Battle of the Minds Part 1

It is an extreme ordeal when everything that you have worked for, everything that you have ever dreamed of doing, is unjustly taken from you by a bigoted corrupt person. What made it worse for us is how it affected our children, how our unborn child was murdered, how my wife who had devoted her entire life to help children faced the harsh reality of no longer being able to work with children. Prior to our move to San Antonio, we would never have imagined meeting someone like Adrienne Driggers, a person so evil that she would sacrifice the safety and well-being of children to satisfy her insatiable hatred and abuse her immense power to destroy a people, who because of their race, were unworthy of being treated like human beings.

When Adrienne Driggers closed our daycare in San Antonio for Marla speaking to one of the parents about a sale at an HEB Plus grocery store, we were sent into a tailspin. As a reminder, Adrienne Driggers created a rule specifically targeting Marla where Marla could not appear to be more knowledgeable than the rest of the staff and could not be a "go to" person. The vagueness of this is what Driggers would use to say that Marla violated this rule when she spoke to the parent about the sale. Driggers creating this rule specifically targeting Marla was illegal as it violated Marla's Constitutional Rights. After the daycare closed, we were unable to find work and faced the real possibility of being homeless. Financially, we weren't prepared. Worse yet, we weren't prepared psychologically. Every day that we went without work increased our fear of being homeless. We did not have any family or friends in San Antonio so we knew that there was no one that could take us in. Because Adrienne Driggers' Department of Family and Protective Services was able to close our daycare, and only source of income, without any legitimate justification we knew that the Department could also take our children without any justification. Because the Department closed our daycare, we were treated like pariahs despite having done nothing wrong. There was also the shock of having to escape from Texas and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services for the safety of Oklahoma.  It was when we were in Oklahoma that we discovered that Adrienne Driggers and her staff had lied to us regarding the amount of time that Marla could not be a license holder. This time limit had lapsed mere weeks after Driggers had closed my daycare. We felt that this was the true reason why Adrienne Driggers closed my daycare, Adrienne Driggers was determined to prevent Marla from operating a daycare.

Though we felt safe in Oklahoma, we returned to Corpus Christi, Texas as my mother's health had so deteriorated that we knew that she did not have much time to live. She would lapse into a coma two weeks after our return. She passed away the following week. My name was the last word that my mother said.

The Department's attorney, Patricia Fernandez, had arranged an agreement to where I would be allowed to operate as an Assistant Director. However, when we tried to reopen in Corpus Christi, Texas, Adrienne Driggers reneged on the offer but was forced to comply by Ms. Fernandez. Even though we had reopened our daycare I always felt that Adrienne Driggers would not give up in trying to destroy us.  I felt that she would come back with a vengeance as she had been humiliated by being forced to abide by the agreement made by Ms. Fernandez.

My impression of Driggers, after she tried to attack me at the San Antonio Courthouse, was one of a person who had a complete lack of self control. She was a person whose animalistic tendencies drove her decision making regardless of the damage it inflicted. She was no different from a starving rabid animal.

 I knew that psychologically we had to be prepared for her. I bought our boys a puppy as I had read somewhere that having animals can help people cope with loss. When Adrienne Driggers went after us again in Corpus Christi, our boys made it through because of the happiness that they received as a result of having this puppy.

Exercise was incredibly important as well as I had read that exercise and time spent in the sun helped people cope with traumatic experiences. As a family we picked up kickboxing and spending time together at parks. Camping was another way that helped us cope with all that we had lost. We bonded together as a family while enjoying the serenity of nature.

A person that was experiencing the same traumatic experience as a result of Adrienne Driggers called me one time when she was having difficulty coping with the troubles of her life had been destroyed. I told her these words that every person who has lost everything that they have worked for should heed; I told her that I was aware that she had lost everything. I knew that she was being shunned by people that she believed were her closest friends. I knew that it is difficult for her to get up in the morning. I told her "You've got to Get your Ass Up!" because she did not have the luxury to mope around feeling sorry for herself. Those animals weren't going to feel sorry for her. She had to get up and move. She had to fight for her life because refusing to be destroyed by those monsters was a victory for God."

A Reasonable Person

I have mentioned in a previous post (The State's Fatal Flaw) that I used advice that I had given to my son for his Karate in my war with Adrienne Driggers and her Department of Family and Protective Services. The advice that I gave to my son was to prepare as much on Defense as he did on Offense. We would identify how his opponents were likely to attack him and how best to defend himself. We also prepared to counter attack by using his opponents attacks against them. The plan was to dictate the pace of the hearing and dismember their case by addressing the points that they were likely to raise before they had the opportunity and to use our counterattacks to help us prove the reasonable person standard.

A reasonable person standard requires a person to act with the same degree of care, knowledge, experience, fair-mindedness, and awareness of the law that the community would expect of a hypothetical reasonable person.

Adrienne Driggers used the incident of a child walking out of the building to close our daycare and place my wife on the State of Texas Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect. Adrienne Driggers' Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Department first used the fact that Marla was not at the daycare at the time of the incident to place her on the Central Registry. They would change their reasoning, well after the daycare closed, after they realized that we were hammering them with our petition and on this blog that State regulations do not require daycare operators to be present at their daycares during all hours of operation. Imagine daycare operators being unable to leave their facilities when their daycares operate on a 24 hour basis!

