We knew coming into the SOAH hearing that childcare licensing representatives had falsified write-ups. We also knew that write-ups were added, after Adrienne Driggers had closed the daycare, for an inspection that never occurred. The thing about this phantom inspection is that there is only one person who could have added those deficiencies, Adrienne Driggers.
Corpus Christi is a relatively small town. One thing that Adrienne Driggers never considered is that here in Corpus, you run into people all the time. I had the pleasure of running into one of her henchmen, or rather henchwomen, at a local Walmart. This person was so frightened after seeing me that she literally ran out of the store. Though I did nothing to provoke that reaction, I am certain that she knew that no matter what position she has with the State of Texas, having a title isn't going to protect you when you are out in the streets! I believe that all of the people that have helped Adrienne Driggers succeed in abusing her power, carry a fear of retaliation especially in South Texas where minorities have long had to take matters into their own hands as a result of the justice system's failure to protect them. The fear that these people have I believe is the fear of knowing that evil deeds do not go unpunished.
Other Childcare Licensing Representatives carry guilt and shame. We ran into such a person. This person confessed that Adrienne Driggers ordered the Corpus Christi staff to stay at our daycare longer than was necessary and gather as many as deficiencies as possible even if they had falsify them. But Driggers did not, nor could she, act alone as we were notified that the officers from the Corpus Christi office were involved in targeting us. This person stated that in all of the years in service for this Department never had that person witnessed such an ugly and disturbing abuse of power.
I feel horrible for this person as I know that this blog will get the Department to try and find out who this person was that gave us this information. My hope is that this person will come forward and disclose this information to the public. The community needs to know about the tyrants that are affecting the lives of their children.
There are good people within the Department but there is nobody for them to go to when they have a high-ranking official like Adrienne Driggers that is ordering her staff to falsify deficiencies against people. If the Department would go through great lengths to deny us of our Constitutional rights, can you imagine what they would do to one of their employees who refuses to cooperate in breaking the law? I am certain that the Department would trump up allegations that person, call daycare operators that have been written up by that person just to give that daycare the opportunity to make a complaint, then terminate that person. Retaliation is how Adrienne Driggers runs this Department. Given that she has been enabled for many years to do as she wishes, she would have no problem breaking the law to target her own staff.
As captain of the ship, John Specia, Jr the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, has an obligation to look into these allegations. I ask that he promise to protect the Corpus Christi staff from retaliation from Adrienne and the supervisors in Corpus Christi office. I also ask that Mr. Specia inform the Corpus Christi staff of whistle blower laws, and to permit an anonymous reporting of any wrong doing by their superiors and co-workers.
Unfortunately, my asking John Specia, Jr., to investigate this matter is made under the assumption that he himself was not involved in the abuse of power. I would not be surprised if he was involved as he does seem to be nothing more than a figurehead, the emperor who wears no clothes, a person who rubber stamps the termination of people's careers and the uprooting of children.
This case has exposed a great deal of corruption among State of Texas employees that goes beyond the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The most disturbing thing about this corruption is that it has a deep impact on the most defenseless in our society, the children.
ADDENDUM:
My wife reminded me of additional information that was provided to us in the conversation that we had with the Childcare Licensing Representative that disclosed to us that Adrienne Driggers ordered the Corpus Christi office to falsify write-ups against our daycare. This person stated to us that in all of this persons years of experience never had there been a case where the Director of the daycare is placed on the State of Texas Central Registry especially when that person clearly did nothing wrong and was not even present at the time of the incident in question. Adrienne Driggers was clearly targeting Marla.
We had already suspected this but Adrienne Driggers also tried to me (Hilario) on the Central Registry by having Monica Martinez, the Childcare Licensing Representative investigating the incident of the child walking out of the building, ask for my first aid/cpr and transportation training as part of her so-called "investigation". I would be the only employee that she would ask for this information.
