In February 2021, my 3-year-old son told me he was abused by his licensed in-home childcare provider located in Overland Park, Kansas. He was attending a daycare that I’d found in a Facebook group designed to connect parents in Johnson County with local childcare providers. I paid $1,600/month for both of my children to attend full-time. When my son confided in me about the incident, I immediately pulled both of my children from her care.
The things I learned about the daycare and its proprietor (the “provider”) in the months following the incident include (but are not limited to):
The daycare had an existing 150-page complaint and investigation file with the state of Kansas prior to my son’s allegation;
The provider initially told me that her camera tapes would prove that my son was lying. After ignoring all verbal and written requests to actually provide the camera tapes, she finally told my attorney that the camera system wasn’t working on that particular day. This wasn’t the first time her camera system had conveniently failed to record on a particular day. According to her state records, another family was told the same thing when their infant came home with bruised bite marks covering his or her back;
My private investigator obtained an interview with the provider’s former business partner who had quit suddenly a few months after starting at the daycare. During the interview her former partner mentioned pre-existing allegations that were already part of the state records as well as a few new allegations. The former partner made allegations of the daycare provider committing the following:
Putting toddlers and infants who “were bad” or who annoyed her in the basement storage closets;
Abusing alcohol and narcotic medications throughout the day, while working, and allowing people to come by the house to provide her with medications;
Drugging children to get them to sleep;
Being over-capacity with children;
Leaving the infants and children alone in the basement daycare area for prolonged periods of time.
The provider lied in both versions of the contract I signed about being active in the federal food program. Her local sponsor confirmed to me that the provider had been inactive in the program since 2019. According to her records, a number of other families had expressed concerns about what she fed their children and, furthermore, I now have no idea what she fed my children the entire time they were in her care.
On a phone call with the KDHE childcare licensing director, the director acknowledged the provider’s negative records and reputation. She said she knew right away who the provider was when I told her, and that the providers she knows of by name are either the really good or the really bad, “and this is not the first category.”
When the daycare provider sued me in small claims court for not paying her a 30-day contract termination fee of $1,600 (plus $1,384 in “late fees”), I couldn’t believe this woman thought I owed her any more money. I fought tooth and nail but, unfortunately, eight months, one appeal, and thousands of dollars later I had to recently settle with the provider for another two thousand dollars once it became clear the legal system was not on my side.
I was not allowed to have legal representation in small claims court when she initially filed suit for the termination fee. I was prepared to fight it myself with the evidence from her state records and the information obtained from the private investigator, and I was confident that no court would expect me to pay a termination fee to this woman. The law further required that the plaintiff and defendant participate in mediation before going to court; it is my understanding that this requirement was due to the pandemic but I am unsure of that. What I am entirely sure of, however, is that the law also provided for me an option to request to bypass mediation. Knowing that under no circumstances would I be willing to mediate with the provider, I filed a motion to bypass mediation so that my case could be heard in front of a judge.
The request to bypass mediation had to first be approved by the judge. Anticipating that the hearing to bypass mediation was just that, I did not appear with any of what I considered to be evidence for an actual trial as I was informed I would have only 10 minutes to present my case for my request. I was more than prepared to explain why I was unwilling to mediate, but when the judge asked if my private investigator was present, I had to say no. I then said I was under the impression we were there to go over my request to bypass mediation. The Johnson County judge stated he wanted the case off his docket and awarded the provider a judgment. I filed an appeal.
From then on, the courts made it clear they didn’t want to deal with a “silly” small claims case anymore. The second judge prohibited my now-hired attorney and me from sending in any actual evidence, rendering my chances of winning the case slim. Neither judge seemed to care that the heart of the matter was child abuse and I can only describe my experience with the Johnson County courts as abhorrent. Since then, I’ve learned I wasn’t the first family to have terminated a contract for cause with the provider’s daycare nor the first family she sued (and won against) in small claims court for doing so.
Why does our legal system continue to allow this to happen? Why does this daycare provider keep getting away with scamming distraught families out of thousands of dollars after they terminate a contract for cause?
And yes, I would make the same decision to fight her legally if I had to do it all over again. I will always choose to pursue justice for my children.
I provided the daycare’s records along with the private investigator interview to the Overland Park Police Department in April 2021 but never heard back from the officer assigned to the case. After reading through the provider’s records a number of times, I can only surmise that our state agencies lack the resources and/or the authority to hold certain providers accountable.
According to a report from one of the provider’s prior investigations:
· All but one of the parents spoke to shared concerns;
· No one seemed surprised by the call or the allegations;
· During the home visit, the provider provided short answers, did not expand upon them, and appeared to get defensive with her responses when asked follow-up questions.
To this day the provider maintains an exasperatingly clean record per the Child Care Licensing Program Online Facility Compliance Search.
If her own licensing agency has categorized her as a “bad provider” then why on earth is she still licensed?
Why are complaint and investigation records not more readily available to the public? Why did I have to hire a private investigator to obtain meaningful information?
The DCF and KDHE reports that came back citing the allegations/findings as “unsubstantiated” did not provide my family with any relief as I had reviewed the investigation and interview records myself. How many times being investigated by the state does it take to realize who the common denominator is? The provider claimed that “unsubstantiated reports” proved her innocence, though “unsubstantiated” as defined by the dictionary means not supported or proven by evidence. How could there ever be any evidence when she continues to get away with saying her camera system wasn’t working on a particular day?
As of November 28, 2021, from my viewpoint as a private citizen of Johnson County, KS, I see no indication that this childcare provider has been criminally investigated for the numerous disturbing allegations made against her daycare or has had to:
Take a drug test;
Provide an explanation as to why she has claimed at least twice now that the camera system in her home hasn’t worked on days she’s been accused of abuse/neglect; or
Face any repercussions for lying in her contract about children being enrolled in the food program (thus ensuring they would receive nutritious meals) when she was actually no longer active in the program.
The majority of the people I spoke with earlier this year regarding this provider and the legal issues I faced encouraged me to wipe my hands of it and settle. They didn’t want me to experience the mental, emotional, and physical stress that I inevitably did when I decided not to walk away from it. They meant well, but I was haunted by the thought of infants and young children in storage closets. I wanted justice for all the children in her care every bit as much as I wanted justice for myself and my children. If not me, then who?
Parents of Kansas - I would like for you to be aware of a few crucial resources so that you may perform your own due diligence and make your own decisions regarding childcare, which may be one of the most important decisions you will ever have to make.
Child Care Licensing Program Online Facility Compliance Search – shows a childcare provider’s licensing history (status, annual inspections, etc.) – also includes limited complaint information;
Kansas Open Records Act – through this service you can request a daycare’s complaint and investigation records (this is how I received the 150-page file I mentioned previously);
Child Care Complaint Form – use this form to submit a complaint against a provider with the KS licensing agency;
Depending on where you’re located and the nature of the complaint, you may also consider filing a police report with your local police department;
(800) 922-5330 – phone number for making a DCF complaint (abuse, neglect, or exploitation);
(785) 296-2276 – phone number for food program inquiries – please note that if your provider is in the food program then you would have filled out certain paperwork regarding your child(ren);
Most importantly, always trust your intuition.
The only thing I gain from posting this letter is being able to sleep at night knowing that I did everything in my power to prevent future child abuse and neglect incidents.
You may contact me at dearparentsofkansas@gmail.com.