Daycare provider put 3 infants in utility closet!
By sunshine4
@sunshine4 (8703)
United States
May 17, 2007 6:23pm CST
I just saw this on the news. There was a liscensed daycare that had a routine check. The people went in the house to check out the daycare and heard some crying coming from a utility closet. They opened it up and found 3 cribs right next to the hot water tanks and electrical boxes. There were 3 infants in the closet. It has been suggested that this daycare be shut down.
Now get this one.....many of the parents who bring their children to this daycare have written emails requesting that this daycare be kept opened. They say that this woman is a great daycare provider and made one mistake so should not be shut down.
Don't you think this was a huge mistake? I say shut her down before it is too late.
9 people like this
23 responses
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
17 May 07
Those parents are crazy!! There is no way that I would want someone that thought a utility closet was a good place for cribs, to take care of my child.
I don't think that is a mistake. You don't accidentally keep putting the baby's cribs in there everyday. An accident is closing one toddler in the coat closet by mistake for a couple minutes one day (I saw that one on the news recently, and everyone DID want that daycare shut down!).
It doesn't take much sense at all to realize that a utility closet isn't a suitable place for babies.
4 people like this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
17 May 07
I know. I run a day care and would never even think of putting the kids near the electrical wires ect. The kids were crying in the closet so obviously they were being neglected.
3 people like this
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
17 May 07
I think putting those kids in the closet was a very stupid thing to do. I understand that she was overlimits and was trying to hide them but it was just wrong. I think she should be shut down if not forever than atleast until she takes new training. If they let her reopen then I think they need to pull surprise inspection on her every month. Thank goodness those babies were not hurt.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
17 May 07
Very thankful that the babies were not hurt. Being over the limit on kids doesn't give her the right to put some in the closet! She should have fessed up to being over and taken the consequences. She knew the limit of kids she could have and chose to go over.
2 people like this
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
18 May 07
i think it is not a mistake and that daycare should be closed... what a crazy idea to put cribs in the cliset next to the hot water tanks and electrical boxes... how dangerous can that be... i wouldn't want my baby to be cared by that kind of daycare centre... i think it should be closed...
2 people like this
@angelface23 (2494)
• United States
17 May 07
yeah I say shut it down too. If you are putting kids of any age in a closet then you are not a great childcare provider. What if that were their kids in the closet, i bet these parents wouldnt be sticking up for her.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
17 May 07
I am wondering how these parents would want to bring their kids back there. It is crazy.
2 people like this
@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
17 May 07
Yes that happened here in TN not far from me. The state has pulled her license well suspended it, pending investigation. She had up until this point the best rating a Day care center can get. It was truly a utility room, and even in a bit of a shambles. That is the very reason I quit work to stay at home with my grand children. No matter the credentials someone has there is always room for human error and it just might be your child. At least if I err with my grand children it would have been a mistake in love, not neglect.
2 people like this
@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
19 May 07
Thank you for the best response my friend :))
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
17 May 07
Good point. She did not make a mistake in loving these kids~ it was total neglect. How could someone go from having the highest rating for a daycare to this extreme? It amazes me!
1 person likes this
@wahmoftwo (1296)
• United States
23 May 07
That is crazy. She should be shut down. Who in there right mind would put kids in a closet?
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
23 May 07
I totally agree. She was endangering these infants by putting them in an utility closet.
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
18 May 07
I don't thin this could be considered a mistake - that sort of implies it was accidental. I think it was a gross stupidity. How anyone could think a closet near a hot water heater etc would be a good place to put a child down for a nap is beyond me. (Not that a regular closet is all that bad, if you take the doors off, etc...I know some people who changed their walk-in closet into a little nursery for their baby, just because they wanted the baby closer to them).
I, too, think she should be shut down. I can't see how this could be an isolated event, and I cannot understand parents feeling comfortable with this.
