GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Just days after a 13 ON YOUR SIDE story aired about concerns surrounding a Jenison daycare, the community reached out to us to share their own experiences.
One Jenison father said he wasn't surprised to hear what had happened at Horizon Little Explorers daycare, while others showed their support for the business.
On Oct. 19, a staff member at Horizon Little Explorers failed to follow the daycare's safety protocols, resulting in a toddler in their care being left outside, alone. That child was 18-month-old Kenny Carpenter, whose mother, Christina is the one that brought the story to light.
Two days after we reported that Kenny's safety had been jeopardized, a man from Jenison reached out to 13 ON YOUR SIDE.
"I saw the article because some of our friends tagged me and my wife in your Facebook post," he said. "And I replied and said, 'sounds about right.'"
The father of two asked to remain anonymous, but still wanted to share his experience. For this story, we'll call him John.
"Having my child have gone there and seeing some of those concerns, I feel like it's kind of my responsibility to say something," he said.
John's son, who is also just over a year old, was a student at Horizon Little Explorers daycare for eight months. But in July, John and his wife pulled him out.
"We had concerns and we acted on those, and I'm glad we did," he said. "Because now, just three months later, there's stories like this coming out."
John said their biggest concern was the security around pickup at the daycare.
"One time there was a child that came up and started talking to me and babbling, so I kind of talked back in a little kid voice and one of the workers came over and handed me all his stuff," John explained. "And I was immediately like, this one's not mine."
"That was a safety concern for me," he added.
On another occasion, John said he told a staff member that he was there to pick up his son, and they brought out a different child.
"Seeing that lack of procedure and then seeing the stories and stuff come out. It's concerning," he said.
John said he was sad to hear about what had happened to the little boy back on Oct. 19.
"Thankfully that mother saw that kid there and saved him, but if she wasn't there it might have been an awfully different story," said John. "If that was my son, and he was left out there like that, I find it hard to imagine that he wouldn't have taken off, because even I have trouble keeping up with him."
"And when incidents like this happen, it kind of verifies your concerns and you are kind of glad that you don't have your kid there anymore," he added.
And for John, he explained that he really respected Kenny's mother, Christina, for speaking out even though it's a hard thing to do, because he said he would have done the same if he were in her shoes. And it was also her story that motivated him to speak up as well.
"When you have the experiences that we had, and you see the story about what happened (to Kenny), it's hard to not say anything, because you don't want parents jumping on opportunities that might be unsafe for their children," he said. "Because every parent knows how difficult it is to find childcare, and especially one that's affordable."
John said that what stuck out to him the most about Kenny's incident is that no one reported it back to the parents when it first happened.
"If that had happened to my son and it wasn't reported to us right away, I'd be pretty furious," said John. "Especially if I found out on a random person's Facebook post."
"Incidents with kids happen all the time; at home, everywhere, because kids are kids," he added. "But when those incidents happen or there's a licensing issue or something like that, you want transparency from where you're trusting people, and paying people to take care of your kids."
According to Michigan's Office of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Horizon Little Explorers daycare is currently operating on a provisionary license. In August, the state investigated and found that they had not properly fingerprinted or background checked several of their employees.
"Although I had that experience, I'm sure there are plenty of parents who've taken their kids there with zero issues," John explained.
And there certainly are.
After the story aired last week, 13 ON YOUR SIDE reporter Keely Lovern, who has been covering this story from the beginning, received emails from six different families, talking about how much they loved Horizon Little Explorers and Horizon Kids Complex, and what great experiences they've had.
One woman wrote, "I never had a single moment where I felt that she was in even an ounce of danger, or not being cared for fully and in an above and beyond manner. I saw with my own eyes the love and attention they put into their classes. This recent incident is so unfortunate. I feel so much for the mother, as something like this can feel so helpless. But sadly, things like this can happen to anyone, anywhere, as no one person or place is perfect. I really hope that folks know that this school is beloved by so many. (The owner) has a heart of gold, and she would never want anyone to be in harms way."
"The staff at Horizons have so much heart and a caring mindset. The teachers engage each child in individualized ways, which I see reflected in my sons growth and learning every day! I have always had great communication with their staff and appreciate the owner's transparency in reporting news and updates via email and seeing pictures of their day. The staff have always been quick to respond to my inquiries and their new protocols I have seen put into action will add another layer of security to provide the safest care environment," wrote another parent.
