Saturday, June 28, 2014
A Day of Reckoning - The State of Texas Sunset Review
As a result of how the Department of Family and Protective Services(DFPS) Childcare Licensing Division is able to operate without any oversight and that the employees of Childcare Licensing band together to protect one another we have been forced to create this blog to appeal to the public and thereby giving us a fighting chance against them. Now we have been blessed with incredible timing with the State of Texas "Sunset Review" being held in Austin Texas right now! The State holds a Sunset Review every 12 years.
What Is Sunset?
Sunset is the regular assessment of the continuing need for a state agency to exist. While standard legislative oversight is concerned with agency compliance with legislative policies, Sunset asks a more basic question: Do the agency’s functions continue to be needed? The Sunset process works by setting a date on which an agency will be abolished unless legislation is passed to continue its functions. This creates a unique opportunity for the Legislature to look closely at each agency and make fundamental changes to an agency’s mission or operations if needed.
We have the opportunity to make ourselves heard directly to the people with the power to force a change in the way DFPS operates. Please take the time to fill out a Public Input Form on this link: https://www.sunset.texas.gov/input-form. Time is limited as we have only until 6/30/2014 to submit these forms. Please demand that the Sunset Advisory Commission do something about the corruption in the Department of Family and Protective Services and reference this blog (http://darksideofchildcare.blogspot.com/). You have the power to rock a corrupt State Agency to it's core. With your assistance you can help us protect the lives of tens of thousands of children that attend daycare in Texas.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Attorneys for Hire
Finding attorneys that are experienced with the State
Office of Administrative Hearings(SOAH) and/or childcare licensing is difficult . Which is why I am providing this list for you. I
am not recommending for you to hire these attorneys, I am merely
providing this list to help you should you become a target of Child Care
Licensing . It would not be a bad idea to have one on
retainer. The cost of having an attorney on retainer varies. Some attorneys may ask for a retainer of $3,000 others may ask for $25,000. It could cost mom and pop establishments their entire life savings just to hire an attorney while Childcare Licensing has the taxpayers of Texas to pay for their attorney fees. I will add more attorneys to the list as I become aware of
them.
Be aware of several things regarding attorneys. Just like the public, it is very likely that the attorney that you hire may not be knowledgeable of the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers or believe you when you tell them that childcare licensing representatives do not act in good faith, falsify writeups , or that childcare licensing representatives and the District Director target individuals unfairly.
Insist that your attorney read this blog to help them understand. You will very likely have to teach them about the minimum standards as they are not specialized in this industry. Most attorneys will offer a discount to you as they will very likely understand that if you are needing to hire them that you are very likely facing extreme financial difficulties. Ask them about discounts and find out how they charge you. Be active in your defense. Provide as much assistance to your attorney as possible (e.g. questions to ask either of yourself or childcare licensing). Keep in mind that childcare licensing and the Attorney General's office do not play nice. Your best chance at beating them is by forcing them to answer for their behavior. Do not expect for your attorney or the presiding judge to be familiar with the daycares rules and regulations. Do expect for the State to mislead the court.
Below is a list of attorneys that may be able to help you:
Julie Ketterman
The ISIS Building
1004 Prairie Street, Suite 300
Houston, TX 77002
(866)685-0587
(713)909-3126
Website:
http://www.khalawyers.com/
Provides services statewide
Greg Cagle
1602B State St.
Houston, TX 77007
(800) 704-3929
Rain Minns
Website:
www.rainminnslaw.com
Rain Minns Law Firm
4412 Spicewood Springs Rd. Suite 500
Austin, Texas 78759
(512)372-3222 Phone
(512)861-2403 Fax
Email:
info@rainminnslaw.com
Reyna and Reyna, Attorneys at Law
809 S. Port Ave
Corpus Christi, TX 78405
(361)884-4357
Gale, Wilson & Sanchez:
Christopher John Gale
Mark Anthony Sanchez
115 E Travis St
San Antonio, TX 78205
(210)222-8899
Robert Puente
606 N McColl Rd
Mcallen, TX 78501
(956)618-9904
Martin Cantu
Website:
www.cantulegal.com
Office Hours by Appointment Only:
11550 IH-10 West, Ste. 180
San Antonio, Texas 78230
(210)549-6036 Phone
(210)338-8664 Fax
Email:
martin.cantu@cantulegal.com
Joe Flores
Website:
www.floreslawfirm.com
500 N. Water St., Ste. 515
Corpus Christi, TX 78478
(361)887-8670 Phone
(361)887-8651 Fax
email:
joe@floreslawfirm.com
Potts and Reilly, L.L.P.
Website:
www.pottsreilly.com
7017 John Carpenter Fwy. Suite 225
Dallas, TX 75247-5132
866-876-7825
Potts & Reilly, L.L.P., in Austin, Texas, represents clients throughout Texas, including the communities of Austin, Dallas, San Marcos, Georgetown, Round Rock, Marble Falls, Horseshoe Bay, Granite Shoals, Kingsland, Bastrop, El Paso, the Texas Hill Country,
Highland Lakes, and Central Texas.
Travis County • Williamson County • Burnet County
Llano County • Dallas County • Hays County
Deleon & Washburn, P.C.
Website:
www.dwlawtx.com
901 South Mopac Expressway
Barton Oaks Plaza V, Ste 230
Austin, TX 78746
(512) 478-5308 Phone
(512) 482-8628 Fax
Be aware of several things regarding attorneys. Just like the public, it is very likely that the attorney that you hire may not be knowledgeable of the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers or believe you when you tell them that childcare licensing representatives do not act in good faith, falsify writeups , or that childcare licensing representatives and the District Director target individuals unfairly.
Insist that your attorney read this blog to help them understand. You will very likely have to teach them about the minimum standards as they are not specialized in this industry. Most attorneys will offer a discount to you as they will very likely understand that if you are needing to hire them that you are very likely facing extreme financial difficulties. Ask them about discounts and find out how they charge you. Be active in your defense. Provide as much assistance to your attorney as possible (e.g. questions to ask either of yourself or childcare licensing). Keep in mind that childcare licensing and the Attorney General's office do not play nice. Your best chance at beating them is by forcing them to answer for their behavior. Do not expect for your attorney or the presiding judge to be familiar with the daycares rules and regulations. Do expect for the State to mislead the court.
Below is a list of attorneys that may be able to help you:
Julie Ketterman
The ISIS Building
1004 Prairie Street, Suite 300
Houston, TX 77002
(866)685-0587
(713)909-3126
Website:
http://www.khalawyers.com/
Provides services statewide
Greg Cagle
1602B State St.
Houston, TX 77007
(800) 704-3929
Rain Minns
Website:
www.rainminnslaw.com
Rain Minns Law Firm
4412 Spicewood Springs Rd. Suite 500
Austin, Texas 78759
(512)372-3222 Phone
(512)861-2403 Fax
Email:
info@rainminnslaw.com
Reyna and Reyna, Attorneys at Law
809 S. Port Ave
Corpus Christi, TX 78405
(361)884-4357
Gale, Wilson & Sanchez:
Christopher John Gale
Mark Anthony Sanchez
115 E Travis St
San Antonio, TX 78205
(210)222-8899
Robert Puente
606 N McColl Rd
Mcallen, TX 78501
(956)618-9904
Martin Cantu
Website:
www.cantulegal.com
Office Hours by Appointment Only:
11550 IH-10 West, Ste. 180
San Antonio, Texas 78230
(210)549-6036 Phone
(210)338-8664 Fax
Email:
martin.cantu@cantulegal.com
Joe Flores
Website:
www.floreslawfirm.com
500 N. Water St., Ste. 515
Corpus Christi, TX 78478
(361)887-8670 Phone
(361)887-8651 Fax
email:
joe@floreslawfirm.com
Potts and Reilly, L.L.P.