Even though these Childcare Licensing Representatives were merely following orders from Adrienne Driggers and their upper management here in Corpus Christi, as we learned in the Nuremberg Trials, following orders does not excuse their behavior.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Padding Writeups
When you become a target of Childcare Licensing, the Department will go through great lengths to discredit you and make it appear as if you are a danger to children. Few people expect for a Department charged with protecting children to be so unethical and that is why they are so successful using this strategy. People that have never experienced this behavior or are unaware that the Department uses this strategy when targeting daycare operators further victimize those daycare operators (as well as their staff and the children in their care) by siding with the Department, often very vocally. I compare these people to mindless villagers chasing after the so-called villain with torches and pitchforks in horror movies of old.
A great clue as to when the Department is targeting a daycare is if the daycare has received frequent inspections from childcare licensing. The Department will use the guise of stating that a "report" was made against the daycare forcing them to investigate or that they were merely "following up" on a previous investigation. State law states that a person can make anonymous "reports" on daycares (and individuals for that matter). The Department is able to simply state that a report was made, even when it wasn't, to justify harassing daycare operators and give the Department the opportunity to pad (increase) the number of deficiencies.
A further indicator as to the intentions of the Department when they are targeting a daycare operator is the length of time that their representatives are at the daycare. If a Childcare Licensing Representative is following up on a previous visit or investigating a report, it does not make sense for a representative to be present at that daycare for more than an hour and a half. We once had a childcare licensing representative named Veronica Lopez present at our daycare for a period of 7 hours! The daycare ran so smoothly that she felt compelled to falsify write-ups including stating that fire ants were crawling all over her when a professional exterminator acknowledged that there were no ants on the property.
The Department is also successful in padding write-ups as a result of how they put the wording into the deficiencies. For example, a caregiver who is changing the diaper of an infant while another infant is feeding themselves in a high chair, while a third infant is asleep in a crib. The State mandated ratio is 4:1 so the ratio would be easily met. Imagine that the child eating the food drops their spoon on the floor. A childcare Licensing Representative who is targeting the daycare will write-up the daycare for the spoon being on the floor but will neglect to include in their report that the caregiver was changing the diaper and that the daycare was easily in ratio. To pad the write-ups even more, the Childcare Licensing Representative will state that as a result of this writeup the Daycare Operator was not adhering to the State of Texas Minimum Standards. This deficiency is a huge red flag that the Department is padding write-ups as the gist of this deficiency is that a daycare operator is receiving a deficiency for getting a deficiency!
There is also an example of a Childcare Licensing Representative writing up the daycare for there being food on the floor in a toddler room without mentioning in her report that the toddlers were having a scheduled meal at the time and that it is normal behavior for children of that age to get food on the floor while they are eating!
It is widely known that children that are just let out of school have a tendency to want to blow off steam. School age children tend to get excited and want to play. Sometimes there are so many children in your care that you have to increase the volume of your voice to ensure that the children are under control. There is a difference between raising your voice and yelling at children. Yelling at children is something that is done in a fit of anger. What Childcare Licensing Representatives will do is writeup the daycare for a caregiver yelling at children when there was never any yelling involved. You can provide other witnesses including the children that will refute what the Childcare Licensing Representative writes in their report but doing so risks retaliation.
Because School Age children are excited to be out of school they will want to have fun and play games. We had a Childcare Licensing Representative named Christina Cantu who not only threatened to write us up for offering too many activities for the children (not just school age children) but wrote us up because the School Age children did not return the games in an organized manner. This by the way is not a violation according to the State of Texas Minimum Standards by which daycare centers operate.
I was told by one daycare operator that her daycare was given a deficiency by a Childcare Licensing Representative because one of her staff reached out of her room to get a spray bottle. It was not surprising to find that it was Geneva Hudel, the Heinrich Himmler to Adrienne Driggers, who cited her for supposedly leaving the room even though it was only a portion of her arm!
We were once written up by a Childcare Licensing Representative named Pam Hayes in San Antonio when a 3 year old child placed her snack on a bare table instead of the paper plate that she had been given. When I stated to her that she had to be kidding as the deficiency was so absurd she responded by stating: "Mr. Gonzales, I have to write you up for something?!"
