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 need to Reform the State Office of Administrative Hearings(SOAH)

We received a letter from the Texas Attorney General's Office today notifying us of the scheduling for the State Office of Administrative Hearings. It comes to us with no surprise that the Texas Attorney General's Office who is acting as an extension of Adrienne Driggers Childcare Licensing Department has changed their reasoning for placing Marla on the Central Registry and closing her daycare! Given the response that we have received it is apparent that any person that has read this blog is well aware that Adrienne Driggers orders to place Marla on the Central Registry and to close her daycare were not only unjustified but came as a result of Ms. Driggers animosity towards us.
It is obvious that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division needs a major overhaul to prevent the kind of abuse of power of which you have read throughout the blog. What this case also illustrates is the need to overhaul the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) who is supposed to act as an independent party in judging over actions committed by State agencies.

To schedule a hearing before SOAH, you must go through the Texas Attorney General's Office who acts as an extension of the agency that you are fighting. For some bizarre reason SOAH does not schedule the hearings with the two parties. The Attorney General's Office can delay the hearing as long as they please or even schedule the hearing for a date/day that they know is difficult for you. If you need a continuance to reschedule the hearing you must obtain the permission from the Attorney General's Office.

Documentation that SOAH receives is solely provided by the Attorney General's Office in the form of the agencies opinions that very likely contains false information as it does in our case. The presiding judge will make the assumption that the agency and the Attorney General's Office is acting in good-faith,  which as is in the case is simply not true. What it means to the person fighting the State agency is that the odds are stacked against you before you even step foot inside the court room. The judge, who will very likely be influenced by the demonization of you, may not allow certain evidence, questions that you would like to ask representatives of the agency, or answers that you may try to give that will help clear you of the State agencies punishment

SOAH was created to allow a person due process against State agencies. Unfortunately, due process is denied because of the way SOAH is structured.