Website:
www.pottsreilly.com
7017 John Carpenter Fwy. Suite 225
Dallas, TX 75247-5132
866-876-7825
Potts & Reilly, L.L.P., in Austin, Texas, represents clients throughout Texas, including the communities of Austin, Dallas, San Marcos, Georgetown, Round Rock, Marble Falls, Horseshoe Bay, Granite Shoals, Kingsland, Bastrop, El Paso, the Texas Hill Country,
Highland Lakes, and Central Texas.
Travis County • Williamson County • Burnet County
Llano County • Dallas County • Hays County
Website:
www.dwlawtx.com
901 South Mopac Expressway
Barton Oaks Plaza V, Ste 230
Austin, TX 78746
(512) 478-5308 Phone
(512) 482-8628 Fax
Leichter Law Firm PC
Website:
1602 E 7th St
Austin, TX 78702
(512)495-9995
Providing Services in:
Amarillo Arlington Austin Brownsville Corpus Christi Dallas El Paso Fort Worth Garland Houston Laredo Lubbock
San Antonio
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Ramifications
The ramifications for how Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing operate and how we are fighting back are vast.
Adrienne Driggers' reckless management and the tendency of her subordinates to falsify write-ups of daycares make all of the information posted on the DFPS website unreliable for parents who are searching for daycare. Parents, politicians, judges, attorneys, all accept the information posted on the DFPS website to be true. As you have seen from reading this blog, that is the furthest thing from the truth. . Daycare operators do not have the ability to tell their side of the story and are forced to suffer the consequences when a childcare licensing representative and/or the Childcare Licensing District Director is prone to committing libel.
The Administrative Reviews in which daycare operators can challenge the write-ups are notorious for being complete shams as they are typically administered by a Childcare Licensing Representative within the same office as the Childcare Licensing Representative's whose write-ups are being challenged. This massive conflict of interest was established by the Texas Administrative Code!
Adrienne Driggers' tendency to promote those Childcare Licensing Representatives who are prone to falsifying write-ups has created a culture of corruption where the individuals with the most power are the most corrupt.
The ease with which Adrienne Driggers is able to place innocent people on the DFPS Central Registry and close their daycares screams out for the overwhelming need for better checks and balances. She acts as judge, jury, and executioner without any oversight or fear of repercussions. Given that Adrienne Driggers clearly has far too much power, there must be a committee of both citizens, lawmakers, and daycare operators to approve those drastic decisions and to help ensure a fair, balanced, and uniform application of the punishments afforded to Childcare Licensing under the Texas Administrative Code for all daycare operators. If a daycare with 13 write-ups is being closed for posing "an immediate threat to children" then the thousands of daycares in Texas that have more write-ups should be closed as well.
The case for being able to report misconduct of Childcare Licensing Representatives and District Directors must be reorganized. Currently, the Office of Consumer Affairs is given that responsibility. Unfortunately, the Office of Consumer Affairs is within the Department of Family and Protective Services. It is part of the same State Agency as the one we are reporting. In our request for the investigation of Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing, we provided the rules and regulations to support why we were in the right. Despite this, the Office of Consumer Affairs did not bother to call us for an interview nor did they ask for support documentation which we have plenty of. Despite Adrienne Driggers blatantly violating the Texas Administrative Code, the Office of Consumer Affairs responded by stating that we needed to go through the Administrative Review process. They were absolutely useless.
The manner in which we are fighting back also has major ramifications. Rather than being fearful and defenseless against what on the surface appears to be a monolithic entity we have successfully exposed this giant's weakness to the most monolithic group of all, the citizens of the State of Texas. Here in Texas, we have a natural suspicion of corrupt governments. We will also fight for the safety and well-being of children. What Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing have done is not only corrupt; their corruption has endangered the lives of the most vulnerable in our community and has resulted in at least the molestation of two children and the death of our unborn child.
Through the use of social media, we now have a means to level the playing field against a State Agency that until now has controlled all of the information available to citizens regardless of whether or not that information was truthful. We now have the ability to expose Childcare Licensing Representatives for misconduct in a very public manner. I believe that Adrienne Driggers and her staff have been so reckless in their disregard of our Constitutional rights because they do not have any oversight. Through the use of social media, not only are we making Adrienne Driggers and her staff accountable for their actions we also have the ability to pressure our elected officials to protect us from her and any other corrupt State Agency.
The methods that we have used can be applied by any person against the largest of organizations. The greatest benefit in our war with DFPS Childcare Licensing are the tens of thousands of children in daycare. With each day that this blog and our petition are circulating, the possibility of Adrienne Driggers termination increases. The failure of her superiors to terminate her employment will only serve to further undermine the need for the Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division.
Adrienne Driggers' reckless management and the tendency of her subordinates to falsify write-ups of daycares make all of the information posted on the DFPS website unreliable for parents who are searching for daycare. Parents, politicians, judges, attorneys, all accept the information posted on the DFPS website to be true. As you have seen from reading this blog, that is the furthest thing from the truth. . Daycare operators do not have the ability to tell their side of the story and are forced to suffer the consequences when a childcare licensing representative and/or the Childcare Licensing District Director is prone to committing libel.
The Administrative Reviews in which daycare operators can challenge the write-ups are notorious for being complete shams as they are typically administered by a Childcare Licensing Representative within the same office as the Childcare Licensing Representative's whose write-ups are being challenged. This massive conflict of interest was established by the Texas Administrative Code!
Adrienne Driggers' tendency to promote those Childcare Licensing Representatives who are prone to falsifying write-ups has created a culture of corruption where the individuals with the most power are the most corrupt.
The ease with which Adrienne Driggers is able to place innocent people on the DFPS Central Registry and close their daycares screams out for the overwhelming need for better checks and balances. She acts as judge, jury, and executioner without any oversight or fear of repercussions. Given that Adrienne Driggers clearly has far too much power, there must be a committee of both citizens, lawmakers, and daycare operators to approve those drastic decisions and to help ensure a fair, balanced, and uniform application of the punishments afforded to Childcare Licensing under the Texas Administrative Code for all daycare operators. If a daycare with 13 write-ups is being closed for posing "an immediate threat to children" then the thousands of daycares in Texas that have more write-ups should be closed as well.
The case for being able to report misconduct of Childcare Licensing Representatives and District Directors must be reorganized. Currently, the Office of Consumer Affairs is given that responsibility. Unfortunately, the Office of Consumer Affairs is within the Department of Family and Protective Services. It is part of the same State Agency as the one we are reporting. In our request for the investigation of Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing, we provided the rules and regulations to support why we were in the right. Despite this, the Office of Consumer Affairs did not bother to call us for an interview nor did they ask for support documentation which we have plenty of. Despite Adrienne Driggers blatantly violating the Texas Administrative Code, the Office of Consumer Affairs responded by stating that we needed to go through the Administrative Review process. They were absolutely useless.
The manner in which we are fighting back also has major ramifications. Rather than being fearful and defenseless against what on the surface appears to be a monolithic entity we have successfully exposed this giant's weakness to the most monolithic group of all, the citizens of the State of Texas. Here in Texas, we have a natural suspicion of corrupt governments. We will also fight for the safety and well-being of children. What Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing have done is not only corrupt; their corruption has endangered the lives of the most vulnerable in our community and has resulted in at least the molestation of two children and the death of our unborn child.
Through the use of social media, we now have a means to level the playing field against a State Agency that until now has controlled all of the information available to citizens regardless of whether or not that information was truthful. We now have the ability to expose Childcare Licensing Representatives for misconduct in a very public manner. I believe that Adrienne Driggers and her staff have been so reckless in their disregard of our Constitutional rights because they do not have any oversight. Through the use of social media, not only are we making Adrienne Driggers and her staff accountable for their actions we also have the ability to pressure our elected officials to protect us from her and any other corrupt State Agency.
