as Ray, has run away, he has been found safe, but his mother Maria Badger says she knows they might not always be this lucky.

“He doesn’t know where he is going,” Badger said. “Hope nobody hits him or snatches him up and does stuff to him and kills him, and throws him in a field somewhere. I think about that and I am just nervous about that.”

Badger originally reached out to News 8 after seeing the story about Dionna Scott, a 42-year-old intellectually disabled adult who ran away from a Caregiver Inc. home and was later killed by a car.

“I feel sorry for her family because that could have happened to my son, especially when he was on the highway,” Badger said. “It could have happened anywhere. I feel sorry for the family and I will pray for the family.”

Badger pulled her son from the day program in July 2022 when staff allegedly dropped him off, and the wrong house and he ran away. She said if someone waited to see if he could not get in the house, this would have been prevented. Badger said on one occasion, he was found near a highway.

“He had eloped from them a few times before and it took them between 10 to 15 minutes to call me to tell me that he had eloped,” Badger said. “So I get the call from IMPD and they say, ‘We found your son.’ And I am like, ‘Thank you, Jesus, where?’ When they told me out west on the highway, I was like how did he get all the way out there?”

Badger said her son went to this day program prior to Caregiver buying it out. She said many have pulled their loved ones due to safety concerns and alleges a director at the company is to be blamed.

“She mistreats special needs kids and the workers,” Badger said. “She comes to work high, she smokes weed, and I don’t think she needs to be there.”

Badger said she has been in contact with someone at the state, but it is not immediately clear if anything came from that. She hopes the company will be investigated.

Caregiver Inc. has not responded to multiple requests for comment over the course of these stories airing.

This story has been updated to give the correct name of Caregiver Inc.