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.

WARNING TO ALL DAYCARE OPERATORS IN THE STATE OF TEXAS

I have been reminded by another daycare operator that daycare operators are at an additional risk from the State of Texas Childcare Licensing. When a childcare licensing representative makes a visit to your daycare you will be asked to sign (on their computer) an "acknowledgement" of having received the report which may or may not contain write-ups. You will be told by the Childcare Licensing Representative that your signing the report is not an acknowledgment that the write-ups are true but an acknowledgment of having received the report. DO NOT BELIEVE IT. DO NOT SIGN THE REPORT.

Any write-up that you receive you will have to be challenged within their "Administrative Review" process. By challenging the write-ups you are saying that you disagree with the write-ups. Administrative Reviews are held within the same office of the person whose write-ups you are challenging. They operate similar to a court system except that Childcare Licensing acts as the judge, jury, and executioner. I can tell you from experience that these people are not going to overrule the write-ups of people that they work with everyday. These people are friends with each other. That is just not going to happen no matter how much evidence that you have to support you. That is why the State of Texas Childcare Licensing "Administrative Review" process is well-known for being a Kangaroo Court System.

In the "Administrative Reviews" you cannot question their evidence, you cannot question the Childcare Licensing Representatives, nor can you question any witnesses that they claim they may have.  It is very possible that they may not even have any witnesses but merely claim they do so as to allow Childcare Licensing to state that you are violating the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers the rules by which daycares operate. You will hear from honest Childcare Licensing Representatives that the majority of reports against daycare owners come from disgruntled employees, clients that have been charged penalties for paying their tuitions late, or competing daycares. These make up the majority of their witnesses.

If Childcare Licensing revokes your license to operate they will use the write-ups against you and portray your daycare as a danger to children. They will inform the judge that you were given due-process through their administrative review process. Judges will be none the wiser and believe that the write-ups were proven to be correct.

Another tactic that Childcare Licensing will do is to add additional write-ups after having left the daycare. The purpose of this is obviously to pad the amount of write-ups to your daycare. If they do this to you take it as a huge red flag that you are being targeted.

What you should do to protect yourself are: 1) DO NOT SIGN THE REPORT 2) Have video cameras with sound in your daycare 3) Record everything that the Childcare Licensing Representative tells you. 4) Take pictures of the Report even if you do not have any write-ups. 5) Challenge the write-ups at the daycare and have witnesses. 6) Related to 5, obtain a notarized statement from the witness to corroborate your conversation with the Childcare Licensing Representative. 7) Keep a sign-in/sign-out sheet for all visitors to sign including Childcare Licensing Representatives.  Be aware however that asking Childcare Licensing Representatives may get upset with you for wanting them to sign in/out and may not want to cooperate.