The methods that we have used can be applied by any person against the largest of organizations. The greatest benefit in our war with DFPS Childcare Licensing are the tens of thousands of children in daycare. With each day that this blog and our petition are circulating, the possibility of Adrienne Driggers termination increases. The failure of her superiors to terminate her employment will only serve to further undermine the need for the Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division.
Training your Staff
In the first six months that my wife Marla operated her daycare in San Antonio, she experienced some very bizarre behavior from childcare licensing, beyond Adrienne Driggers' office refusing to provide Marla with write-ups from their visits. At the time we chalked it up to childcare licensing representatives not understanding the State of Texas Minimum Standards. There is a lot of truth to this. There were many times when our staff knew the regulations better than the representatives that would come to inspect our daycare. After all of our experiences with childcare licensing, I would have to say that the bizarre behavior was a result of the combination of both malicious intent and lack of knowledge on the part of childcare licensing representatives.
Training at Kiddie Care, our daycare, was intense. While the State requires all new employees with less than six months of experience to undergo Pre-service training. We required all of our staff, regardless of how much experience they had, to undergo pre-service training which included: studying all of the required pre-service training topics as mandated by the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers and preparing our staff for the day to day operations included real life situations and the best ways to handle them. This part of the training is not only not required by the State of Texas but it is not even addressed by the State of Texas.
Though it was not mandated by the State of Texas, all of our staff were required to take tests to prove their level of understanding of the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers and best methods of handling situations. If the potential employee did not pass the test they were not hired.
After completing the tests our staff were partnered with an employee, with the oversight of the director, to reinforce the material that they had studied in preparation for the job.
At a bare minimum, our staff obtained at least 40 hours of training by the time they were able to work with a group (The State of Texas requires 24 hours of training). The training, however, did not end there as our staff were observed closely and corrected of any deviation from the training that they had received.
Given the behavior of childcare licensing, we felt it necessary to incorporate within our training the preparation of our staff of the tactics used by childcare licensing representatives in attempting to cause injury to the daycare and the children in our care.
Staff were trained to respond in a courteous manner whenever a childcare licensing representative demanded or ordered them to do something that would be in violation of the State of Texas Minimum Standards. In their training our staff were given real life examples of what to expect from childcare licensing representatives. Role-playing was a useful tool that we used to prepare our staff for childcare licensing.
The greatest example of how this preparation protected the children in our care was when one of Adrienne Driggers' childcare licensing investigators named Jessica Nombrana attempted repeatedly to order one of Marla's employees, Megan Kettler, to leave a child unattended at a diaper changing table. Ms. Kettler had just completed her classroom training and was paired with another staff member named Lisa Cavazos. Because Ms. Kettler had been prepared for childcare licensing representatives use of unethical methods to obtain write-ups for the daycare, she politely refused Ms. Nombrana's orders despite Ms. Nombrana's aggressiveness. Both Ms. Kettler and Ms. Cavazos called Adrienne Driggers directly to complain of Ms. Nombrana's actions but were ignored. Not only was Ms. Nombrana not reprimanded but she was actually promoted to holding classes for prospective daycare operators on how to follow the State of Texas Minimum Standards!
Another example came from a childcare licensing representative named Elizabeth Venecia who attempted to pull a staff member out of the infant room leaving the room out of ratio. The staff member that she was attempting to pull out of the room politely refused by notifying Ms. Venecia that she could not leave the room as it would leave the room out of ratio. Ms. Venecia acquiesced.
One of the most difficult things for childcare operators is when a childcare licensing representative creates and enforces their own rules. For instance, in Corpus Christi, we had a Childcare Licensing Representative named Christina Cantu that wanted us to rip out the carpet and padding because it was the same carpet that was there when she had visited the location when it was operated by a different daycare. I told her that the Corpus Christi Health Department had visited the daycare the day before her visit and were perfectly fine with the carpet. In fact, we received a perfect score by the Health Department. I told Ms. Cantu that removing the carpet and padding would create serious injuries to the children as they would be forced to play and nap on exposed concrete. She wrote up the daycare for us having the carpet but did it in such a way that it does not reflect her true reasoning. We do have witnesses that overheard her. Because I called her supervisor, Sylvia Fuentes, to state our concerns about the safety of the children if we removed the carpet, we received a letter from the Corpus Christi Director stating that they had investigated the matter and made corrections. We succeeded in protecting the children.
Training your staff is paramount to ensuring the safety of the children in your care even if it means protecting them from childcare licensing. Unfortunately, it cannot save you or your daycare if the childcare licensing representative is dead-set on finding fault in your daycare or from childcare licensing representatives falsifying write-ups. I strongly recommend that you also install hidden cameras that also capture sound because if you report the Childcare Licensing Representative for misconduct, that representative will simply deny the misconduct and that representative will have the full support from their co-workers and superiors. Childcare Licensing will uphold the write-up unless you have video to prove your case and are willing to go public with it.
We have had our fair share of crooked Childcare Licensing Representatives. We had one in San Antonio named Geneva Hudel that ripped a baseboard off the wall then wrote us up for having a loose baseboard. Ms. Hudel also used a conversation that a parent and Marla had regarding a sale at an HEB Plus to write us up for a violation that does not exist in the Texas Administrative Code but was created by Adrienne Driggers, Ms. Hudel's Supervisor and District Director for West and South Texas. In Corpus Christi we had a Childcare Licensing Representative named Monica Martinez that wrote us up for not having trained the staff despite the testimony from the staff and documentation indicating otherwise.
Training at Kiddie Care, our daycare, was intense. While the State requires all new employees with less than six months of experience to undergo Pre-service training. We required all of our staff, regardless of how much experience they had, to undergo pre-service training which included: studying all of the required pre-service training topics as mandated by the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers and preparing our staff for the day to day operations included real life situations and the best ways to handle them. This part of the training is not only not required by the State of Texas but it is not even addressed by the State of Texas.
Though it was not mandated by the State of Texas, all of our staff were required to take tests to prove their level of understanding of the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers and best methods of handling situations. If the potential employee did not pass the test they were not hired.
After completing the tests our staff were partnered with an employee, with the oversight of the director, to reinforce the material that they had studied in preparation for the job.
At a bare minimum, our staff obtained at least 40 hours of training by the time they were able to work with a group (The State of Texas requires 24 hours of training). The training, however, did not end there as our staff were observed closely and corrected of any deviation from the training that they had received.
Given the behavior of childcare licensing, we felt it necessary to incorporate within our training the preparation of our staff of the tactics used by childcare licensing representatives in attempting to cause injury to the daycare and the children in our care.
Staff were trained to respond in a courteous manner whenever a childcare licensing representative demanded or ordered them to do something that would be in violation of the State of Texas Minimum Standards. In their training our staff were given real life examples of what to expect from childcare licensing representatives. Role-playing was a useful tool that we used to prepare our staff for childcare licensing.
The greatest example of how this preparation protected the children in our care was when one of Adrienne Driggers' childcare licensing investigators named Jessica Nombrana attempted repeatedly to order one of Marla's employees, Megan Kettler, to leave a child unattended at a diaper changing table. Ms. Kettler had just completed her classroom training and was paired with another staff member named Lisa Cavazos. Because Ms. Kettler had been prepared for childcare licensing representatives use of unethical methods to obtain write-ups for the daycare, she politely refused Ms. Nombrana's orders despite Ms. Nombrana's aggressiveness. Both Ms. Kettler and Ms. Cavazos called Adrienne Driggers directly to complain of Ms. Nombrana's actions but were ignored. Not only was Ms. Nombrana not reprimanded but she was actually promoted to holding classes for prospective daycare operators on how to follow the State of Texas Minimum Standards!
