A local mother has taken to social media to make public accusations against a local learning center, lobbing a number of misconduct allegations in a series of TikTok videos that have made waves in and out of Monroe County.

First posting on the TikTok account @doingtherightthingmom at the start of the year, Keagan Miller has shared over 60 videos of varying length recounting her experiences with leadership at Hilltop Kids Learning Center, a ministry of Christ Community Lutheran Church in Columbia.

In the first four videos, Miller speaks about how she decided to keep her children home from the daycare following an “outlandish” message from Hilltop leadership to parents.  

She then reported her concerns to the Columbia Police Department and arrived at Hilltop one day with a police escort while she picked up her children’s belongings and documents.

Throughout the videos, Miller makes a number of accusations against Hilltop concerning alleged misconduct among staff and leadership, citing apparent messages from Hilltop leaders and messages from apparent former staff whose identities she keeps anonymous.

When asked to offer comment on the videos and allegations, Christ Community Lutheran Church Pastor Jared Parker offered a statement on behalf of the church and Hilltop.

The statement acknowledges that the church is aware of the videos and complaints and is taking the allegations very seriously.

It goes on to say the statements are “exaggerated, misleading or untrue versions of issues that have already been thoroughly and fully investigated previously by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (the Illinois agency that has regulatory oversight over all childcare facilities in Illinois) and the Columbia Police Department.”

Further, the statement claims “each (agency) independently concluded that no laws were broken, found no evidence of harm to children at Hilltop Kids and no disciplinary action was taken against Hilltop Kids or its staff.”

“The safety and well-being of the children, families, and staff at Hilltop Kids has and always will be our top priority. To the extent allegations, if any, have not been brought to the proper authorities (or fall outside their authority), we will take all necessary steps to ensure the continued safety and well-being of the children at Hilltop Kids.

“However, our ability to investigate has been hampered because many of the statements posted are second or third hand accounts from, or regarding, unidentified individuals. Importantly, our investigation into these complaints thus far has revealed a number of the statements being posted are exaggerated, sensationalized, misleading, and/or simply untrue.”

Columbia Police Chief Jason Donjon spoke with the Republic-Times about the situation, explaining that an investigation that began in mid-December is still ongoing, though no charges are pending at this time.

“It’s quite a lengthy investigation, but we’re still doing it. As of now, there are no pending charges,” Donjon said. “People are saying there’s a lot of accusations being thrown out, and we have not found anything we’re willing to charge yet. When we’re completely done with the investigation, we’re gonna ask the state’s attorney to give it another look-over, but we’ve been in contact with DCFS throughout the investigation.”

Donjon further noted his department is willing to look into any further accusations that might arise.

Among the accusations made by Miller, several seem to relate to various DCFS citations concerning Hilltop.

The learning center received a substantial number of citations throughout 2025, garnering 13. Along with 14 citations in 2019, the facility has received a handful of citations each year – except for 2021 – since 2010.

Citations in 2025 seemingly pertinent to Miller’s allegations include reports concerning smoking indoors – marked as “unsubstantiated” per DCFS records – and reporting suspected child abuse or neglect – marked as “corrected.”

Other citations concern documentation on employee character references, procedure for handling soiled clothing and maintaining medical reports with certain information for each child.