Adrienne Driggers' Department changed their reasoning, well after Driggers and her Department ordered the adverse actions, claiming that Marla did not place a person in charge of her daycare in her absence. This was proven to be blatantly false by Childcare Licensing Representative Monica Martinez, the person who investigated the incident.

The Department finally settled on their allegation that Marla did not train her staff. The interesting thing about this is that our daycare was well known for having an extremely well-trained staff. There were times that our staff had to correct Childcare Licensing Representatives on their own rules and regulations! Our staff were easily trained at least 5 TIMES the amount required by the State of Texas.

The question that you must be able to answer is: Would a reasonable person have acted the same way?

A main focus of our hearing was based on Marla's (Our) training of the staff. The State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers states that caregivers must receive 8 hours of pre-service training if they did not have at least 6 months of experience as a caregiver in a childcare center. We however required all of our staff, regardless of how much experience they had, to obtain at least a week's worth of training at a minimum of 8 hours per day which consisted of classroom training, taking a grueling test to measure the new employees level of understanding, and shadowing another employee. The individual, who I will refer to as "PE", whose actions were determined by the State to have been at fault for the incident admitted to receiving 1 1/2 weeks worth of training before being allowed to work alone with the children. She would admit during the hearing that she shadowed Marla even though it is not required by the State of Texas Minimum Standards for the Director to personally train the staff. PE would also admit that Marla trained her, long before the incident, to be aware of children's tendencies and to act accordingly to prevent a child from possibly harming themselves. Would a reasonable person have gone over and beyond the amount of training required by the State of Texas as Marla did? The answer is simple, only a person that truly cared about the safety and well-being of the children would devote as much time into training as Marla did with the staff.

It was pointed out in the hearing that there were crazy ants in the facility-An amount that totaled less than 10 total ants! Although the State of Texas guidelines do not require daycare operators to contract with pest control companies to spray and check for pests every quarter (every 3 months), Marla did. What this means is that not only did she go above and beyond the State of Texas guidelines, she did everything humanly possible to ensure that there were no problems with pests. Would a reasonable person have done this? Only a person that truly cared about the safety and well-being of the children would contract with a pest control company when it was not required. Marla also contracted with a company to shampoo the carpet every quarter which is also not a requirement of the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers.

Marla clearly passed the reasonable person test and the Texas Attorney General's Office was pathetically unable to prove otherwise and were in fact humiliated numerous times throughout the hearing trying to prove otherwise.

If you are wondering what occurred at the hearing, I promise you that I will disclose every single detail of what occurred. What you will learn is that Adrienne Driggers and the Department of Family and Protective Services are much more dangerous to the families of Texas than you may have imagine. You will also learn how unethical the Texas Attorney General's Office and the State Office of Administrative Hearings are. Unless you are one of the corrupt people that work within the aforementioned you will be calling for the end or the reorganization of all three.

Follow this blog very closely because the entire corrupt system will be exposed before the world within the next week.

The Credibility of the State Office of Administrative Hearings is at Stake

As you may recall from previous posts, Administrative Reviews are the means by which license holder's are able to challenge deficiencies given to them by childcare licensing representatives. You may also recall that these informal hearings are complete shams as the person who hears your case is a childcare licensing representative that works in the same office as the person whose deficiencies you are challenging. You cannot question any accusers, or any supposed evidence that the State has against you. I can't state enough times that the entire system is loaded with conflicts of interest. Nevertheless, the Texas Administrative Code states that license holders can request for Administrative Reviews and it is mandatory for the Department (DFPS Childcare Licensing) to schedule the Administrative Reviews within 10 days of the request and must schedule the Administrative Reviews within 30 days of being scheduled. Adrienne Driggers and the Department  ignored our requests for these administrative reviews by waiting to schedule them until well after Adrienne Driggers had already closed the daycare and placed Marla on the Central Registry.

This was the elephant in the room that we presented in our hearing. It's importance cannot be overstated as the Texas Administrative Code clearly states in Title 40, Part 19, Chapter 745, Subchapter M, Division 1, Rule §745.8803 that the Department cannot implement any decision or action that is the subject of the review until license holders due process rights concerning the decision or action are exhausted. Adrienne Driggers and the Department did not allow the Administrative Reviews to occur as mandated by the Texas Administrative Code and therefore illegally closed Marla's daycare and placed her on the Central Registry.

These facts alone should force Melissa Ricard, the presiding judge of the State Office of Administrative Hearings to rule in our favor. There was much more than particular code that should get her to rule in our favor as we proved in court that Childcare Licensing Representatives: Monica Martinez and Christina Cantu deliberately falsified deficiencies. We also proved, through emails and the documentation that they tried to withhold from us 3 months earlier, that Adrienne Driggers violated Marla's Constitutional Rights and had clearly abused her power in closing Marla's daycare and placing her on the Central Registry.  Let me state this loud and clear: We proved that Adrienne Driggers violated the law. I will be providing this proof on another post that I will present to you soon.