Another example came from a childcare licensing representative named Elizabeth Venecia who attempted to pull a staff member out of the infant room leaving the room out of ratio. The staff member that she was attempting to pull out of the room politely refused by notifying Ms. Venecia that she could not leave the room as it would leave the room out of ratio. Ms. Venecia acquiesced.
One of the most difficult things for childcare operators is when a childcare licensing representative creates and enforces their own rules. For instance, in Corpus Christi, we had a Childcare Licensing Representative named Christina Cantu that wanted us to rip out the carpet and padding because it was the same carpet that was there when she had visited the location when it was operated by a different daycare. I told her that the Corpus Christi Health Department had visited the daycare the day before her visit and were perfectly fine with the carpet. In fact, we received a perfect score by the Health Department. I told Ms. Cantu that removing the carpet and padding would create serious injuries to the children as they would be forced to play and nap on exposed concrete. She wrote up the daycare for us having the carpet but did it in such a way that it does not reflect her true reasoning. We do have witnesses that overheard her. Because I called her supervisor, Sylvia Fuentes, to state our concerns about the safety of the children if we removed the carpet, we received a letter from the Corpus Christi Director stating that they had investigated the matter and made corrections. We succeeded in protecting the children.
Training your staff is paramount to ensuring the safety of the children in your care even if it means protecting them from childcare licensing. Unfortunately, it cannot save you or your daycare if the childcare licensing representative is dead-set on finding fault in your daycare or from childcare licensing representatives falsifying write-ups. I strongly recommend that you also install hidden cameras that also capture sound because if you report the Childcare Licensing Representative for misconduct, that representative will simply deny the misconduct and that representative will have the full support from their co-workers and superiors. Childcare Licensing will uphold the write-up unless you have video to prove your case and are willing to go public with it.
We have had our fair share of crooked Childcare Licensing Representatives. We had one in San Antonio named Geneva Hudel that ripped a baseboard off the wall then wrote us up for having a loose baseboard. Ms. Hudel also used a conversation that a parent and Marla had regarding a sale at an HEB Plus to write us up for a violation that does not exist in the Texas Administrative Code but was created by Adrienne Driggers, Ms. Hudel's Supervisor and District Director for West and South Texas. In Corpus Christi we had a Childcare Licensing Representative named Monica Martinez that wrote us up for not having trained the staff despite the testimony from the staff and documentation indicating otherwise.
Here is a video of a Childcare Licensing Representative attempting to falsify a write-up. Tactics like the one seen in this video are commonly used by Childcare Licensing Representatives.
Please take the time to read and sign the following petition from Change.org. We would greatly appreciate your sponsoring the petition. You can sponsor the petition directly on change.org. By signing and promoting the petition you will be helping us to save the lives of thousands of children in Texas by putting an end to Adrienne Driggers. Tuesday, June 24, 2014
A Call for Action
The actions of Adrienne Driggers, the Southwest Direct Director of Childcare Licensing, are widespread. Her actions and that of her staff affect not only Daycare Operators but the lives of thousands of children and their families. This blog exposes the unethical behavior of Childcare Licensing but we need your help to spread the word of the existence of this blog to the community.
Please take the time to call any or all of the following and demand that they report the existence of this blog. You don't have to limit yourself by calling just one number or calling only the television stations or newspapers based on your place of residence. Without your help in spreading the word of the existence of this blog we will fail and countless children will suffer as evil will prevail. I will be adding contact information for the media from additional cities as the corruption highlighted in this blog affects every city in Texas.
In Corpus Christi, please call:
KRIS TV at (361)884-6666
KIII TV at (361)986-8300
KZTV TV at (361)886-6173
Corpus Christi Caller Times at (361)884-2011
In San Antonio, please call:
KENS 5 TV at (210)366-2002
WOAI TV at (210)226-4444
KABB TV at (210)442-6397
KSAT TV at (210)351-1269
San Antonio Express at (210)250-3000
In Austin, please call:
KXAN TV at (512)703-5255
KVUE TV at (512)459-9442
KTBC TV at (512)477-8643
Austin Statesman at (512)445-4000
Please take the time to call any or all of the following and demand that they report the existence of this blog. You don't have to limit yourself by calling just one number or calling only the television stations or newspapers based on your place of residence. Without your help in spreading the word of the existence of this blog we will fail and countless children will suffer as evil will prevail. I will be adding contact information for the media from additional cities as the corruption highlighted in this blog affects every city in Texas.
In Corpus Christi, please call:
KRIS TV at (361)884-6666
KIII TV at (361)986-8300
KZTV TV at (361)886-6173
Corpus Christi Caller Times at (361)884-2011
In San Antonio, please call:
KENS 5 TV at (210)366-2002
WOAI TV at (210)226-4444
KABB TV at (210)442-6397
KSAT TV at (210)351-1269
San Antonio Express at (210)250-3000
In Austin, please call:
KXAN TV at (512)703-5255
KVUE TV at (512)459-9442
KTBC TV at (512)477-8643
Austin Statesman at (512)445-4000
The Persecution Continues in Corpus Christi
My mother's health had been deteriorating. Fortunately, it was easy for me to visit her as she lived in Corpus Christi, a mere 2 hour drive from San Antonio. After we moved to Oklahoma, the distance and the cost to drive to Corpus Christi made it almost impossible to see her. There wasn't a single day where we did not fear a call from one of my brothers telling us that she had passed away. They assured me that she was doing well. We realized that she was not doing well when we were finally able to visit Corpus Christi during a Spring Break. My brother's had lied to me as they felt that we had already suffered enough from Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing. They didn't want us to worry. My mother had deteriorated quickly. She was completely immobile, could no longer sit nor eat on her own. She could hardly speak a word. Despite the fact that we lived in peace in Oklahoma, out of the reach of Adrienne Driggers and the Department of Family and Protective Services, we had to return to Corpus Christi. I had to be there for my Mother.
On our last day of Spring Break, we were fortunate to have found a place to rent in Corpus Christi for our new daycare. Despite Adrienne Driggers' attempt to prevent Marla from being a license holder and working at a daycare, once we discovered that Marla's two year sentence had expired, there was nothing that she could do to stop us. I would be able to team-up with Marla at her new daycare as Patricia Fernandez, an attorney for the State and no doubt in an attempt to keep their office from losing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), arranged for me to be allowed to be a Director. Ms. Fernandez' office would not have made this arrangement if they felt that Adrienne Driggers was correct in her decision to close the daycare. My being allowed to work as a Director was as great an admission of a State Agencies wrongdoing as you can get. Our attorney, against our orders, compromised our position and made an agreement with Ms. Fernandez and Ms. Driggers in a closed door meeting. Ms. Fernandez and our attorney did not allow us to be a part of this meeting.
We were brought in to meet with our attorney (who suspiciously turned on us after the closed door meeting), Ms. Fernandez, and Ms. Driggers to discuss what they had agreed to. Ms. Driggers began begging us to return and open a daycare in San Antonio promising that we would get better treatment. She stated that she would provide us with her direct number should one of her staff behave inappropriately and acted as if she was not involved in their behavior. When it came to her own survival she had no problem throwing her staff under the bus. She stated that if we ever needed an administrative review she would order that it be held by somebody from a different city. Having experienced the extent of San Antonio Childcare Licensing's unethical behavior, there was no way that we were going to return. Operating a daycare in San Antonio was too dangerous. We did not believe that Driggers or her staff could be trusted. The humiliation that Adrienne Driggers experienced in having to beg us to return to San Antonio and admit that her office acted unethically, we are certain, only increased her already intense hatred of us.
