Part One: Background

My children were 24 months and 4 months old when I found The Daycare in a Johnson County, KS Facebook group. I had been researching daycares for weeks at that point and was feeling discouraged because - as most working parents know - one open spot for a young child can be difficult to find, much less two. And an infant spot? Forget it - some daycares have waiting lists for infants that span years! My previous childcare arrangement had fallen through at the last minute and I had just returned from maternity leave, so needless to say I was feeling the pressure.

When I stumbled upon the Johnson County, KS Facebook group I thought I had struck gold. Finally, a group whose purpose is solely to connect parents with daycares that have availability! I made a post explaining my situation and within hours multiple daycares reached out saying that they could take in both of my children at reasonable rates. They were all in-home daycares, which I did not have much experience with yet, but they were licensed with the state of Kansas so I felt comfortable proceeding.

It was Daycare Provider’s business partner (“Business Partner”), a former nurse, who private messaged me on October 21, 2019 about The Daycare. She said they were currently interviewing and had openings for my little ones, and then directed me to their Facebook page. On October 24, 2019 I met with Daycare Provider and Business Partner at The Daycare for an interview and I liked what I heard. Their prices were significantly higher than the other in-home daycares I had been in contact with, but the basement daycare area was impressive and our personalities seemed to “click.” Business Partner in particular was wonderful; I related to her in many ways and she had such a funny, bubbly spirit. I sent them my two-week deposit of $880.00 on October 28, 2019 and my children officially started on November 18, 2019.

In January of 2020 Business Partner stopped showing up to The Daycare. I simply noticed one day that her car hadn’t been there in over a week. The parents were never notified of this by Daycare Provider and were therefore left to wonder what had happened. I assumed Business Partner did not enjoy her new job as a childcare provider, which she had never done before, and that she had returned to a nursing position. Her name was never brought up again.

From that point on there were certain things that rubbed me the wrong way about Daycare Provider but, in my naiveite, I assumed I would have the same experience with any in-home daycare provider. Daycare Provider had been my first long-term childcare arrangement and I simply did not have other providers to compare her to. She would frequently cancel on me with short or zero notice, request that I pick up my children early for a variety of silly – sometimes fictitious – reasons, and send me long, nonsensical texts full of spelling and grammatical errors. However, I genuinely believed that my children enjoyed going to her house and that they were safe with her. She was licensed, after all, and her record according to the Kansas Child Care Licensing Program Online Facility Compliance Search was squeaky clean.

To be specific, the majority of the short/zero-notice cancelations and early pick-ups were for her to run errands or do personal activities, e.g., attend the Chiefs parade, carpool to the lake. She always expected full payment for those days. There were multiple incidents where she told me my child was ill with a fever but, when I picked them up and immediately took them to the doctor, they were confirmed to not have a fever or any other illness. She had a demonstrated history of prioritizing personal wants/needs over her obligations as a childcare provider. Due to job flexibility I simply put up with it, but looking back I realize just how many red flags there were.