Our daughter started attending Ana's Daycare at 6 months old. We originally were attracted to the festiveness of the place. They celebrated holidays in a big way, there were lots of toys and games and Ana exuded energy. They seemed very proactive with potty-training and Ana told us all the food was home-cooked organic.
Things seemed fine for a while, except for a few peculiarities that we brushed off as Ana's eccentricity. Some odd things I noticed were that the summaries I'd get from Ana during pickup were always the exact same "she ate good, slept good." No other details at all except to let us know if she was getting sick or that she'd hit a new milestone. We only heard positive news unless she was clearly getting sick and needed to be picked up early. During the first few months we got a little written note showing when she'd slept and eaten, and every note every day was the exact same, which was a little hard to believe. We never went inside the facility after our original tour. The pick-ups/drop-offs were always at the door except when the kids were in the yard on warm days. The photos we'd get were intermittent and very posed, the kids sitting arranged in a group or at the lunch table staring at the camera, none ever smiling.
One time when I showed up early without first alerting Ana she was very forceful about me never doing that again, explaining that they needed time to get her ready. I didn't mind waiting, but Ana made it clear that it was a very big deal that I always give notice. Despite us signing a form, per CA law, informing parents of their right to show up anytime unannounced.
Our daughter didn't seem to learn any songs or Spanish words at Ana's. After more than a year she knew only one or two Spanish words and no songs in any language that she hadn't already learned at home.
Sometimes Ana's 3 grandkids, a few years older than the daycare kids, were being watched along with the daycare kids. One of the older grandkids was pretty rambunctious and a bit reckless considering how young the daycare kids are. But there never were extra workers on those days, and the parents were never notified there would be extra kids. A few times I showed up during pick-up and only Ana's assistant was there with all the kids, which is a ratio violation. She explained that Ana was doing a chore and would be right back. I also noticed that around the holidays, some of the other kids who'd already graduated would be back at Ana's for a few days (since they were attending schools with longer holiday breaks). Again, we were never notified.
Around 1.5 years old, we started noticing our daughter would sometimes be very irritable after I'd pick her up. She had always been a good sleeper since 4-5 months old. But at around 19 months she suddenly started crying going to sleep, waking up in the middle of the night scream-crying and waking in the morning crying loudly. This went on for weeks. I asked Ana about this, describing the situation very neutrally and asked if she'd noticed anything. Ana replied no and immediately got defensive saying that nothing was wrong at the daycare and that our kid had lots of friends there. It was a weird, very loaded reaction. Months earlier, we noticed our girl's tooth had gotten a dark spot on it that her dentist said was likely from an impact. The tooth ended up dying and having to be pulled out around this time. We asked Ana if she had seen anything that could have caused it and she denied any knowledge.
Around this time a mutual acquaintance told us that the daycare was not a good place and had reason to believe there may have been some abusive behavior from several staff. This prompted us to check the DSS website. (See the complaint report images. "Unverified" means investigators couldn't find enough evidence to prove or disprove.) I alerted some of the other parents. I'd already noticed that two of the kids happened to be speech-delayed. I found out that one of them also had been having night terrors for several months. I found out that the other kid was showing new signs of aggression. Us and those parents pulled our three kids out of Ana's daycare shortly after that. We got a nanny and our daughter's sleep improved within a couple days! And the other two kids started attending other daycares and started really blossoming speech-wise.
The entire experience was, of course, depressing and scary. We were new parents and now we kick ourselves for not heeding the warning signs and for not finding the complaint report. We would never have taken her there if we had seen it. After getting our girl into a new, more regulated daycare it's like night and day. We have open dialogues with the teachers, get nuanced reports, daily photos where the kids look engaged, and she is clearly learning so much. read more