As of today (11/29/2015), The Honorable Judge Melissa Ricard has yet to make her decision as to whether or not Marla should get her license back and should be removed from the Central Registry. You will see when I present to you what occurred at the hearing that there was no doubt that Marla should never have had her license to operate taken away from her nor should she have been placed on the Central Registry, but as I have stated throughout this blog, the entire system is corrupt.

She could surprise us and follow the law by ruling in our favor but we are suspicious as she is a State employee and shares an office on the same floor with the Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing. Her office is just a few feet away from DFPS! A statement that she made and an action that she took during the hearing left us with some suspicion as to whether or not she will rule according to the Texas Administrative Code which would be in our favor of course or if she will rule in the Departments favor simply because they, like her, are State of Texas employees.

It has been my premise all along that the system is broken and corrupt. If she rules in their favor it would only legitimize all that I have said. Should this occur one could expect for the media and certain Civil Rights Organizations to get involved. The U.S. Department of Justice would have no choice but to get involved as well. Should the judge rule against us Adrienne Driggers, the Department of Family and Protective Service, the Texas Attorney General's Office, and the State Office of Administrative Hearings might as well shred the United States Constitution.

If she does what is right and rules in our favor she will be hailed a hero for taking a stand against abuse of power, the targeting of minority business owners, and for standing up for the United States Constitution. The credibility of the State Office of Administrative Hearings is in the balance. Will it show itself to be like the kangaroo court system that the Administrative Reviews are known to be or will it show itself to be a legitimate court that is impartial as it purports to be? We will find out soon.

Established Standards by The Department of Family and Protective Services

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder proved to be a strange ally. I was constantly reliving what these corrupt people did to our family and the children in our care. I had many sleepless nights just thinking about what they did to us. Because of that all of the crooked things that they did stayed fresh on my mind. As you may have realized by now, I am a very analytical person. One of the things that I kept thinking of was how Adrienne Driggers and the Department was able to close our daycare but allow other daycares, where bad things really did happen, to continue to operate.  What I realized was that there are no guidelines or triggers that the DFPS uses to impose adverse actions which include closing a children's daycare or placing someone on the Texas DFPS Central Registry. All of the punishments that they impose are subjective. So one would think.

When you read of horrible incidents that occur at daycares where the Department allows for those daycares to continue to operate what the Department has done is establish a standard or precedent of the actions that are acceptable to the Department.  My strategy to defeat the State (DFPS and the Attorney General's Office) was multifaceted. One facet that I utilized was the questioning of the credibility of a Department that would allow for certain incidents that occurred at daycares throughout the State to go unpunished , particularly the district controlled by Adrienne Driggers to help prove how she targeted our daycare.

Given that the State used a child walking out of our building as the reason for closing our daycare I will start by mentioning Just Kids Learning Center located in San Antonio, Texas. The location of this daycare is key as San Antonio is the city in which Adrienne Driggers office is located. At this daycare two toddlers left the building and crossed a major road. This daycare had 5 TIMES the amount of deficiencies as Marla's daycare yet did not receive any punishment whatsoever from Adrienne Driggers and her Department. Provided is a link to the incident. We are not stating that the daycare was dangerous and should be closed but merely that two children did leave the daycare and Adrienne Driggers Child Care Licensing Department did not close the daycare nor put their Director on the Texas DFPS Central Registry.

Just Kids Learning Center - Two Toddlers Leave Daycare

The next daycare that I'll mention is Tutor Time Daycare located in Austin Texas. Austin is not only the State's Capitol, it is also the home to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and the Texas Attorney General's Office. At Tutor Time an 18 month old child left the daycare and wandered off to a six-lane road. Again we are not saying that the daycare should have been closed but merely pointing out that the daycare was not closed nor their Director placed on the Texas DFPS Central Registry. Please read the following article from the Austin Statesman regarding the incident:

Austin Statesman - Toddler found along busy northwest Austin road

The following article highlights a very important fact when fighting Child Care Licensing. This article points out that Childcare Licensing (DFPS) is provided other remedies, besides the revocation and closing of the daycare, by the Texas Legislature within the Texas Administrative Code in dealing with daycares that the Department feels need to make corrections to ensure the safety of the children. In this article taken from the Victoria Advocate, Bearly Beginnings a children's daycare in Victoria Texas, is placed on Corrective Action. Corrective Action is where the Department (DFPS Childcare Licensing) gives the daycare a certain amount of time to make corrections to ensure the safety of the children rather than close the daycare and have the children uprooted and discarded into the community without trained care. Please keep in mind that my wife's daycare had a mere 13 deficiencies compared to Bearly Beginnings which had 72. At this daycare, the children were being hit and being denied food by the staff.

Victoria Advocate - State investigating Victoria daycare center after abuse allegations

The next story comes from the television station KENS5 located in San Antonio Texas. This story highlights how Childcare Licensing allowed daycares to continue operating despite having large amounts of deficiencies.  Keep in mind that Adrienne Driggers Department of Family and Protective Services and the Attorney General's Office attempted to state that my wife's daycare posed a danger to children despite having only 13 deficiencies. This story mentions the following daycares: Step-2-Step daycare (99 deficiencies), Little Friends Daycare Center (129 deficiencies), and Montessori Earth School (253 deficiencies). It must be taken with a grain of salt that Childcare Licensing, which falls under the Department of Family and Protective Services, is prone to falsify deficiencies. For this reason, the number of deficiencies is not an accurate measure of a daycares ability to care for children.

