Home Alone Is No Place to Be

A rash of deaths reaffirms that child care is a national problem

SHEREE WILLIAMS AND HER HUSBAND LEROY LYONS came home to a scene of unimaginable horror. While they were away for 45 minutes, all seven of their children, left unattended, had perished in a swift, smoky blaze that gutted their two-story house on Detroit's east side. Iron burglar bars on the windows had prevented the youngsters, ranging in age from seven months to nine years, from escaping. In New York City two children, ages seven and five, died when a fire broke out in the basement of an unlicensed day-care center whose owner had stepped out for a few minutes just before...

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