Harris, who spent an emotional morning deciding on the outfit, matching pink hair ribbons and earrings, stood over her daughter's body later Friday afternoon with 25 family members and friends during a private viewing at the Thompson Funeral Home.

Friday marked a week since the 25-year-old mother of three and her boyfriend, David Carter, 26, made simultaneous 911 calls to police.

The couple had arrived at the Abundant Life Academy of Learning, and a day-care worker ran from the building with a set of keys to retrieve the little girl left for three hours inside a hot van. Paramedics said the temperature inside was between 125 and 145 degrees.

Harris was overcome with grief as she talked very briefly of picking out an outfit and "someday" seeing her daughter in a wedding dress.

She thought the church-run day-care center would be good for Zaniyah and her two older children while she worked to support her family.

And even though the Port Orange family did not have a lot of money, Zaniyah always had a pretty dress for Sunday school, Harris said.

The sight of the little girl in the casket made Benjamin Crump, the family's attorney, quietly weep.

A day earlier he called a news conference asking Abundant Life Ministries, the church overseeing the day-care center at 910 Beville Road, to close the center temporarily out of respect for Harris and her family.

But in a separate news conference Thursday the Rev. Marcus Triplett stood his ground, describing the death as an "isolated incident" and saying the center would stay open to serve the roughly 80 children enrolled. Only a handful of parents have withdrawn their children, he said.

Triplett has refused to discuss the day care's handling of the situation, and said his staff would not comment either.

Crump, a 31-year-old Tallahassee attorney, said he is perplexed a church that espouses Christian values would not respect a grieving mother's wishes, considering the magnitude of the tragedy.

"When Korey Stringer died, the Minnesota Vikings canceled practice for three days and concentrated their efforts on his wife and young son," Crump said.

The attorney said his firm has received several calls from Volusia County residents offering condolences and expressing concern about the police investigation that remains open.

Crump said it would be "inappropriate and unfair" to question the Police Department's investigation until it is completed. Police investigators have released few details about their findings.

An initial police report stated that day-care worker Gail Besemer, 40, told investigators she did not make a head count of 14 children -- ages 2 to 6 -- before or after returning from a field trip to a park in a seven-passenger van she drove. The trip was taken at the "last minute," she told police.

And, according to the report, Besemer did not put the younger children in child safety seats as required by law, but instead used seat belts to buckle them in.

Besemer has not returned repeated telephone messages asking for comment on what happened.

A former employee, Bonnie Sagraves, 39, of Port Orange, said she was fired from Abundant Life after filing a police report against assistant director Evelyn Teal, who she claims assaulted her in front of children. A police report was made but no charges were filed against Teal.

Sagraves has since filed a workmen's compensation complaint against the day care for injuries she claims to have suffered.

Sagraves said she believes that incident, and more importantly this death, "will be whitewashed" by the police because the center's director, Tracey Mercer, is the wife of retired police Cmdr. Louie Mercer.

Police spokesman Sgt. Al Tolley said there are no conflicts of interest and the four investigators assigned to the case are professionals.

He said their report was forwarded Friday to the State Attorney's Office for review. He said he could not comment on whether charges "will or won't" be filed against the day-care workers responsible for the girl's care. He also said he couldn't speculate when a final report would be made public.

Crump said that after today's funeral, the family will lobby local state legislators and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, who plans to attend the service. The family will urge them to make reforms so the Florida Department of Children and Families can close down, if necessary, facilities like Abundant Life that are exempt from state regulation because of their church-related status.

Florida Deputy Solicitor General Kent Wetherell, who grew up in Daytona Beach and now works as a government lawyer, said several high-profile laws have resulted because of tragedies, including the Dale Earnhardt Family Protection Act, named for the late NASCAR driver, which bars anyone from looking at or publishing autopsy photos without permission of a judge. Wetherell helped defend the law in court.

A California woman who's daughter died after being left in a van has recently pushed legislation -- Kaitlyn's Law -- that would allow police to issue fines to adults who leave children unattended in vehicles, even when there are no injuries.

Tammy Russell, who lives in suburban San Diego, said Friday that the bill has passed the state Senate and is awaiting House approval. She said she entrusted her 6-month-old daughter to a 35-year-old baby sitter who forgot about her child and left the girl in a van for several hours. The woman is awaiting trial on manslaughter charges.

"I know the intense rage of wanting to choke the person who could do this to a child, but you can't do that," Russell said.