This led me to a question that I asked Geneva Hudel in her first visit to our daycare. I asked her if Childcare Licensing Representatives were seen with a suspicious eye by their supervisors if they returned to their offices after having driven around all day inspecting daycares without many write-ups for the daycares. I asked her if they had a quota system. She replied that they did have a quota system and were treated as if they were not doing their jobs if they did not return with many write-ups.
Of course one could challenge the falsified deficiencies by using Administrative Reviews. Which you may remember are informal hearings where you cannot question the Childcare Licensing Representative that falsified the deficiency(ies), nor can you question any person that supposedly filed a report against you or challenge any evidence. These informal hearings are held by a co-worker within the same office as the person whose deficiencies you are challenging.
One would think that daycare operators are protected under the United States Constitution's 6th Amendment Confrontation Clause which reads: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him. The 14th Amendment has made the 6th Amendment’s right to confrontation applicable to state court as well as federal court. The confrontation clause guarantees criminal defendants the opportunity to face the prosecution’s witnesses in the case against them and dispute the witnesses’ testimony. This guarantee applies to both statements made in court and statements made outside of court that are offered as evidence during trial.
The problem is that daycare operators are not afforded this Constitutional right in Administrative Hearings despite the substance of the hearings being identical to that of criminal proceedings. The State Office of Adminstrative Hearings will use the findings from the Administrative Reviews against daycare operators in making their decisions against daycare operators.
A great clue as to when the Department is targeting a daycare is if the daycare has received frequent inspections from childcare licensing. The Department will use the guise of stating that a "report" was made against the daycare forcing them to investigate or that they were merely "following up" on a previous investigation. State law states that a person can make anonymous "reports" on daycares (and individuals for that matter). The Department is able to simply state that a report was made, even when it wasn't, to justify harassing daycare operators and give the Department the opportunity to pad (increase) the number of deficiencies.
A further indicator as to the intentions of the Department when they are targeting a daycare operator is the length of time that their representatives are at the daycare. If a Childcare Licensing Representative is following up on a previous visit or investigating a report, it does not make sense for a representative to be present at that daycare for more than an hour and a half. We once had a childcare licensing representative named Veronica Lopez present at our daycare for a period of 7 hours! The daycare ran so smoothly that she felt compelled to falsify write-ups including stating that fire ants were crawling all over her when a professional exterminator acknowledged that there were no ants on the property.
The Department is also successful in padding write-ups as a result of how they put the wording into the deficiencies. For example, a caregiver who is changing the diaper of an infant while another infant is feeding themselves in a high chair, while a third infant is asleep in a crib. The State mandated ratio is 4:1 so the ratio would be easily met. Imagine that the child eating the food drops their spoon on the floor. A childcare Licensing Representative who is targeting the daycare will write-up the daycare for the spoon being on the floor but will neglect to include in their report that the caregiver was changing the diaper and that the daycare was easily in ratio. To pad the write-ups even more, the Childcare Licensing Representative will state that as a result of this writeup the Daycare Operator was not adhering to the State of Texas Minimum Standards. This deficiency is a huge red flag that the Department is padding write-ups as the gist of this deficiency is that a daycare operator is receiving a deficiency for getting a deficiency!
There is also an example of a Childcare Licensing Representative writing up the daycare for there being food on the floor in a toddler room without mentioning in her report that the toddlers were having a scheduled meal at the time and that it is normal behavior for children of that age to get food on the floor while they are eating!
It is widely known that children that are just let out of school have a tendency to want to blow off steam. School age children tend to get excited and want to play. Sometimes there are so many children in your care that you have to increase the volume of your voice to ensure that the children are under control. There is a difference between raising your voice and yelling at children. Yelling at children is something that is done in a fit of anger. What Childcare Licensing Representatives will do is writeup the daycare for a caregiver yelling at children when there was never any yelling involved. You can provide other witnesses including the children that will refute what the Childcare Licensing Representative writes in their report but doing so risks retaliation.