KENS5.COM - I-Team: San Antonio daycares caught breaking the rules

The saddest story of all that highlights the Department's lack of credibility in closing a daycare and having it's Director placed on the Central Registry is the story of Jordan Arredondo. Jordan Arredondo was killed when a television fell on top of him at Mary Bethune Daycare in Corpus Christi Texas the same city where we were operating that led to the creation of this blog. The Department ruled that Bethune Daycare was negligent in the death of Jordan Arredondo but did not close the daycare nor place the Director on the Texas DFPS Central Registry. One cannot help but wonder, given the Department's penchant for punishing Hispanic operated daycares more harshly than Non-Hispanic operated daycares, the value that they placed on the death of a Hispanic child. I think of a quote from Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Tom Sawyer fabricates a story of an accident on a boat that killed a Black man. A lady responds to the story of the Black man's death by stating: "Well it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt." Please note the length of time that the Department dragged it's feet in it's investigation of the young Jordan's death. CPS (Child Protective Services) is used interchangeably with the Department of Family and Protective Services but it is merely a branch within DFPS as is Childcare Licensing. It is not surprising that I have been told from many people that the tactics that Childcare Licensing uses are used by Child Protective Services but it is as they say a whole 'nother story.

KRISTV.COM - Child Passes Away After TV Fell on Him

KRISTV.COM - CPS Still Investigating Death from Day Care Accident

The overriding question that must be answered is "does my daycare deserve any more punishment than the daycares presented in this post?" Odds are that the answer is resounding "NO". Why? Because the State through it's allowing the aforementioned daycares to continue to operate established a standard of acceptable behaviors and incidences.

The State's Fatal Flaw

It's no small task to battle the State of Texas. As you have read throughout this blog the system is setup against you.  There are conflicts of interest in every layer that you must go through when battling the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The Texas Legislature allows for "Administrative Reviews" to allow daycare operators to challenge deficiencies given by Childcare Licensing Representatives but the person that makes the determination as to whether or not the deficiencies were justified will always be a co-worker and very likely friend of the person whose deficiencies you are challenging. You can provide all the evidence in the world to support your position but they will always uphold the deficiencies.  I am being sarcastic when I state that the only time that you will have "equal" footing against the State is when you are able to present your case before an "impartial" judge is when you have a hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings. I stress on the word "impartial" because the judge that will hear your case is a State employee who will very likely take the position that the Department of Family and Protective Services does not commit the egregious behaviors that I have described in this blog and that any actions that they took was merely in the act of doing their job.

One would hope as we once did that the Texas Attorney General's Office would come to your rescue as it is their job to defend the Constitutional rights of the citizens of Texas. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen when it is a State Agency that you are having to defend your Constitutional Rights from! The Texas Attorney General's Office is not only going to take the position of the State Agency but will not even question the legitimacy of the State Agency's position. Just as it is the job of the Texas Attorney Generals Office to defend the Constitutional rights of it's citizens it is also given the responsibility of defending State Agencies in court. This creates a conflict of interest within the Texas Attorney Generals Office. The Texas Attorney General's Office will actively seek to deny your Constitutional Rights in these situations. As I stated in a previous post, Patricia Fernandez an attorney with the Attorney General's Office was well aware that Adrienne Driggers actions had led to the molestation of two children but did nothing to correct her behavior. They are not going to do what is morally correct.

What compounds the problem of fighting a system loaded with a never ending conflicts of interest is that the people in our American system that we turn to for help in these matters are attorneys who very likely are not familiar with the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Operations or the Texas Administrative Code. Because attorneys are not familiar with the rules and regulations that govern childcare centers, the Attorney General's Office is able to attack you even when you followed those same rules and regulations. They will attack you for following the rules and regulations because the presiding judge is very likely an attorney, and like your own attorney, will also not be familiar with the rules and regulations.

Before I continue, I must state that a huge impact on how I was going to wage war against the State of Texas was advice that I gave to my son Marco when he was in Karate. I gave him advice for each opponent that he faced each of which presented different obstacles that he had to overcome. As a Management major in college I had learned about SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). I applied this thinking to Marco's training and in turn applied the advice that I gave to him to our war against Adrienne Driggers and the State of Texas.

One day I was consumed with the thought of how all of the aforementioned were stacked up against us (the conflicts of interest, the Texas Attorney General's Office attacking you for following the rules and regulations, how whatever attorney that we hired would very likely be unfamiliar with the rules and regulations, and how the presiding judge would also not be familiar with the rules and regulations) and I suddenly remembered telling my son how everybody had a weakness and the solution occurred to me and it very well should have been in a huge neon light. The solution was in the very title Texas ATTORNEY General's office.

The hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings as to whether Adrienne Driggers was justified in ordering Marla's daycare to close and her being placed on the Central Registry was going to be dictated by the rules and regulations established in the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers. We knew the rules and regulations like the back of our hands while their attorneys were very likely going to be clueless about them. We were experts in the topic and they were just hired assassins who were going to throw mud at us in court but lack any substance in their arguments. Because we knew that the presiding judge would not be familiar with the rules and regulations I planned to educate her on the rules and regulations in explaining why our opponents were wrong. Adrienne Driggers was not going to prepare their attorneys as doing so would have been an acknowledgement that she did not have any justification for her actions. Like Lieutenant Colonel George Custer against the great Sioux and Cheyenne nations, Driggers with all of her arrogance, led the Attorney Generals Office into an ambush and massacre.

As great attorneys as they may have been they were in essence taking knives to a gun fight. Two more bits of advice that I gave to Marco that had an effect in my war with the State was if your opponent is unable to defend themselves from one of your attacks then keep attacking them with the same technique. The other thing that I will mention at this time (there will be more) is when Marco was facing a bully in one of his competitions. It was a child that was significantly taller and bigger than Marco. This child would bulldoze the other kids. What I told Marco was to test that child's defense. Go after him and see if he can take what he dishes out. Give him a taste of his own medicine. Marco charged after him and destroyed him. I would do the same to DFPS and the Attorney Generals Office. You see, DFPS and the Attorney General's Office, like that bully, are accustomed to bulldozing their opponents. They are not accustomed to being placed on the defensive. I very easily overwhelmed them. So if you as a Childcare Licensing operator are forced to face these people feel comfort in knowing that you have the upper hand. Not only are they not omnipotent but very easy to defeat.

The First Skirmish - SOAH June 10, 2015

For years I have struggled to find out how I could beat the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and their partners in crime, the Texas Attorney General's Office. I state that the Texas Attorney General's Office is a "partner in crime" because they do the dirty work for DFPS, which in this case, is Adrienne Driggers. The Texas Attorney General's Office advertises on their website that they have three duties and responsibilities: One is to approve public bond issues which had no bearing in this case. The other two duties and responsibilities created conflict within itself as they advertise that they have a duty defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas and to represent the State in litigation. They chose the latter as I fully expected.

Going into the hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings(SOAH) I felt that we were at a disadvantage as we were going before a State appointed judge who would very likely feel as if DFPS employees and the attorneys working for the Texas Attorney General's Office, as fellow State of Texas employees, would be honorable and truthful but that wasn't all. We were also at a disadvantage as the office for the SOAH judge is next door to the local DFPS office! As I have mentioned throughout this blog, conflicts of interest within the State of Texas government make it almost impossible for Texas citizens like ourselves to obtain fairness in fighting for our Constitutional rights.

We needed every edge we could get. We needed to convince the presiding judge that these people that we were fighting against were anything but honorable and truthful. We needed for the presiding judge to see these people for what they really were. Having obtained experience against them, I knew exactly what actions that were going to take long before they did them. With strategy and planning and with a secret weapon we were able to expose them to the judge in such a way that it created doubt as to the honor and truthfulness of our adversaries before the hearing even took place.

Our secret weapon? God. We placed our fate in the Lord's hands. We felt that we still had to plan and strategize but we would need a little divine intervention. We were initially going to have the hearing before June 10th but miraculously my wife was stricken with an emergency health situation that caused us to have a continuance. What this incident did was expose how little the State cared about the fairness of facing someone who was in serious pain. The amazing thing about this is that I had told my wife prior to her health problem that we wouldn't be having the hearing as "something" was going to happen to cause a delay. Sure enough it happened. The Attorney General's Office helped us, as I fully expected them to by reacting not only in an uncaring way but wanting even more to face someone experiencing excruciating pain.

It was shortly after that I discovered that we were entitled to receive all of the documentation and a list of the witnesses that the State was going to present. I knew that the Attorney General's Office and DFPS were not going to cooperate by providing us with this information. Though I knew that they were not going to cooperate I asked the Attorney General's Office repeatedly for this information but they completely disregarded me, as I fully expected them to. What I did though was notify the presiding judge about my attempts and their failure to cooperate.

I knew that without our having an attorney they were going to look upon us as insignificant. People beneath them that were not worthy of their cooperation. At 4:30 in the afternoon the day before we were to have the hearing(June 10) we received a FedEx package that contained the documentation that we had been asking for! Anyone who has ever used FedEx will know that when you send a package to someone you know exactly when that person is going to receive it. Our receiving the package so late in the day was planned. They were going to claim that they did indeed deliver the requested documents to us but not give us the time to read the material!

What the Attorney General's Office did not count on was that I had been in contact with the presiding judge regarding their failure to provide the documentation. Plain and simple, I used their arrogance against them as the first thing the presiding judge asked was if the State had provided us with the documentation that I had been requesting. When I informed her that we did receive them at 4:30 in the afternoon the day before she looked incensed. She glared at Rosa Pfeifer, the attorney representing Adrienne Driggers!

Ms. Pfeifer fought desperately for the hearing to be held even though we were not given the opportunity to read the documentation that had been withheld from us. She lied repeatedly to the judge by stating that we had admitted to having the received the documentation but was thwarted each time by myself. When that failed Ms. Pfeiffer argued that we had plenty of time to prepare for the hearing by asking for the documentation long in advance. That failed as well as the judge was well aware that we had tried in vain to obtain the documents from them. Ms. Pfeifer went as far as to blame her fellow attorney, Patricia Fernandez, for her poor record keeping! The presiding judge ordered the rescheduling of the hearing to September 9, 2015.

