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.

The Death of Our Unborn Child

Our unborn child was 12 weeks old when she died. I was three months pregnant when I had a miscarriage as a result of an incredible amount of stress that resulted from Adrienne Driggers closing my husbands daycare in San Antonio Texas as a result of my having spoken with one of the parents of the daycare about a sale at an HEB Plus grocery store and some blatantly falsified write-ups by her staff . That closing was a culmination of Adrienne Driggers and her staff parading me around as if I were some kind of criminal unworthy to be working with children. In clear violation of the Texas Administrative Code, Adrienne Driggers had closed my daycare for repeat write-ups after her office had withheld write-ups from me bringing them to light only after the time had expired to be able to challenge them.

We did not know the true gender of our unborn child when she passed away but we say that our baby was a girl because a little girl is what we had so prayed for our child to be. Hilario and I were incredibly happy when we discovered that I was pregnant. We already had two boys, this little girl was going to be spoiled with love and dresses, and little tea parties, doll houses, all the little things that girls love. I was already preparing her room at the time that she passed away. She was going to be our little princess.

It was in 1993 when I was working at First Baptist Church School in Corpus Christi, TX that I experienced a life altering event. The children were being read stories of Job, as well as Jonah and the Whale when tears began to form in my eyes. That is when I decided that I was going to dedicate my life to working with children while spreading the word of God. I did just that for many years. We had been blessed with two incredible boys and I was now going to have my little girl.

Adrienne Driggers had other plans. Retaliation seemed most likely for a number of reasons:

• I had reported one of her staff for not having provided me with write-ups
• My staff had reported one of the supervisors in her office for ordering one of them to leave a child unattended at a diaper changing table
• Hilario reported Veronica Lopez, another one of the supervisors beneath her, for stealing documents from his daycare to allow her to falsify write-ups against him
• Hilario had reported Geneva Hudel for falsifying write-ups.

Perhaps it was just my being Hispanic. Whatever reason she had, it certainly had nothing to do with the safety of the children.

Never in my life have I witnessed or experienced such contempt not just towards myself but for children. Adrienne Driggers certainly does not seem to understand nor care about the adverse consequences of her actions. Children are given absolutely no consideration when it comes to her seeking vengeance even if it means children getting molested or killed. The scariest thing of all is not just that she has so much power that she can destroy peoples lives at a whim but that she has the full support of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and the State of Texas Attorney General's Office.

When Adrienne Driggers ordered the immediate closing of the daycare after my conversation about the sale at HEB Plus the stress of being unemployed and being labeled a danger to the safety of children was incredible. What compounded the mental anguish of being branded by the State of Texas as a danger to children and of facing homelessness was my having to help remove our equipment from the daycare. We had nobody to help us. Though Hilario did not want me to help him, I felt that I had no choice because we knew that we would be able to reopen as Adrienne Driggers did not have justification to close the daycare. In order for us to reopen we needed our equipment and Hilario could not empty the buildings by himself.

When I started getting painful stomach cramps and my body began to expel tissue we knew what had happened. Our child had died. I had dedicated my life to helping other people's children and now my child had been killed. We cried and mourned my babies passing but our agony didn't end there as we were unable to find work in San Antonio and had to make the agonizing decision to leave all that our children knew to move to Oklahoma where Hilario found work and we found respite and escape from Adrienne Driggers and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Regardless of where you are, let your voice against injustice and intolerance be heard. Join us in our fight against Adrienne Driggers by signing our petition with change.org. If you have already signed the petition, please sponsor the petition. For as little as $20 you can help us reach 150 like minded people. That donation can be made directly through change.org.  https://www.change.org/p/end-the-abuse-of-power-by-the-san-antonio-department-of-family-and-protective-services-undo-the-unwarranted-placing-of-marla-gonzales-on-the-dfps-central-registry

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.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services War on Black and Hispanic children

As you already know from having read this blog: State of Texas Childcare Licensing Representatives, and especially District Directors, have far too much power and have absolutely no checks and balances.

One thing that is deeply disturbing is that a District Director,  who may be a racist, a sadist or have the emotional maturity of a 3 year old (or all of the above!), can have a children's daycare closed even if a District Judge rules in the daycares favor in obtaining a temporary restraining order against Childcare Licensing regarding a revocation of a daycares license to operate.

As occurred with us, Adrienne Driggers ordered all of the children to be removed from our care on the same day that she ordered our daycare to close. The State of Texas Administrative Code states that daycare operators must be allowed time to obtain a temporary restraining order unless that daycare poses an imminent threat to children. This sounds like a good thing for the public until you realize how this is applied. A Childcare Licensing District Director can simply state that a daycare poses an imminent threat to children without having to provide any proof. Please recall how Adrienne Driggers ordered the immediate closing of my daycare in San Antonio when my wife spoke with a parent about a sale at an HEB Plus grocery store. I am sure you also are aware that she did absolutely nothing to Bethune daycare in Corpus Christi when a little Hispanic boy was killed when a television fell on top of him.

Very briefly I will state that to obtain a temporary restraining order you must be able to obtain an attorney at a moments notice which is incredibly difficult as attorneys do not advertise that they can help daycares in matters against the State, the attorney must then draw up the documentation to provide the judge, you must then go before a judge and hope that he grants you the temporary restraining order. The most time that you can expect from Childcare Licensing is three days and they consider an entire day even if they notify you in the afternoon! Should the judge rule in your favor the District Director will still be able to close your daycare by cutting off the State's funding of your daycare.

By ordering all of the children in your daycare to immediately transfer elsewhere you will not be able to re-enroll those children if they are on a governmental program that pays for their tuition. If your daycare's operations are deeply dependent on this funding, Childcare Licensing will be able to close your daycare by making it impossible for you to cover your expenses. This is even if the courts and the public agree with you.

There are a number of things that you can do protect yourself from the abuses of Childcare Licensing: 1) Do not have a Spanish surname as the State of Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Childcare Licensing Division clearly has a double standard of applying the rules and regulations. 2) Do not operate a daycare in low-income areas as a high percentage of  your enrollment of children on governmental assistance will make you an easy target. This would pose huge repercussions to low income families particularly among geographic areas compromising of Black and Hispanic children . 3) Do not open a children's daycare in Texas. I am certain that as more people discover how corrupt Adrienne Driggers and Childcare Licensing operate fewer people will be willing to open children's daycares in Texas. Fewer children's daycares will no doubt lead to a massive spike in child abuse cases in Texas. This is why we believe that Adrienne Driggers must be terminated immediately as the longer she remains with unfettered power the lives of tens of thousands of children are at risk.  4) If you truly wish to open a business that caters to children in Texas, open a business that thank God are not under the jurisdiction of DFPS Childcare Licensing. Examples include: gymnastics, karate, and tutoring. 5) DEMAND that the Texas Legislature make a massive overhaul and reduce the powers of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

If you have already become a victim of Childcare Licensing you can move to another State where the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services does not have jurisdiction. So if you get placed on the State of Texas Central Registry or your daycare gets closed without justification you can still open a daycare in another state and not have the Central Registry issue or the revocation of your license to operate follow you.