A woman with three children currently enrolled at Horizon Little Explorers wrote, "My children truly love it there & I have always felt secure that they are safe & well taken care of. I trust this matter has been taken seriously & the new safety protocols for transporting to & from the outdoor play area are reassuring. I do not intend to downplay the severity of the situation that occurred, but I do hope that Horizon is shown grace. I believe they care deeply about providing a safe & nurturing environment and are making every effort to prevent another situation like this from happening again."
"I never experienced anything where they didn't seem to care about the kids or fully be involved," he added. "And I'm sure in reality, there's a lot of great, great people that work there, and I definitely don't want to slander any of their names, I just saw lack of procedure when it came to safety issues and that kind of stuff."
It is important to note that 13 ON YOUR SIDE had originally set up a time to meet with the owners of Horizon Kids Complex after the first story aired, and interview them for their side of the story. When we had to re-schedule, and asked for a new time, they responded saying, "We are focusing on bettering our business and policies and are moving forward. Thank you for your time."
On the Wednesday after the initial story broke, Horizon Little Explorers sent an email to all of the families that were enrolled in their daycare. A source shared that note with us, and in it, the owners admitted to the incident, and addressed new safety protocols including a new four seat wagon, retraining of staff, and working with the state licensing office.
That note in its entirety reads as follows:
"Dear families,
I write this to you with mixed emotions of sadness and hope. Many of you already know some of this per our previous email, but now that the media has released a story about the incident that happened at our childcare center in October, we want to take this opportunity to be transparent with you as our valued families. At Horizons, we are given the highest amount of trust by our community and families we serve. We take the care of your children very seriously. The intent of this letter is to inform you of all we are doing to learn and grow from this experience and to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
First and foremost, we want to address the incident and all we know about what happened. Our staff were walking our toddlers to the play area. We have a policy in place where one staff member is the leader, and one is the caboose, always walking behind all of the children. Staff are required to do a head count before they leave the building and again as they enter the gates of the play area. The staff member who was supposed to be the caboose did not follow these protocols. As much as we train our team, as humans we cannot control every action of employees but we can take them seriously and follow with appropriate action. The team member in question allowed children to walk behind her and she let go of a child's hand that she was responsible for in order to tend to another. The group of children entered the play area and the gate was closed. The staff then began a head count per protocol. At this point, a child had already wandered off and had not entered the gate. A parent in the parking lot watched this happen and graciously grabbed the child and brought him to the staff. He was safe and unharmed, much thanks to this woman who saw what was happening and acted. For that, we are forever grateful. Our staff assured us that they did the head count and realized they were short a child, but at this point it was too late.
Any time there is an incident or injury to a child, our protocol states that the lead teacher is responsible for informing parents. As owners and management, we quickly began problem solving and began our internal investigation. At the time, we were not aware the communication to the parent of the child involved did not happen. It wasn't until the story had been posted to social media and a parent reached out to our director that we were informed that this communication was missed. We are very regretful of this and can only put in place new protocols and training to make sure this is never an issue again. As a business and as humans, a lot of us parents as well, we have never been in this situation before and tried to navigate it the best way we could. But in hindsight, we could have done things differently. This is a lesson we have learned and will take with us as we move forward.
We also want to address the new policies and protocols we have implemented to prevent any future incidents from happening.
1. We purchased a new 4 seat wagon to accompany our 4 seat stroller to allow for each child to be secured to and from the play area. We are implementing a new protocol where staff are required to use these every time they transport children. There will be no exceptions to this.
2. We have retrained our staff on communication requirements with parents and management as well as the new transportation protocol.
3. We are working closely with licensing to ensure we have taken all the appropriate steps following this incident.
The safety and well being of our children is and always will be our number one priority. While we are all human and make mistakes, we are dedicated to making sure we continue growing and bettering ourselves moving forward. We have not handled this perfectly, but we never meant to mislead or hide anything regarding it in the process. We ask that you give us grace and time to implement some of these new protocols as we work to regain your trust in us.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns or would like to discuss this or any of our protocols further, please never hesitate to contact us. Thank you for trusting us with life's greatest gifts, your children."
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