A few months later, when Marla submitted her application to Childcare Licensing in Corpus Christi, Marla was notified by one of Childcare Licensing's Representatives, Edward Flores, that Adrienne Driggers reneged on Ms. Fernandez offer. I promptly called and wrote to our attorney who promptly responded with the following email indicating that Ms. Fernandez ordered Adrienne Driggers to notify the Corpus Christi office that she was wrong in attempting to prevent me from being a director or person left in charge of Marla's daycare. She had been humiliated once again.
Email from Mark Braswell and Patricia Fernandez-Attorney Generals Office
Thing's were going great at our daycare in Corpus Christi. We had earned a great reputation for having a caring and very well trained staff. The Childcare Licensing Representatives that were assigned to us were tough but they were ethical. It was a far cry from San Antonio. Until November 7, 2013.
Many children did not attend on this day. So Marla and I decided to leave the daycare to get more equipment for the children. The State of Texas Minimum Standards state that a daycare Director is not required to be at the daycare for all hours of operation so long as someone is placed in charge of the daycare. We placed a caregiver whose initials are P.E. to be in charge of the daycare in our absence. Ms. E had both childcare and supervisory experience and had received 56 hours of training before she was allowed to work by herself with the children. The 56 hours are more than double the 24 hours of training required by the State of Texas. She had worked at our daycare for at least two months and had proven herself to be competent.
Shortly after we left the daycare to purchase equipment, Ms. E, went against specific instructions and combined her pre-k children with the toddlers to use the restroom. This is not a violation of the minimum standards but prohibited at Kiddie Care. The toddler group was being cared for by a caregiver with the initials EP who had properly followed instructions in securing her area prior to changing the diapers of the children in her care and prior to the arrival of Ms. E's pre-k children. We discovered later that Ms. E violated her training by ordering a child to return a toy that he had brought with him to the restroom back to the pre-k room. When the child did not return quick enough, Ms. E left her group with Ms. P to allow her to bring the child back to her group. Unfortunately, when Ms. E left the room she left the door open and unsecured. Ms. E believed that Ms. P would be able to supervise both of the groups while she was gone despite the fact that Ms. P was busy at the diaper changing table. During those few seconds that she removed herself from her children's line of sight, a child ran out of the now unsecured room, left the building, and ran towards the street in front of the daycare. Fortunately, nothing happened to the child. A passerby returned the child to the daycare where he was instructed to leave the child with Ms. E as she was the person in charge. The Corpus Christi Police Department arrived shortly after and had Ms. E call us to notify us of what had occurred.
We arrived within minutes after being called. We promptly notified Childcare Licensing as well as the child's parents. A Childcare Licensing Representative named Monica Martinez arrived at the daycare within two hours and questioned the staff as to what had occurred. After speaking with everyone she told us that it was very likely that Ms. E and possibly Ms. P would be placed on the DFPS Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect and that there was a small possibility that the daycare may be put on a corrective action though she felt that it may not as the daycare had only 13 write-ups. She provided us with a plan of action and left. Adrienne Driggers would later make an attempt to include Marla as being part of the incident even though Monica Martinez' Safety Plan clearly indicates that only Ms. E and Ms. P were involved.
Monica Martinez Safety Plan
Both Ms. P and Ms. E were gone from the daycare within days of the incident. Despite having our full support, Ms. P left the daycare on the urgings of her mother who wished to protect her from the stress and shame of not being able to work alone with the children. Strangely, PE blamed us for her situation! We were told that Ms. E driven by her anger at us, made a false report to the Corpus Christi Health Department and Childcare Licensing. Even though two inspectors came from the Health Department the daycare did not receive a single deficiency. We received a visit the next day from a Childcare Licensing Representative named Christina Cantu. Ms. Cantu made it feel like we were in San Antonio all over again.
When Ms. Cantu arrived I thought that she was looking for a job. She was gruff and her clothes were untidy. The most troubling thing about Ms. Cantu was her effort to rewrite the Texas Administrative Code. She attempted to write-up the daycare for not having an extra person with the toddler teacher when she was changing a child. We notified her that the caregiver was well within the State required ratios as the toddler teacher had approximately half the children as required by the State of Texas Minimum Standards.
It is said that power corrupts. I disagree. I believe that power enhances a persons personality. If a person is corrupt of heart, then being placed in a position of power will only serve to make that person worse. Whether it's Adrienne Driggers or Christina Cantu, we have seen the most corrupt of heart in Childcare Licensing. Not only did Ms. Cantu attempt to write-up the daycare for operating in ratio, she also attempted to write-up the daycare for having too much milk in the refrigerator, too many toys and activities, and having too large of a service cart! Not only were her attempts to write us up for having too much milk and having too large of a service cart ridiculous, but they are not even the responsibility of Childcare Licensing. As for having too many toys and activities, the State of Texas Minimum Standards state that daycares must provide sufficient toys and activities to stimulate the children yet Ms. Cantu was attempting to write up the daycare for meeting this requirement!
While she was unable to write us up for having too much milk, toys and activities, or having too large of a service cart, she was able to write us up for the carpet which she absolutely detested. Ms. Cantu ordered us to remove the carpet and stated that she was going to write us up for "having the same carpet in the room that was in place in a previous visit of hers" when the building was occupied by a different daycare. She was very much aware that the carpet was shampooed professionally every three months and that the Corpus Christi Health Department did not consider the carpet to be a danger to children as we were given a perfect score just the day before her visit. She stated that she could care less about this information and that she was going to state on her report that the carpet had a stain and that she would continue to write us up for that until we removed the carpet.
We stated to her: "You are aware that if we remove the carpet and padding that the children would be forced to play and sleep on exposed concrete? If we do as you are ordering us, many children are going to get hurt." We called her supervisor, Sylvia Fuentes, to get clarification. We stated our concerns about the safety of the children if we obeyed Ms. Cantu's orders to remove the carpet and padding. We also stated that we would do as Ms. Cantu ordered but we wanted to hear those orders from somebody above her. We later received a bizarre letter from John Lennan, the head of childcare licensing in Corpus Christi, stating that they had investigated and resolved the matter. This bizarre letter stated that we had complained about Ms. Cantu's "illegal and unethical behavior" when the truth was that we had merely asked for clarification. Our guess is that Mr. Lennan was upset for our questioning Ms. Cantu's wishes and lashed out in an illogical way. While we did not state to Childcare Licensing that we believed Ms. Cantu's behavior to be illegal or unethical, we did think that her wanting us to remove the carpet and padding was foolish and incredibly dangerous. We were notified later that Mr. Lennan conspired with Adrienne Driggers to close the daycare and place Marla on the State of Texas Central Registry without justification.
In early December, we received a call from Monica Martinez, the Childcare Licensing Representative that was assigned the responsibility of investigating the incident that occurred on November 7. She requested that we send to her a copy of my (Hilario) First Aid/CPR card and a copy of my transportation training. I wrote to her that I did not mind sending them to her but they had absolutely nothing to do with the incident. In my letter, I politely asked her for the reasoning behind her request. She did not respond. I told Marla that Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing was up to no good. I began my preparations.
On Friday, December 20th we received a letter from Adrienne Driggers office stating she had ordered Marla to be placed on the State of Texas Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect of children. The criteria for being placed on the Central Registry is very clear. A person would have needed to either abused or neglected a child. Since Marla was not at the daycare, she clearly did not fit the criteria. Adrienne Driggers, was clearly abusing her power to prevent Marla from working with children. Having learned Ms. Driggers tactics I knew that she was going to order for the daycare to be closed. After receiving the request from Monica Martinez, I believed that Childcare Licensing was planning on doing something underhanded and prepared a petition that I would place on change.org. The petition asked for the removal of Marla from the Central Registry, for the daycare not to be closed, and for an investigation into Adrienne Driggers office. At noon on January 2, 2014, Adrienne Driggers ordered the closing of Marla's daycare effective on that day by stating the daycare posed an immediate threat to the safety of children TWO MONTHS AFTER the incident that occurred on November 7. The State of Texas Administrative Code states that license holders must be given the opportunity to obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent the closing. The State of Texas Administrative Code also provides other remedies to prevent the closing of daycares and the subsequent traumatic experience of children having to relocate. Those remedies are in the form of corrective actions that allow daycare operators the opportunity to make modifications and/or adjustments to address problem areas.
