Bad child care experience

[danniellabella]

We have moved house so last week DD started at a new daycare centre. After just 1 week we are seriously disappointed with the level of care in the centre and I spoke to the director about it today (over the phone) and she asked me to put it in writing after apologising profusely. We decided to withdraw DD from this new centre at the end of this week and she's starting somewhere else on Monday.
Here's a list of what happened in her first week. Does anyone think that we've over reacted by pulling her out so quickly?

1. She has been sent home wearing clothes that don't belong to her, sometimes the clothes have had other people's names on them. 2 examples of this are: She is a size 2-3 and was put into a size 1 jacket which clearly was too tight for her. This jacket was labelled with someone else's name on it. After washing this, I have returned it to the "lost property table" She also had a pair of soiled pants in a plastic bag inside her back pack. Again I washed these clothes but noticed they were also a size 1 pant, clearly not hers.

1. Her own clothing that gets taken off is left laying around and not put into her bag. The staff who are on in the evening when my husband picks her up usually answer with "I don't know, I wasn't on in the morning" when asked about her clothing. Her clothing is always named on the tag and is not something that can easily be missed.

1. Other items that are named have gone missing, for example, the bowls I bring her breakfast in are not returned to her bag.

1. There is rarely any acknowledgement when we arrive in the morning. The morning staff in my own experience of dropping her off have been rude. I have to repeatedly make a point of showing and telling where her breakfast and dinner are before it's even acknowledged.

1. DD is usually upset when I leave to go to work and I have not observed any attempts by staff to comfort her while I leave.

1. I've often noticed upon arrival in the morning that there is one staff member in the room and more than 10 children in the room at the same time. I don't know where the other staff member/s are who are on in the morning and I'm sure that there are things that need to be done, but my understanding is that there should always be a 1:10 ratio and if there are more than 10 children then there should always be more than 1 carer in the room at all times.

1. The most concerning thing is on Friday DD had a bump on her head. When my husband questioned afternoon staff about this the response was a dismissive "I don't know, I'm not on in the morning". I wonder why the morning staff don't communicate with the afternoon staff and also why an incident report wasn't written up. Even if the carers didn't witness it happen, an incident report should still have been given to my husband to sign giving all the information that was known.

This is what I sent to the centre director along with our our request to remove DD from care at the end of the week and a request for the final bill (thankfully they're only charging us to the end of the week).

The response I got from the director by email was this:

Thank you for your detailed letter of complaints.

I will be speaking to the staff associated with the instances, and will follow up with you my outcomes.

I will email you a copy of your final bill, as per your request, and also place another copy in her pocket for pick-up.

Once again, I deeply apologise for all the circumstances that have taken place, which has forced your decision to end your enrolment with us. I pride my centre on being warm and friendly. But obviously from your impression of the centre in just one week, this will need to be reviewed, immediately.

If I don’t speak to you, good luck at the new centre.

[Miss.September]

I think you are being a responsible parent. Whether it be for one day, one week or one month that your DD was there, none of that should have happened. I'm sure that if she came home with the wrong jacket on and none of the other things had happened, it wouldn't be such an issue, but the fact that she had a bump on her head and nobody could tell you how it happened, or that they even indicated that they knew it was there, well, that just isn't on. Hope you find something soon.

[onthefly]

Yeah, I wouldn't be happy about that either.
How hard is it to say hello and comfort an upset child? Getting the clothes mixed up is kind of strange... on the one hand maybe it's not a huge deal, but how do they manage to do that?
I think you're right to follow your instincts on this - if it doesn't feel right it generally isn't and giving it more time might only leave you in a worse spot.

[Ginger]

wow! i would definitely be pulling her out.
the lack of communication would be a huge issue for me.
good on you for making a responsible decision. best of luck at your new centre.

[*Beema*]

Wow that sounds like a centre I would not want to be sending my child to

We have had DD come home in spare pants before, but tha tis because they didn't change her cloth bum often enough (I usually pack spares for her anyway), and once we didn't get her jumper back, but it was found a coupe fo days later and returned and that same jumper was missing one evening and I saw another girl wearing it! But that was nothing compared to what you have listed.

I think you have definitely made the right decision by switching centres, the communication thing is huge, and when ever DD had had a bump or a scratch it is written up, all partied informed and we have to sign forms for it.

Goodluck at the new centre

[Gigi]

i think you reacted very appropriately, i could not leave my child in a place like that either.

[Floweryfields]

From a directors point of view they are a bad centre. Firstly, we always make a big deal of new families, because you want them to feel welcome and comfortable and happy to leave their child with you.
Mixing up of clothes does happen occasionally if they aren't named, but it shouldn't be a regular occurance. As for the soiled pants, they are legally meant to stay in a sealed bucket until collection time to aboid contamination in the bag area. We hand any soiled items to the parent at collection time.
All messages should be passed on from morning to afternoon staff. Forms are supposed to be written out for injuries.
I think you are doing the right thing going with your gut instinct.

PS I think you also took the mature approach and addressed your concerns to the director and not just complain to others but not speak to those in charge - so well done on that part too!