Because School Age children are excited to be out of school they will want to have fun and play games. We had a Childcare Licensing Representative named Christina Cantu who not only threatened to write us up for offering too many activities for the children (not just school age children) but wrote us up because the School Age children did not return the games in an organized manner. This by the way is not a violation according to the State of Texas Minimum Standards by which daycare centers operate.
I was told by one daycare operator that her daycare was given a deficiency by a Childcare Licensing Representative because one of her staff reached out of her room to get a spray bottle. It was not surprising to find that it was Geneva Hudel, the Heinrich Himmler to Adrienne Driggers, who cited her for supposedly leaving the room even though it was only a portion of her arm!
We were once written up by a Childcare Licensing Representative named Pam Hayes in San Antonio when a 3 year old child placed her snack on a bare table instead of the paper plate that she had been given. When I stated to her that she had to be kidding as the deficiency was so absurd she responded by stating: "Mr. Gonzales, I have to write you up for something?!"
This led me to a question that I asked Geneva Hudel in her first visit to our daycare. I asked her if Childcare Licensing Representatives were seen with a suspicious eye by their supervisors if they returned to their offices after having driven around all day inspecting daycares without many write-ups for the daycares. I asked her if they had a quota system. She replied that they did have a quota system and were treated as if they were not doing their jobs if they did not return with many write-ups.
Of course one could challenge the falsified deficiencies by using Administrative Reviews. Which you may remember are informal hearings where you cannot question the Childcare Licensing Representative that falsified the deficiency(ies), nor can you question any person that supposedly filed a report against you or challenge any evidence. These informal hearings are held by a co-worker within the same office as the person whose deficiencies you are challenging.
One would think that daycare operators are protected under the United States Constitution's 6th Amendment Confrontation Clause which reads: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him. The 14th Amendment has made the 6th Amendment’s right to confrontation applicable to state court as well as federal court. The confrontation clause guarantees criminal defendants the opportunity to face the prosecution’s witnesses in the case against them and dispute the witnesses’ testimony. This guarantee applies to both statements made in court and statements made outside of court that are offered as evidence during trial.
The problem is that daycare operators are not afforded this Constitutional right in Administrative Hearings despite the substance of the hearings being identical to that of criminal proceedings. The State Office of Adminstrative Hearings will use the findings from the Administrative Reviews against daycare operators in making their decisions against daycare operators.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
The First Ambush
Scene from Law Abiding Citizen: It's Going to be Biblical
It was just a few days from Christmas when we received a letter from the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS or the Department) telling us that Marla was being placed on the Central Registry for Abuse and Neglect for a child running out of the building. We were shocked as never had a person been accused of neglect or abuse much less placed on the Central Registry for not even being present at the time of the so-called incident of neglect or abuse. This was a clear violation of the Texas Administrative Code's interpretation as to what constitutes neglect or abuse. But we knew that the person that had ordered Marla to be placed on the Central Registry was a person who cared little for the Texas Administrative Code, the United States Constitution, or any form of decency: Adrienne Driggers, the Southwest District Director of the Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division. Marla clearly went above and beyond the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers as we would later prove this emphatically in court. Before I go on I must add that the child was gone from the grounds less than a minute, which given the design of the building and the location of the exit of the building, would have made it impossible for him to have gotten near any road. In fact, given the small amount of time that he was gone it was very likely that he may have only gotten a few feet from the surrounding fence as the staff moved promptly to retrieve him.
