Well, I'm sure there are several candidates for 'worst nightmare' but I feel like I had one that would be on the hit list..
I tossed back and forth on if I should share this story but, for one, I want it to be documented, and, two, who am I trying to protect??
Sunday evening I received a call from my cousin, Kari. For a little background, Kari sends her son and her boyfriends' daughter to the same daycare that I sent Braylea. She had just gotten off the phone with a helper at the daycare that she previously knew. She informed Kari that she just quit and for various reasons that she felt like she needed to inform parents about. To take a step back from that, I want to mention that Kari and I both have not been very pleased with the way our children have been taken care of since we started daycare. But, being first parents and never dealing with a daycare, we just thought..it is just daycare life, get used it...now I know that a parents' instinct is (normally) always right and in this circumstance, it was. The kids would smell when we picked them up..almost like a wet dog I would say. They most always had a wet or dirty diaper when picked up..didn't matter what time of the day. Their bottoms were irritated because they were never wiped completely clean. Now I kick myself for never saying anything but I never want to tell anyone their faults..so I let it go.
Back to the lady..and before I go any farther, I just want to confirm that this is not completely verified as the truth yet..she told Kari that our kids are being mistreated..not abused but more neglect. She does this to all 'non-talking' kids. We found out that she used the houses' old garage as a 'playroom' for the babies..we were never shown this room even existed let alone find out that our children stayed in there all day. The room has no heat/air..plywood for the walls and no ceiling..bluntly..it is freezing in the winter and muggy in the summer. This daycare has too many children so supposedly this room is a hiding place to keep kids if SRS might come along to survey. This room doesn't have a real door attached...hence why we never knew the room existed. It looks like a little pantry door with a broom hanging from it. We were also told that when we had the terrible rain two weeks ago that the room flooded with our kids in there and two days later..the kids were back in there with the wet floor underneath them. They are normally kept in a playpen or a walker all day because they are not supervised at all times...
These are the main highlights of what we were told and it is enough for any parent to get beyond upset about. After being told this..I tried to talk myself into believing the lady was just mad and made up all of this to hurt her daycare. The more I thought about it, the more the little things started making sense...
When I drop Braylea off in the mornings..I NEVER have seen another kid, let alone HEAR another kid. Kari gets off an hour before I do and has never seen Braylea except asked once to see her and she was in the big kids playroom in a jumpy with kids running crazy around her and she was crying. She would push you out the door when you picked up your kid..so I never felt welcome. Braylea was sick for a whole month with an upper resp infection and eye infection..if in a damp room all day that possibly has mold in it would explain all of that. Her bottom always red and full diapers explains the lack of care. Braylea has really not developed much in the past two months of going there...if in playpen or walker all day..no chance to learn. Braylea never seemed happy when picking her up and always wanted to leave right away.
As any parent would know..this has to be one of the most horrible feelings that ever could take place. I have had several break downs but also several spells of just getting down right angry.
Monday I told daycare she was sick to get a day to get more info. I spoke to the lady that Kari spoke to and heard the same but some more details about Braylea and couldn't handle it. Bryson, on the other hand, just gets angry when it deals with his baby girl so he went to the daycare and knocked on the door. I helper was there and he requested to see that room and she told him he couldn't right now, so he demanded she call the owner because he has every right to see a room that his daughter has been in. (Bryson believes there was a child down there because he went outside while she was trying to get ahold of the owner and when returning, a child was in the living room) She came and let him in. She swore that she had told me about this room and that they just opened it up a few weeks ago...lie lie lie. She said that the little kids only go down there when they do arts and crafts so they dont pick up things they shouldn't....BUT Bryson said there were at least 3 playpens in there, walkers and several highchairs. For not going down there much..that is a lot of stuff! She ended up calling me and trying to convince me that nothing was wrong and she was not trying to hide this room. She said it was state inspected and passed but my gut just does not want to believe her. I told her that Braylea would no longer be there under the circumstance and she seemed fine with that, so I'm assuming there was no bond between them. I just picture myself with a daycare and feel like I would have a connection with each and every kid and for her to let it go that fast seemed odd.
The one and only good thing about this situation is that my aunt and cousin are watching Braylea again and we are ALL sooooo happy about it!! It is definitely an answered prayer from above that I thank God everyday for. So...Mallory gets to teach Braylea all kinds of new tricks! :)
