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UPDATE: 10:06 p.m.

MISSOULA- A Missoula parent says a 10-year-old boy assaulted a 5-year-old boy at a Missoula drop-in daycare and the Missoula Police Department is now investigating the alleged sexual assault.

Missoula Child Care Resources reports that most Montana parents work and depend on out of home child care, but there are some facts about Montana daycare businesses they may be unaware of.

Missoula Child Care Services say 67% of Montana parents work outside the home, which means at some point, parents are dependent on child daycare services, but there is a difference between a licensed daycare business and a drop-in daycare service.

A licensed facility is visited annually, but drop-in daycares are not visited by the state each year.
There is also no child-to-staff ratio regulations.

Missoula Child Care Resources Executive Director, Kelly Rosenleaf says it's important parents or legal guardians ask daycare providers who will be watching their children and how they will be supervised.

"They should look at who is taking care of the children, how many adults there will be with their children, what kinds of activities are in place. What happens when a staff member needs to take a break because maybe they need to have a drink of water, so they're going to leave the children, what's going to happen when that occurs," says Rosenleaf.

The Missoula City-County Health Department does have a regulation for food and health safety at drop-in daycares. It requires sanitation practices to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, but there are currently no supervision regulations as there are in licensed facilities.

Police says the alleged sexual assault happened Wednesday between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at a drop-in daycare in the 1500 block of South Avenue West.

The nature of the alleged assault is unknown at this time, and because the incident remains under investigation, we are not naming the daycare

MISSOULA - Missoula police are investigating a sexual assault where a 10-year-old allegedly assaulted a 5-year-old at a drop-in daycare on South Avenue West.

Police say a parent reported that the assault, between two boys, happened Wednesday evening between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

The nature of the alleged assault is unknown at this time, and the incident remains under investigation.