We won the skirmish by planting the seed of doubt into the presiding judge's mind as to the integrity of our adversaries. The judge stated to me that she doubted our truthfulness of not having received the documents as she "had never known the Department (DFPS) to do something like this". I smiled at her and stated "There is a lot that you don't know about how these people operate (while I pointed at Adrienne Driggers)".  It was on. She looked at me with a puzzled look as if she wanted to ask me what I meant. She would find out. She would find out in a big way!

One thing to note is that we discovered that the Attorney General's Office was planning on using as their star witness the employee whose error caused the entire situation. I am certain that you too realize not only how suspicious it was for the Department and the Attorney General's Office was to use this person but I am sure that you also realize the extent that the State was out to convict and punish an innocent person. It is our belief that this person was very likely offered a deal for her testimony against my wife. The element of surprise was gone and the State was going to pay dearly.

It's all over

Please forgive me for this brief post.  We have battled for years against injustice and desire a brief moment to rest and spend time with our family after an incredible and overwhelming victory over the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. We have suffered for a long time and need to learn how to live now that the nightmare is finally over.  At least we hope that it's over. Given our experience with our adversaries we feel that we have no choice but to be prepared for retaliation against us. For now Adrienne Driggs and the Texas Department of Family and Protective(DFPS) have suffered a huge and humiliating defeat.  It is our hope that our victory will help ensure the safety and well being of tens of thousands of children in Texas. It is also or hope that the Texas Legislature reorganizes this incredibly powerful State Agency to prevent the type of abuse of power that we were forced to endure. DFPS must be reorganized to allow for checks and balances just as it must be reorganized to eliminate their current system which is built upon conflicts of interest. It is dangerous to the families of Texas for one person to wield absolute power in the Department of Family and  Protective Services as Adrienne Driggs has been allowed.  Our victory is confirmation of this.

Adrienne Driggers Contact Information

One may wonder why District Director Adrienne Driggers would risk her career and the credibility of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services just to destroy two simple people whose only wish was to help the most disadvantaged children. The thing to remember is that she could not have accomplished her evil intentions without the help of lower level staff within the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services willingness to falsify daycare deficiencies or the  disregard of all ethical standards from her superiors, including John J. Specia, Jr., the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services himself, who have enabled her to do whatever she wants to innocent people regardless of whether or not her actions were violations of the United States Constitution or the Texas Administrative Code. He isn't alone as Paul Morris the Assistant Commissioner and Julie Richards the Daycare Field Operations Manager have also allowed her to run rampant across Districts 8, 10, and 11 which coincidentally encompass the most concentrated Hispanic population in the United States. Adrienne Driggers has until now never had to answer for actions which would explain why she felt so comfortable violating violating the United States Constitution as she wished. This is why we have made her actions known to the public. We are not going to allow her to hide behind the walls of her position. She is no longer an anonymous person making decisions that destroy people and claim that it is the will of the State of Texas. She needs to answer for her actions which is why I am posting her contact information. The safety and well-being of the children of Texas must not be dictated by a person who abuses her power to settle personal vendettas or racial animosities.

Adrienne Driggers can be reached at:

adrienne.driggers@dfps.state.tx.us
(210)337-3399
3635 SE Military Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78223

Though she has done a great deal of harm to our family we want to make it clear that we  do not wish Adrienne Driggs any harm.

Perhaps she can explain to you why there is so much inconsistency in her punishment of daycares.  I would like to know how she feels it appropriate to close am exemplary daycare where a child runs out of the building but not punish a daycare where a child gets killed due to the negligence of the daycare but receive no punishment.

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Organization Chart

The Ku Klux Klan Law

When one hears the name of the State Agency "The Department of Family and Protective Services" those who have not been a target of their abuse think of this grand State Agency that protects the families of the State. Assuming that this is not the first post that you have read from the Dark Side of Childcare you will know that this is not true. The people employed by this State Agency are just as corrupt as any other workplace. The difference is that these people have the full backing of the Attorney General's Office to do whatever they want even if it means violating your Constitutional Rights. I was asked recently if Adrienne Driggers or her staff have any oversight, someone that can stop them from their unethical behavior. The answer is that they basically don't.  Their oversight comes from their own Department!

I was also asked if there was any way that employees of the Department of Family and Protective Services can be sued. The answer is a resounding YES through an old law created in 1871 as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 known as the Ku Klux Klan law.

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code also known as the "Ku Klux Klan law" as well as "Section 1983" is a means to punish State employees from denying you your Constitutional Rights. Section 1983 of Title 42 states:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, SHALL BE LIABLE to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

A lack of ethical standards is evident in the behavior of  Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Representatives, Adrienne Driggers the District Director for Sections 8,10, and 11, and her superiors. There is an agency wide belief that they are immune to any form of punishment. They clearly do not have any oversight, nor is there any desire on the part of high ranking officials to reign in the behavior of their subordinates. Section 1983 of Title 42 is your means of making these people pay for violating your Constitutional Rights.

