Complaint·June 17, 2025

Allegation: Children are not afforded personal rights According to the allegation children are not treated properly and are abused, not cared for, and treated like animals. During a visit conducted on 4/10/25, LPA Babcock observed facility camera footage of the Infant and Toddler classrooms. LPA reviewed 30 minutes of facility video camera footage from 4/9/25 for the Infant Room and Toddler Room, as well as one hour of facility video camera footage from 4/10/25 for the hour of 10:00 am - 11:00 am for the Infant Room and Toddler Room. During an interview with the Director on 4/10/25, the Director stated the facility has 3 cameras in the infant room and 2 in the toddler room. Director also stated that “the memory is very low, and I am able to retrieve up to 24 hours” of video footage. LPA requested Director to email the video footage for the Toddler Classroom from 4/10/25 during the hours of 9:30 am to 11:00 am to LPA. Director emailed the 1.5 hours of video footage from 9:30 am - 11:00 am from the Toddler Classroom to LPA on 4/14/25. LPA reviewed the video footage obtained from Director. Director stated in an email that the video footage was split into two videos in order to be able to email to LPA. LPA observed the following on the video footage. Video time stamps and actual clock time the video was taken are also documented below: At 29:50 (9:59 am) children were observed to be pulled up and drug backward from the rug by one arm by Staff #3 (S3) and then sat down in a rough manner. 30:16 (10:00 am) – Staff #4 (S4) grabbed a child under both armpits and picked him up and walked him to the rug with his legs dangling and set him down on the side edge of the rug. Second Video - 0:09 (10:12:32 am) Staff #5 (S5) walks to the carpet and picks up a child from behind by their upper arms or underarms and carries the child with S5’s right arm around the child’s waist and the child is facing out with legs dangling. The child is being held so their body is not upright but at an angle and somewhat sideways. The child is carried to the changing table by S5. Page 2 of 5 5:42 (10:18:04 am) – S4 sees a child dancing or walking in place a few feet from the rug during circle time. S4 had just retrieved their coffee cup and walks quickly to put it down on a cabinet by the back left door and walk over to the child. The child is now on the rug but still marching in place or dancing. S4 then grabs the child by their right forearm and yanks the child to the side so hard that the child loses control of their feet and goes off camera to the side of the rug obscured by the refrigerator. 6:27 (10:18:49 am) – S4 is standing by the cabinet drinking their coffee and watching the children on the rug. S4 sees a child on the rug who is seated but facing the opposite way of the teacher conducting circle time at the front of the rug. S4 grabs the child by their right arm and pulls the childs arm to lift the child’s bottom up off the rug and pulling the child’s arm to turn the child to face forward. The child sits but then falls backward hitting their head on the wood floor as S4 begins to walk away. S4 sees the child laying down on the floor and goes back to the child and picks the child up under their armpits and sits the child down again on the carpet. Then S4 goes back to drink their coffee and is saying something to the children and waving their arm in a horizontal line and shaking their head back in forth as if saying no. 8:19 (10:20:41 am) – Three children are sitting on the rug holding hands and playing and S4 moves a child by holding the child under the arms and sliding the child where S4 wants the child to sit. The child falls backward and S4 pulls the child by their left arm to sit the child up in a harsh manner. 8:37 (10:20:59 am) – S3 pulls a child who is sitting on the rug up by one arm to a standing position and walks the child to the diaper changing table to get their diaper changed. 10:39 (10:23:01 am) – S4 is observed going off camera toward the front of the circle time area, and then is observed to be carrying a child by their underarms to the other side of the rug with the childs feet dangling and sits them down on the rug. 15:47 (10:28:09 am) – a child is off of the rug and holding a book. S5 is observed to go to the child and grab the child’s right arm and then grab the child under both arms and lift the child with legs dangling and sit the child harshly on the rug and take the book away from the child. Page 3 of 5 16:57 (10:29:19 am) – A child is taken by the left forearm by S4 and walked to the changing table area. S4 is behind the child and grabs the child by the upper arms and pulls the child back toward the S4, setting the child on the ground and then S4 walks away. 18:00 (10:30:22 am) – a child is sitting on the floor by the changing tables and S4 straddles the child with staffs legs and reaches down to grab the child on both upper arms and picks the child up with their legs dangling and swinging and sets the child on the carpet. Throughout the children’s time on the carpet, staff are constantly moving or sliding the children on the rug to have the children sit along the back or side edges of the rug. Children are not able to get up, lay down, or move away from the rug without being brought back to the rug area and put in a seated position. Throughout the video, staff pull the children’s arms to stand them up or pull the children’s arms to move them to where staff want them to be, or sit children down in a harsh manner. During interviews conducted by LPA, Staff were shown video footage of some of the instances listed and staff stated the instances should not have happened. Staff interviewed stated the toddlers are to remain on the rug during circle time and are not allowed to walk away from the rug during circle time. Per the Toddler Daily Schedule obtained from Director, Circle Time is from 9:30 am – 10:00 am, however video footage shows Circle Time on 4/10/25 to be from 10:00 am – 10:49 am. Based on interviews conducted and video footage obtained, the preponderance of evidence standard has been met, therefore the above allegation is found to be SUBSTANTIATED. California Code of Regulations, (Title 22, Division 12 & Chapter 1), are being cited on the attached LIC 9099D. LPA Babcock informed facility representative, Maribeth Peralta that this report dated 6/17/25 documents one Type A citation which shall be posted for 30 consecutive days as there is immediate risk to the health, safety, or personal rights of children in care. Page 4 of 5 Also, LPA Lilli Babcock informed the facility representative to provide a copy of this licensing report dated 6/17/25 that documents any Type A citation to parents/guardians of all children currently enrolled by the next business day or the next day the children are in care, and to any newly enrolled parents/guardians for 12 months from the date of this report. A signed Acknowledgement of Receipt of Licensing Report (LIC 9224), or other written statement, must be placed in the child's file for verification. A notice of site visit was given and must remain posted for 30 days. Failure to comply with posting requirements shall result in an immediate civil penalty of $100. Exit interview conducted and report was reviewed with Director, Maribeth Peralta. Page 5 of 5