CENTREVILLE -- Facing two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the accidental suffocation deaths of two infants at her Stevensville home day care last spring, Stacey W. Russum pleaded guilty yesterday to lesser charges in a plea arrangement she hopes will keep her out of prison.

Russum, the first child care provider to be prosecuted on criminal charges for violating Maryland day care regulations, entered an Alford plea in which she admitted no wrongdoing but acknowledged that pros- ecutors probably had enough evidence to convict her on two counts of reckless endangerment.

In addition to dropping the manslaughter charges that carried a possible 20-year sentence, Queen Anne's State's Attorney David Gregory recommended that if Russum receives jail time, she serve it in the county detention center.

Under the plea arrangement, she could receive up to 10 years. Circuit Judge John W. Sause Jr. will sentence the 33-year-old Russum on April 19.

The parents of Ian Denny and Matthew Harrison said they were relieved to have avoided a trial that would have forced them to relive the heartbreak they endured after their children died May 13.

"We're happy not to have to go through a trial where we would have had to testify," said Elaine Harrison, Matthew's mother. "But she still did not say she was wrong. That would have gone a long way toward helping us heal."

According to prosecutors, Russum violated numerous Maryland Child Care Administration regulations when, instead of using two cribs on the first floor, she placed the 5-month-old babies in an adult-size bed in a second-floor bedroom, piling blankets around the bed to prevent the children from rolling off. It was one of the blankets, a state medical examiner's report said, that fell over the children's faces, causing them to suffocate.

Russum, officials said, was distracted as she baked cupcakes for her daughter's birthday party. With a television blaring at full volume, she failed to keep the children within sight and sound and did not check the sleeping children every 15 minutes, as required. Licensed to care for six children, Russum was watching nine youngsters in her Kent Island home when the babies died, officials said.

The case has generated national attention as Harrison and Dawn Denny, Ian's mother, have made reform of child care licensing rules a personal crusade in the months since their children died.

The women serve on the advisory board of the Maryland Child Care Administration and have pushed for tighter rules governing the state's more than 12,000 licensed day care homes.

Two bills introduced in the Maryland legislature would require mandatory instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid for all home care providers and allow unannounced inspections of their homes -- a standard in place in 38 states.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission released guidelines this week that call for parents and day care providers to remove from cribs and play pens blankets, quilts and comforters that could pose a hazard for babies.

In New York, a new law requires jail time for day care providers who misrepresent their credentials or lie about the number of children they are caring for.

"It's just plain common sense to make unannounced inspections," said Harrison, whose 2-week-old son, Ryan, slept quietly in a stroller in the courtroom during most of the hearing yesterday. "What the parent sees at drop-off or pick-up time may have nothing to do with what happens when they aren't there."

Linda Heisner, executive director of the state's child care administration, said her agency has supported both bills.

"These two mothers have become very strong advocates for child safety," Heisner said. "There's a tendency when a tragedy like this occurs for knee-jerk reactions, but they are very well informed, and their approach has been quite helpful."

Defense attorney Harry Walsh Jr., who advised his client not to talk to reporters until after sentencing, was sharply critical of the state child care administration for lax oversight of more than 90 pages of regulations.

"I wanted to bring this case to trial to show we need a complete overhaul of the child care administration," said Walsh. "But from the beginning, my client said she didn't want to go through a trial or to put the children's families through a trial. She's not only sorry, she's heartbroken."

Debbie Moore, a home care provider from Severna Park who is president of the 2,200-member Maryland State Family Child Care Association, said licensed day care providers support unannounced inspections and other measures.

"This doesn't cause us any fear," Moore said. "We're afraid for the safety of children in instances of multiple violations like this case. We are not over-regulated, not by any means."

Originally supportive of Russum, Harrison and Denny now say they believe some jail time should be imposed. "I'd like her to disappear or move somewhere," Denny said yesterday. "I wouldn't have to worry about my child going to school with her child or bumping into her somewhere."

Pub Date: 3/05/99