It is sad that a law that was created as a result of the Ku Klux Klan, a racist organization known for lynching minorities, is the law that can help protect you from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Section 242 of Title 18 of the United States Code: Why Adrienne Driggers should be Imprisoned

It is a common belief amongst Department of Family and Protective Services staff that their actions are free from prosecution. They believe themselves to have full immunity from prosecution simply because they work for a State Agency. Nothing could be further from the truth. During all those sleepless nights I pondered this question: Who can protect us and the families of Texas from a State Agency created to protect us and the families of Texas? The answer is the United States Department of Justice through Section 242 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

Section 242 of Title 18 deals with the Deprivation of Rights under Color of Law.

In short, Section 242 of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.

For the purpose of Section 242, acts under "color of law" include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the their lawful authority, but also acts done beyond the bounds of that official's lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties.

Persons acting under color of law within the meaning of this statute include police officers, prisons guards and other law enforcement officials, as well as judges, care providers in public health facilities, and others who are acting as public officials. It is not necessary that the crime be motivated by animus toward the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin of the victim.

However, this law does prohibit a person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to willfully subject or cause to be subjected any person to different punishments, pains, or penalties, than those prescribed for punishment of citizens on account of such person being an alien or by reason of his/her color or race. The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and the resulting injury, if any.

After reading the various posts on this blog it is abundantly clear that Adrienne Driggers should be prosecuted by the Department of Justice under this law. The thing is that she is not alone as a number of State employees are guilty of abusing their power to target us and other individuals. This is why I make this statement very loudly: Adrienne Driggers, the District Director for Childcare Licensing, is a felon. It is a sad thing that we are doing the Texas Attorney General's Office job in bringing these crimes that she has committed against the Texas Attorney General's Office who is defending her! One thing is certain, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services employees had best behave themselves and work in an ethical manner. This blog is spreading. Daycare owners and the public will now know that these corrupt individuals can and should face imprisonment.

UPDATE - Facing Justice with the State Office of Adminstrative Hearings

UPDATE: The hearing has once again been postponed as the Department of Family and Protective Services and the Attorney General's Office withheld pertinent documentation until the day before the hearing. We did not receive this very important documentation until after 4:00 pm c.s.t. via Fed Ex. Obviously intentional. In addition to this, the Department of Family and Protective Services and the Attorney General's Office failed to disclose any witnesses that they were going to present. They tried desperately for the hearing to take place despite our being in a huge disadvantage as a result of their withholding this information. In layman's terms, they tried to pull a fast one. The Hearing will be held on September 9th, 2015 at 10:30 am at 5155 Flynn Parkway Suite 200 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The hearing to clear Marla from the Central Registry and to reinstate her license to operate the daycare is finally going to be held on June 10, 2015 at 5155 Flynn Parkway suite 200 in Corpus Christi, TX at 11:00 am Central Standard Time. We ask the community, legislators, and the media to attend.

We promise you that Adrienne Driggers and her staff will be exposed even further to the world. If her superiors were in denial of how she abused her power to target innocent people and endanger the lives of children they will learn that what we have written in this blog is absolutely true. They will also learn that her abuse of power is much worse than how she has been portrayed on this blog.

We will come after her and all the people that have helped her abuse her power in targeting our family. We will make her pay for the children that she caused to get molested. She will face justice for her murdering our unborn child and torturing our family. This hearing and her downfall will be historic.

My Promise to You

I was just thinking of the day when two licensing representatives came to our daycare to ensure that we were not operating. My wife Marla cried as she told the two ladies how caring and nurturing children was all that she ever wanted to do. She was a natural at it: caring, compassionate, and patient. She had devoted two decades of her life to help ensure that the lives of the children in her care and in the community would be much improved. Most of the children in our care came from underprivileged homes. The majority of our profits were reinvested into the daycare to help educate the children as she and I always believed that education was the key to escape the cycle of poverty. Marla's crime was to cross the path of Adrienne Driggers, the Southwest District Director of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. In Adrienne Driggers, you could not find a person more different from Marla. Adrienne Driggers, as well as Patricia Fernandez the attorney from the Texas Attorney General's Office, was well aware that her actions had previously led to the molestation of two children yet she had no hesitation to risk more children being hurt as a result of her decisions. Those decisions driven not by the safety of the children but by hate and intolerance. Unlike Marla who would give all that she had to ensure the well-being of children, Adrienne Driggers could care less for the safety of children. The children that were in our care or their families did not deserve consideration. To hell with them was her thinking. She would once again abuse her power to deny Marla her God given right for the pursuit of happiness.

I have wondered if that was what motivated Driggers. That perhaps she saw qualities in Marla that she herself was incapable of possessing. Though Adrienne Driggers is perhaps the most powerful person in the most powerful State Agency in Texas, she will never have the respect that Marla has as a result of her compassion. Given Adrienne Driggers recklessness and her willingness to endanger the lives of innocent children I wonder as I am sure that you do as well why she has not been terminated from her position. Any other person who has attempted to attack a person while in the act of doing her job, who has desecrated the United States Constitution, who has committed a felony while in the act of doing her job, would have been terminated by the Commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services ( John Specia, Jr.) and investigated by the Texas Attorney General's office. Why she has not is beyond me. But as our blog continues to spread, this inaction has the potential to expose a number of people.

