An eight-day jury trial has been scheduled for a Hastings in-home daycare provider accused of negligent child abuse in Adams County District Court. Jade Essink, 23, is charged with negligent child abuse resulting in injury, a Class 3A felony, and has entered a plea of not guilty.
During a pretrial hearing held January 14, the court set key deadlines in the case. All pretrial motions must be filed by February 28, jury instructions are due April 20, and the jury trial is scheduled to run from May 26 through June 5, with proceedings beginning at 9 a.m. each day.
The charges stem from a month-long investigation by the Hastings Police Department following a serious incident in December 2024. According to court records, a 10-month-old boy in Essink’s care was airlifted from Mary Lanning Healthcare in Hastings to Children’s Hospital in Omaha on December 11 after suffering a severe head injury at the daycare location on West 9th Street.
Initial reports indicated the child may have collided with another child and fallen into a stone fireplace. However, medical professionals raised concerns about that explanation. An affidavit filed in Adams County Court states that a physician at Mary Lanning Healthcare told investigators they were “100 percent sure” the injuries were the result of child abuse.
Essink later told investigators she entered the room as the infant was getting up from the floor after running into a three-year-old child and falling into the fireplace stonework and onto the floor. Doctors at Children’s Hospital later reported the child suffered fractures on both sides of his skull and required two surgeries. They determined the injuries were not consistent with a simple fall, citing the severity and pattern of bruising.
A physician later added that the injuries could have resulted from repeated shaking or slamming. Based on those findings, Hastings police sought and obtained an arrest warrant. Essink was arrested January 23 and booked into the Adams County Jail.
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