Please take the time to read and sign the following petition from Change.org. We would greatly appreciate your sponsoring the petition. You can sponsor the petition directly on change.org. By signing and promoting the petition you will be helping us to save the lives of thousands of children in Texas by putting an end to Adrienne Driggers.
The link below is to an article from the Victoria Advocate. In this article, Adrienne Driggers is quoted giving the criteria for being placed in State of Texas Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect. Marla clearly does not fit the criteria. Please note that at the time of the article, Beary Beginnings - owned by Steven and Maribel Alkek, had 72 deficiencies. At the time of the incident on November 7, 2013, Marla's daycare had 13. Adrienne Driggers placed Bearly Beginnings on "corrective action" giving them time to make improvements and avoid the negative effects of uprooting the children in their care.
Article from Victoria Advocate-Bearly Beginning
We had immediately requested for Administrative Reviews to challenge the write-ups from Christina Cantu, Monica Martinez, and Adrienne Driggers placing Marla on the Central Registry and were ignored each time. The State of Texas Administrative Code states that Childcare Licensing has 10 days to schedule the administrative reviews upon receiving the request and must administer the administrative reviews within 30 days of being scheduled. Adrienne Driggers' Childcare Licensing office blatantly disregarded the Texas Administrative Code by denying Marla's right to due process in challenging the write-ups and used those same write-ups to close Marla's daycare. When this was brought to the attention of Adrienne Driggers' supervisors, Julie Richards the Childcare Licensing Program Services Coordinator, and Paul Morris, the Assistant Commissioner for Childcare Licensing, the Administrative Reviews were finally scheduled. Both Ms. Richards and Paul Morris were already aware of and had approved of Adrienne Driggers intentions of placing Marla on the DFPS Central Registry and the closing of her daycare. Despite knowing of Adrienne Driggers history of abusing her power he stated to us that he fully supported her. Any Administrative Reviews held at this point were already compromised.
If Paul Morris and Julie Richards are reading this blog and are upset that their names and actions have been exposed perhaps they will think twice before rubber stamping decisions as drastic as placing an innocent person on the DFPS Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect or closing their daycares without considering whether or not those actions are balanced and consistent across the State of Texas. By rubber stamping Adrienne Driggers decisions and "fully supporting" her they have aligned themselves with a person that poses an enormous and immediate threat to the safety and well-being of thousands of children.
Below is an email that we sent to Kimberly Evans-Handy, a DFPS Childcare Licensing Program Specialist who held an administrative review with Marla, myself, and our attorney, Armando Reyna, to decide if Marla should remain on the State of Texas DFPS Central Registry for abuse and neglect. Ms. Evans-Handy, with our attorney present, had the audacity to tell us that she didn't care to see or hear any evidence that we wanted to present. She stated that we could send her supporting documentation but she wasn't going to bother looking at it. In this email we state our case as to why Marla should not be on the State of Texas Central Registry and included the State of Texas Minimum Standard rules that applied. As could be expected, Ms. Evans-Handy ruled in Adrienne Driggers favor.
Email to Kimberly Evans-Handy
The following link was obtained from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website regarding Just Kids Christian Learning Center operated by Vivian Closna in San Antonio Texas. Two toddlers left the facilities and crossed one of San Antonio's busiest streets. Adrienne Driggers did not close the daycare, did not place the daycare on corrective action to give the daycare the opportunity to make adjustments to their operations, nor did she order the Director to be placed on the DFPS Central Registry. Just Kids Christian Learning Center had 65 total write-ups at the time of the incident which represents 5 TIMES the amount of Marla's daycare which had 13. San Antonio is the headquarters to Adrienne Driggers office.
Just Kids Learning Center
The following link was obtained from the Austin Statesman. It describes an incident that occurred at Tutor Time Child Care, operated by Kristin Ogala, where an 18 month old child left the facility and crossed a six lane Highway in Northwest Austin. Austin is the headquarters to Paul Morris and Julie Richards' Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division. It is also the headquarters to the Greg Abbot's Attorney General's Office whose attorney's are using the State of Texas taxpayers money to support Adrienne Driggers decision to place Marla on the DFPS Central Registry and the revocation of Marla's license.
Tutor Time Child Care Learning Center
The following article was obtained from kristv.com in Corpus Christi Texas regarding the unfortunate death of a child named Jordan Arredondo at Mary Mcleod Bethune Day Care. Bethune Day Care, like Marla's Kiddie Care, had a small amount of write-ups at the time of the incident. No child was ever hurt at Marla's daycare when Adrienne Driggers ordered that it be closed due to "posing an immediate threat to children." It has been nearly 4 months since Jordan passed away. Bethune daycare is still operating, is not facing corrective action, and the director was not placed on the DFPS Central Registry.
Death of Jordan Arredondo at Mary Mcleod Bethune Day Care
http://www.kristv.com/news/child-passes-away-after-tv-fell-on-him/
Below is an article from kens5.com regarding several daycares in San Antonio. Please note the number of write-ups from each of the daycares and keep in mind that Marla's Kiddie Care had only 13 total write-ups at the time of the incident that Adrienne Driggers would use to close her daycare. All of the daycares mentioned in the article are still operating. The daycares mentioned: Step-2-Step had 99 write-ups, Little Friends Daycare Center had 129 write-ups, and Montessori Earth School had 235.
San Antonio Daycares
It is apparent that Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing targeted Marla and her daycare. Neither the safety and well-being of the children or the fair and balanced application of the punishments provided by the Texas Administrative Code considered. The Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division is a rogue State Agency that is clearly out of control.
Please take the time to read and sign the following petition from Change.org. We would greatly appreciate your sponsoring the petition. You can sponsor the petition directly on change.org. By signing and promoting the petition you will be helping us to save the lives of thousands of children in Texas by putting an end to Adrienne Driggers.
*** We have the opportunity to make ourselves heard directly to the people with the power to force a change in the way DFPS operates. Please take the time to fill out a Public Input Form on this link: https://www.sunset.texas.gov/input-form. Time is limited as we have only until 6/30/2014 to submit these forms. Please demand that the Sunset Advisory Commission do something about the corruption in the Department of Family and Protective Services and reference this blog (http://darksideofchildcare.blogspot.com/). You have the power to rock a corrupt State Agency to it's core. With your assistance you can help us protect the lives of tens of thousands of children that attend daycare in Texas. ***
On our last day of Spring Break, we were fortunate to have found a place to rent in Corpus Christi for our new daycare. Despite Adrienne Driggers' attempt to prevent Marla from being a license holder and working at a daycare, once we discovered that Marla's two year sentence had expired, there was nothing that she could do to stop us. I would be able to team-up with Marla at her new daycare as Patricia Fernandez, an attorney for the State and no doubt in an attempt to keep their office from losing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), arranged for me to be allowed to be a Director. Ms. Fernandez' office would not have made this arrangement if they felt that Adrienne Driggers was correct in her decision to close the daycare. My being allowed to work as a Director was as great an admission of a State Agencies wrongdoing as you can get. Our attorney, against our orders, compromised our position and made an agreement with Ms. Fernandez and Ms. Driggers in a closed door meeting. Ms. Fernandez and our attorney did not allow us to be a part of this meeting.