I will do my share. Beginning next week, I will begin exposing on an individual basis those State employees and officials that have endangered the lives of the children of Texas. This is my promise. If they have not realized that they have messed with the wrong people I promise you that they will when they see their names and their actions and inactions exposed on this blog.

The Snarling Beast

The need to reorganize or perhaps even do away with the Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing is blatantly clear to anyone that has read this blog. One thing of which I have not previously mentioned in this blog is how Adrienne Driggers, the dreaded Southwest District Director of Childcare Licensing attempted to physically attack me while we were trying to obtain a permanent restraining order against her department at the courthouse in San Antonio. Were it not for our then attorney, Mark Braswell, who stepped in front of her we would have come to blows! 

The incident occurred after Adrienne Driggers had told me that her closing my daycare would not have occurred if I had just been "truthful" about who was truly operating my daycare claiming her belief that it was my wife Marla that was operating the daycare. Driggers had completely disregarded that not only did I have experience in operating a children's daycare but I also had a Bachelor's degree in Management from Texas A&M University. Driggers had also disregarded the fact that my wife, Marla, was only at the daycare to pick up the children from school at 3:00 pm and that she had documentation and witnesses to prove it. The daycare operated from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm. It would have been impossible for Marla to have operated the daycare but when it comes to the Texas Department of Family Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division, the truth doesn't matter and apparently neither does the safety and well-being of the children.

We can never forget the look on Adrienne Driggers face when she tried to attack me. It was that of a rabid animal. It was not until the trial of Casey Anthony, the woman who was found not guilty of murdering her child, that we saw that look again. This is the look of a woman who is given absolute power by the Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner: John Specia, Jr. The astute person will have noticed that all of the Childcare Licensing Representatives that we have mentioned on this blog were women (so much for "motherly instincts"). The only male employees of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that I have mentioned have been Paul Morris and John Specia, Jr. both of which are Adrienne Driggers superiors in their positions with DFPS. Both of which have proven to lack as we say in South Texas, the "cojones" to either terminate Adrienne Driggers or to stand up to her behavior. This is the look of the person that has  absolute power to affect the lives of tens of thousands of children in Texas. This is the look of the person that has abused her power to persecute us for several years. This is going to be the look of the person that we are going to put away.

Suspecting Child Abuse

As you may have surmised, the Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division operates in an adversarial role with daycare operators. Daycare operators are well aware that any contact with Childcare Licensing could be detrimental. Because many Childcare Licensing representatives, and apparently Department of Family and Protective Services District Directors, are prone to falsifying write-ups any daycare operator making contact with Childcare Licensing invites trouble.

One must consider the reasons as to why children's daycares exist before understanding how the State of Texas Childcare Licensing Division is detrimental to the safety and well-being of children in Texas.  Children's daycares exist to allow parents the ability to earn income or advance their education to better support their families by allowing them to leave their children with trained individuals who will care for their children. Another purpose for daycares, and one not realized by Adrienne Driggers the Southwest District Director, is that daycares allow the State to oversee the care of a concentrated amount of children.

There is no greater thing in the world than to be able to help children and the community. When childcare licensing has proven themselves to be hostile towards daycare operators the focus of a daycares operations become more a matter of self preservation. So if a daycare suspects a child is being abused it is far more likely for a daycare to dis-enroll the child with the hope that someone else will solve the problem rather than risk giving childcare licensing the opportunity to harm the daycare. It was in San Antonio where I spoke with several daycare operators that expressed this concern. I was naïve at that time. I didn't realize how animalistic Childcare Licensing Representatives and their District Director were. Any contact with Childcare Licensing is a gamble.

When a daycare is closed because a District Director or Childcare Licensing Representative is using their power to settle a score those children that were once being cared for in a concentrated facility are now scattered into the community to be cared for by people who are neither trained nor have the oversight of the State of Texas. Several things can happen as a result: children could get molested, seriously injured or even killed.

SOAH Update

Our hearing with SOAH was to be held today but was postponed due to an unexpected medical emergency. Patricia Fernandez, the attorney representing Adrienne Driggers, attempted to deny our request for a continuance but was overruled by the presiding judge. This normally would not have been a big deal were it not for the fact that within 15 minutes of Ms. Fernandez attempting to deny our request for a continuance she and the State Office of Administrative Hearings were bombarded with calls from the offices of  State Representative Abel Herrero and State Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa. Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa is a member of the Sunset Review Committee that is reviewing the Department of Family and Protective Services. If Ms. Fernandez had not attempted to deny the continuance, it is very likely that Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa's office would not have known of our blog or witnessed the tactics that have been used against us.

We thank all of you for your support. Our war to expose Adrienne Driggers, the Southwest District Director of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, and the broken system which has given her unlimited and unchecked powers is resonating throughout the world. For all of you in Texas that are following this blog, we ask you to join us in spreading the word of the abuse of power as this battle is for the protection of all of the children in Texas and for the protection of the rights afforded us under the United States Constitution. For those of you that are following these events outside of the United States, we appreciate your support as our war against intolerance and tyranny are a universal theme. We are the disenfranchised fighting against certain wicked members of our State government. We take comfort in knowing that so many people are supporting our cause. With the exception of Antarctica, our message has spread to every continent. The growth of this blog is growing exponentially.