When Adrienne Driggers closed our daycare in San Antonio for Marla speaking to one of the parents about a sale at an HEB Plus, Marla refused to allow me to go after Driggers and the Department. She wanted to maintain a peaceful working relationship with the Department. My argument was that the Adrienne Driggers could care less about any peaceful relationships. She wanted to destroy us and use her power any way she could whether or not it was legal or ethical for her to do so. This time however, Driggers went too far. When Driggers placed Marla on the Central Registry she did so not because Marla deserved to be on it but by being placed on the Central Registry, Marla would not be able to be present at the daycare and therefore not be able to fulfill her obligations as a license holder. Driggers manipulated the rules to deny Marla her right under the 14th Amendment Section 1 of the United States Constitution. Of course, John Specia Jr., the Commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services rubber stamped Driggers decision and Paul Morris, the Assistant Commissioner of Childcare Licensing, voiced his approval of Adrienne Driggers tactics. Adrienne Driggers placed Marla in the Registry with child molesters. The gloves were going to be off this time as Marla said these three words to me: "Go After Them." In my response I told her that I was going to paint the whole town red and burn it down ( a reference to Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter). I was going to tear down the entire corrupt system that allowed Driggers to have an unfettered abuse of power.
It was a Friday when we received the letter informing us of Marla being placed on the Central Registry. By Monday a petition on Change.org calling for Marla's daycare to be spared, for the removal of Marla from the Central Registry, and for an investigation of Adrienne Driggers illegal and unethical tactics had gathered over 200 signatures. That number would swell to 1,000 within the next few days.
At the same time, I launched an investigation of Adrienne Driggers with the Office of Consumer Affairs. While I did not expect much from this investigation as the Office of Consumer Affairs operates under the Department of Family and Protective Services and the staff within this Department are known to cover(protect) for each other my hope was that it would generate some kind of official statement that would be beneficial to us which itt did. We would use this statement to hammer the Department and the Texas Attorney General's Office in court.
Not only did we launch an investigation of Adrienne Driggers through the Office of Consumer Affairs but we also launched an investigation with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Health and Human Services a Department who had recently been placed in charge of the Department of Family and Protective Services. Given that the Department of Health and Human Services was very likely not accustomed to hearing of abuse of power and civil rights violations coming from a State Agency in their charge we didn't expect much from them. My goal was to put Adrienne Driggers, the Department, and the Texas Attorney General's Office on the defensive.
I wasn't finished there as State Representatives Abel Herrero and Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa's offices also became involved. It was Representative Herrero's office that discovered that the reason that "the Department", code for Adrienne Driggers, placed Marla on the Central Registry was because she was not at the daycare at the time of the incident. According to the State of Texas Minimum Standards, a director is not required to be present at the daycare during all hours of operation. "The Department" (Adrienne Driggers) was ignoring it's own rules just to target Marla.
It is my understanding that the phone lines((512)438-4800) at John Specia's office were jammed with people calling to demand a reversal of Adrienne Driggers decision to place Marla on the Central Registry as well as Driggers decision to close Marla's daycare. These State officials were not going to have the pleasure of being anonymous any longer. The people were going to know of the Departments abuses and were going to be heard.
Adrienne Driggers abused her power to target Marla. Driggers and her entire Department was ambushed and punched right smack in the mouth. This blog that has been exposing Adrienne Driggers and the Department's abuse of power would not have been created if Adrienne Driggers had just left us alone. Now that it has started, thousands of people are reading it regularly and sharing it with their friends and family. It is spreading exponentially throughout Texas and the World. I will continue to fight this Department by continuing to inform the public, until John Specia, Jr. realizes that he does not have a choice but to terminate Adrienne Driggers and the Department makes wholesale changes as to how it operates. I will fight for the lives of every child against this dangerous State Agency.
This ambush was so effective that Patricia Fernandez, the lead attorney from the Texas Attorney General's Office, would in her meltdown at the termination of the hearing before SOAH (The State Office of Administrative Hearings) would mention the tactics that I used against them as if they were unfair. Imagine the horror that they put us through and they were crying foul because for once they were being forced to answer for their behavior. That, my friends, is how you take down a corrupt State Agency.
Keep reading folks because if you are sickened by the behavior of Adrienne Driggers and the Department you will be ecstatic when you read of the Beatdown that they took in court. It was as brutal as it was beautiful and it is coming very soon!
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