We were brought in to meet with our attorney (who suspiciously turned on us after the closed door meeting), Ms. Fernandez, and Ms. Driggers to discuss what they had agreed to. Ms. Driggers began begging us to return and open a daycare in San Antonio promising that we would get better treatment. She stated that she would provide us with her direct number should one of her staff behave inappropriately and acted as if she was not involved in their behavior. When it came to her own survival she had no problem throwing her staff under the bus. She stated that if we ever needed an administrative review she would order that it be held by somebody from a different city. Having experienced the extent of San Antonio Childcare Licensing's unethical behavior, there was no way that we were going to return. Operating a daycare in San Antonio was too dangerous. We did not believe that Driggers or her staff could be trusted. The humiliation that Adrienne Driggers experienced in having to beg us to return to San Antonio and admit that her office acted unethically, we are certain, only increased her already intense hatred of us.
A few months later, when Marla submitted her application to Childcare Licensing in Corpus Christi, Marla was notified by one of Childcare Licensing's Representatives, Edward Flores, that Adrienne Driggers reneged on Ms. Fernandez offer. I promptly called and wrote to our attorney who promptly responded with the following email indicating that Ms. Fernandez ordered Adrienne Driggers to notify the Corpus Christi office that she was wrong in attempting to prevent me from being a director or person left in charge of Marla's daycare. She had been humiliated once again.
Email from Mark Braswell and Patricia Fernandez-Attorney Generals Office
Thing's were going great at our daycare in Corpus Christi. We had earned a great reputation for having a caring and very well trained staff. The Childcare Licensing Representatives that were assigned to us were tough but they were ethical. It was a far cry from San Antonio. Until November 7, 2013.
Many children did not attend on this day. So Marla and I decided to leave the daycare to get more equipment for the children. The State of Texas Minimum Standards state that a daycare Director is not required to be at the daycare for all hours of operation so long as someone is placed in charge of the daycare. We placed a caregiver whose initials are P.E. to be in charge of the daycare in our absence. Ms. E had both childcare and supervisory experience and had received 56 hours of training before she was allowed to work by herself with the children. The 56 hours are more than double the 24 hours of training required by the State of Texas. She had worked at our daycare for at least two months and had proven herself to be competent.
Shortly after we left the daycare to purchase equipment, Ms. E, went against specific instructions and combined her pre-k children with the toddlers to use the restroom. This is not a violation of the minimum standards but prohibited at Kiddie Care. The toddler group was being cared for by a caregiver with the initials EP who had properly followed instructions in securing her area prior to changing the diapers of the children in her care and prior to the arrival of Ms. E's pre-k children. We discovered later that Ms. E violated her training by ordering a child to return a toy that he had brought with him to the restroom back to the pre-k room. When the child did not return quick enough, Ms. E left her group with Ms. P to allow her to bring the child back to her group. Unfortunately, when Ms. E left the room she left the door open and unsecured. Ms. E believed that Ms. P would be able to supervise both of the groups while she was gone despite the fact that Ms. P was busy at the diaper changing table. During those few seconds that she removed herself from her children's line of sight, a child ran out of the now unsecured room, left the building, and ran towards the street in front of the daycare. Fortunately, nothing happened to the child. A passerby returned the child to the daycare where he was instructed to leave the child with Ms. E as she was the person in charge. The Corpus Christi Police Department arrived shortly after and had Ms. E call us to notify us of what had occurred.
We arrived within minutes after being called. We promptly notified Childcare Licensing as well as the child's parents. A Childcare Licensing Representative named Monica Martinez arrived at the daycare within two hours and questioned the staff as to what had occurred. After speaking with everyone she told us that it was very likely that Ms. E and possibly Ms. P would be placed on the DFPS Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect and that there was a small possibility that the daycare may be put on a corrective action though she felt that it may not as the daycare had only 13 write-ups. She provided us with a plan of action and left. Adrienne Driggers would later make an attempt to include Marla as being part of the incident even though Monica Martinez' Safety Plan clearly indicates that only Ms. E and Ms. P were involved.
Monica Martinez Safety Plan
Both Ms. P and Ms. E were gone from the daycare within days of the incident. Despite having our full support, Ms. P left the daycare on the urgings of her mother who wished to protect her from the stress and shame of not being able to work alone with the children. Strangely, PE blamed us for her situation! We were told that Ms. E driven by her anger at us, made a false report to the Corpus Christi Health Department and Childcare Licensing. Even though two inspectors came from the Health Department the daycare did not receive a single deficiency. We received a visit the next day from a Childcare Licensing Representative named Christina Cantu. Ms. Cantu made it feel like we were in San Antonio all over again.
When Ms. Cantu arrived I thought that she was looking for a job. She was gruff and her clothes were untidy. The most troubling thing about Ms. Cantu was her effort to rewrite the Texas Administrative Code. She attempted to write-up the daycare for not having an extra person with the toddler teacher when she was changing a child. We notified her that the caregiver was well within the State required ratios as the toddler teacher had approximately half the children as required by the State of Texas Minimum Standards.
It is said that power corrupts. I disagree. I believe that power enhances a persons personality. If a person is corrupt of heart, then being placed in a position of power will only serve to make that person worse. Whether it's Adrienne Driggers or Christina Cantu, we have seen the most corrupt of heart in Childcare Licensing. Not only did Ms. Cantu attempt to write-up the daycare for operating in ratio, she also attempted to write-up the daycare for having too much milk in the refrigerator, too many toys and activities, and having too large of a service cart! Not only were her attempts to write us up for having too much milk and having too large of a service cart ridiculous, but they are not even the responsibility of Childcare Licensing. As for having too many toys and activities, the State of Texas Minimum Standards state that daycares must provide sufficient toys and activities to stimulate the children yet Ms. Cantu was attempting to write up the daycare for meeting this requirement!
While she was unable to write us up for having too much milk, toys and activities, or having too large of a service cart, she was able to write us up for the carpet which she absolutely detested. Ms. Cantu ordered us to remove the carpet and stated that she was going to write us up for "having the same carpet in the room that was in place in a previous visit of hers" when the building was occupied by a different daycare. She was very much aware that the carpet was shampooed professionally every three months and that the Corpus Christi Health Department did not consider the carpet to be a danger to children as we were given a perfect score just the day before her visit. She stated that she could care less about this information and that she was going to state on her report that the carpet had a stain and that she would continue to write us up for that until we removed the carpet.
We stated to her: "You are aware that if we remove the carpet and padding that the children would be forced to play and sleep on exposed concrete? If we do as you are ordering us, many children are going to get hurt." We called her supervisor, Sylvia Fuentes, to get clarification. We stated our concerns about the safety of the children if we obeyed Ms. Cantu's orders to remove the carpet and padding. We also stated that we would do as Ms. Cantu ordered but we wanted to hear those orders from somebody above her. We later received a bizarre letter from John Lennan, the head of childcare licensing in Corpus Christi, stating that they had investigated and resolved the matter. This bizarre letter stated that we had complained about Ms. Cantu's "illegal and unethical behavior" when the truth was that we had merely asked for clarification. Our guess is that Mr. Lennan was upset for our questioning Ms. Cantu's wishes and lashed out in an illogical way. While we did not state to Childcare Licensing that we believed Ms. Cantu's behavior to be illegal or unethical, we did think that her wanting us to remove the carpet and padding was foolish and incredibly dangerous. We were notified later that Mr. Lennan conspired with Adrienne Driggers to close the daycare and place Marla on the State of Texas Central Registry without justification.
In early December, we received a call from Monica Martinez, the Childcare Licensing Representative that was assigned the responsibility of investigating the incident that occurred on November 7. She requested that we send to her a copy of my (Hilario) First Aid/CPR card and a copy of my transportation training. I wrote to her that I did not mind sending them to her but they had absolutely nothing to do with the incident. In my letter, I politely asked her for the reasoning behind her request. She did not respond. I told Marla that Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing was up to no good. I began my preparations.