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
I agree with you regarding a regular closet. If it is big enough for a crib and with the door open, there is nothing in there to harm the child. I still can't see how any parent would be comfortable with sending their child there.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
21 May 07
This is very cruel. I think that she should be shut down also.
@GergOnline (399)
• United States
18 May 07
yea that woman should be put into jail for child abuse as well. omg that make me so angry just hearing about this! how could she do this!
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
19 May 07
That makes me so angry also. I can't believe that the other parents are supporting her.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
25 May 07
I know it is very hard to find a dependable daycare where you can feel safe leaving your child, but I would never feel safe leaving my child with this woman....your right, something is going on with those parents.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
19 May 07
It's crazy that she would hide these kids in the closet!!
@fhunter910 (156)
• United States
18 May 07
Wow! first of all I can't believe the provider did that. I used to work at a daycare for over 2 years and we never did anything like that! That should be considered child abuse and she shouldn't be able to be around any children ever again including her own.
Second of all, how could the parents send letters pleading to keep the daycare open, that's crazy. I at least hope the three parents of the three infants in the closet didn't write letters because then I'd have to say they don't deserve to have there children.
Sticking babies in a closet is wrong, are we so messed up as a society that we can't even see that anymore?
wow, just wow!
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
It is so unreal to me that people would think that these parents want her to stay open. Unreal!
@TheCatzMeow1 (579)
• United States
18 May 07
OMG Are those parents nuts?!? I think she should have some sort of negligent child endangerment charges brought up against her. She can't be too good of a provider no matter what the excuse for her actions are. I say shut her down like last week!
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
If it were my child, I would file child endangerment charges against her.
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
18 May 07
I agree with you. They should shut the daycare down and take her childcare licence away. This just wasn't a simple mistake. And I'm counting on it that the so called parents that are requesting for this lady to keep her daycare open is probably friends of hers. I just don't see any other reason why a parent would want the daycare up and running and not shut down.
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
The parents who support her are the biggest mystery of this story to me.
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
18 May 07
What I wonder is why were they in the utility closet, what was she thinkng. I think that most of the parents complaining about it being shut down are worried that they could lose they're jobs if they don't have child care. I still wouldn't be ignorant enough to leave my child with someone like that after what she did, job or not. Where did this happen?
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
It happened in TN. There were 3 cribs in the closet with blankets, so I am guessing that this is where she had the infants sleep. She had a surprise inspection and you are only allowed one infant, so maybe she put them in there to hide them?! I don't know for sure. The reason they found them was they were crying. The inspectors had never looked in this utility closet during other inspections before.
@4cuteboys (4099)
• United States
18 May 07
That is terrible! I was a licensed home provider before and on a couple of occasions I was over ratio with kids. One didn't get picked up on time and the next one came so I was over. I was inspected on one of the days that I was over, and I had to explain myself and deal with it. I wouldn't have put any of the kids in a closet! Urgh those poor babies! I hate hearing stuff like that, and since I feel that was a serious mistake, I do think she should be shut down immediatly as well.
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
Being in daycare myself, this sickens me. You don't put kids in a utility closet~ period!
@conservababe (303)
• Philippines
18 May 07
Oh geeezzz im a registered nurse and i wouldn't tolerate that kind of negligence. How could they keep the babies inside the closet just like that? What if the babies get suffocated and all? That center should be shut down right away.
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
This was at a private inhome daycare. It definately should be shut down. Anything could have happened.
@harirao (124)
• Malaysia
18 May 07
This day care should have been shut down. Come on, even if its 1 mistake or 2 mistake done by this women, we are talking about children. How could she have done such thing like that. Is it because the kids are infant. Pity them... it not their fault for being infants. Its the situation that has made them like that.. And this lady should be prisoned for doing this to the kids. Imagine how would the 3 kids be feeling... This things will be in their memories forever.. And the parents who support her to still run the business.. they are plain selfish. How if it was their kid in the closet??????
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
18 May 07
I can't imagine how the older kids didn't tell their parents that she was putting these babies in the closet...unless it was where they were put when they were infants also.