On Friday, December 20th we received a letter from Adrienne Driggers office stating she had ordered Marla to be placed on the State of Texas Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect of children. The criteria for being placed on the Central Registry is very clear. A person would have needed to either abused or neglected a child. Since Marla was not at the daycare, she clearly did not fit the criteria. Adrienne Driggers, was clearly abusing her power to prevent Marla from working with children. Having learned Ms. Driggers tactics I knew that she was going to order for the daycare to be closed. After receiving the request from Monica Martinez, I believed that Childcare Licensing was planning on doing something underhanded and prepared a petition that I would place on change.org. The petition asked for the removal of Marla from the Central Registry, for the daycare not to be closed, and for an investigation into Adrienne Driggers office. At noon on January 2, 2014, Adrienne Driggers ordered the closing of Marla's daycare effective on that day by stating the daycare posed an immediate threat to the safety of children TWO MONTHS AFTER the incident that occurred on November 7. The State of Texas Administrative Code states that license holders must be given the opportunity to obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent the closing. The State of Texas Administrative Code also provides other remedies to prevent the closing of daycares and the subsequent traumatic experience of children having to relocate. Those remedies are in the form of corrective actions that allow daycare operators the opportunity to make modifications and/or adjustments to address problem areas.
Please take the time to read and sign the following petition from Change.org. We would greatly appreciate your sponsoring the petition. You can sponsor the petition directly on change.org. By signing and promoting the petition you will be helping us to save the lives of thousands of children in Texas by putting an end to Adrienne Driggers.
The link below is to an article from the Victoria Advocate. In this article, Adrienne Driggers is quoted giving the criteria for being placed in State of Texas Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect. Marla clearly does not fit the criteria. Please note that at the time of the article, Beary Beginnings - owned by Steven and Maribel Alkek, had 72 deficiencies. At the time of the incident on November 7, 2013, Marla's daycare had 13. Adrienne Driggers placed Bearly Beginnings on "corrective action" giving them time to make improvements and avoid the negative effects of uprooting the children in their care.
Article from Victoria Advocate-Bearly Beginning
We had immediately requested for Administrative Reviews to challenge the write-ups from Christina Cantu, Monica Martinez, and Adrienne Driggers placing Marla on the Central Registry and were ignored each time. The State of Texas Administrative Code states that Childcare Licensing has 10 days to schedule the administrative reviews upon receiving the request and must administer the administrative reviews within 30 days of being scheduled. Adrienne Driggers' Childcare Licensing office blatantly disregarded the Texas Administrative Code by denying Marla's right to due process in challenging the write-ups and used those same write-ups to close Marla's daycare. When this was brought to the attention of Adrienne Driggers' supervisors, Julie Richards the Childcare Licensing Program Services Coordinator, and Paul Morris, the Assistant Commissioner for Childcare Licensing, the Administrative Reviews were finally scheduled. Both Ms. Richards and Paul Morris were already aware of and had approved of Adrienne Driggers intentions of placing Marla on the DFPS Central Registry and the closing of her daycare. Despite knowing of Adrienne Driggers history of abusing her power he stated to us that he fully supported her. Any Administrative Reviews held at this point were already compromised.
If Paul Morris and Julie Richards are reading this blog and are upset that their names and actions have been exposed perhaps they will think twice before rubber stamping decisions as drastic as placing an innocent person on the DFPS Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect or closing their daycares without considering whether or not those actions are balanced and consistent across the State of Texas. By rubber stamping Adrienne Driggers decisions and "fully supporting" her they have aligned themselves with a person that poses an enormous and immediate threat to the safety and well-being of thousands of children.
Below is an email that we sent to Kimberly Evans-Handy, a DFPS Childcare Licensing Program Specialist who held an administrative review with Marla, myself, and our attorney, Armando Reyna, to decide if Marla should remain on the State of Texas DFPS Central Registry for abuse and neglect. Ms. Evans-Handy, with our attorney present, had the audacity to tell us that she didn't care to see or hear any evidence that we wanted to present. She stated that we could send her supporting documentation but she wasn't going to bother looking at it. In this email we state our case as to why Marla should not be on the State of Texas Central Registry and included the State of Texas Minimum Standard rules that applied. As could be expected, Ms. Evans-Handy ruled in Adrienne Driggers favor.
Email to Kimberly Evans-Handy
The following link was obtained from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website regarding Just Kids Christian Learning Center operated by Vivian Closna in San Antonio Texas. Two toddlers left the facilities and crossed one of San Antonio's busiest streets. Adrienne Driggers did not close the daycare, did not place the daycare on corrective action to give the daycare the opportunity to make adjustments to their operations, nor did she order the Director to be placed on the DFPS Central Registry. Just Kids Christian Learning Center had 65 total write-ups at the time of the incident which represents 5 TIMES the amount of Marla's daycare which had 13. San Antonio is the headquarters to Adrienne Driggers office.
Just Kids Learning Center
The following link was obtained from the Austin Statesman. It describes an incident that occurred at Tutor Time Child Care, operated by Kristin Ogala, where an 18 month old child left the facility and crossed a six lane Highway in Northwest Austin. Austin is the headquarters to Paul Morris and Julie Richards' Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division. It is also the headquarters to the Greg Abbot's Attorney General's Office whose attorney's are using the State of Texas taxpayers money to support Adrienne Driggers decision to place Marla on the DFPS Central Registry and the revocation of Marla's license.
Tutor Time Child Care Learning Center
The following article was obtained from kristv.com in Corpus Christi Texas regarding the unfortunate death of a child named Jordan Arredondo at Mary Mcleod Bethune Day Care. Bethune Day Care, like Marla's Kiddie Care, had a small amount of write-ups at the time of the incident. No child was ever hurt at Marla's daycare when Adrienne Driggers ordered that it be closed due to "posing an immediate threat to children." It has been nearly 4 months since Jordan passed away. Bethune daycare is still operating, is not facing corrective action, and the director was not placed on the DFPS Central Registry.
Death of Jordan Arredondo at Mary Mcleod Bethune Day Care
http://www.kristv.com/news/child-passes-away-after-tv-fell-on-him/
Below is an article from kens5.com regarding several daycares in San Antonio. Please note the number of write-ups from each of the daycares and keep in mind that Marla's Kiddie Care had only 13 total write-ups at the time of the incident that Adrienne Driggers would use to close her daycare. All of the daycares mentioned in the article are still operating. The daycares mentioned: Step-2-Step had 99 write-ups, Little Friends Daycare Center had 129 write-ups, and Montessori Earth School had 235.
San Antonio Daycares
It is apparent that Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing targeted Marla and her daycare. Neither the safety and well-being of the children or the fair and balanced application of the punishments provided by the Texas Administrative Code considered. The Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division is a rogue State Agency that is clearly out of control.
Please take the time to read and sign the following petition from Change.org. We would greatly appreciate your sponsoring the petition. You can sponsor the petition directly on change.org. By signing and promoting the petition you will be helping us to save the lives of thousands of children in Texas by putting an end to Adrienne Driggers.
*** We have the opportunity to make ourselves heard directly to the people with the power to force a change in the way DFPS operates. Please take the time to fill out a Public Input Form on this link: https://www.sunset.texas.gov/input-form. Time is limited as we have only until 6/30/2014 to submit these forms. Please demand that the Sunset Advisory Commission do something about the corruption in the Department of Family and Protective Services and reference this blog (http://darksideofchildcare.blogspot.com/). You have the power to rock a corrupt State Agency to it's core. With your assistance you can help us protect the lives of tens of thousands of children that attend daycare in Texas. ***
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