Child Care Whoas....Who can ya trust?

So.... this is a letter a wrote earlier this year, to my son's old daycare facility. You will see why he no longer goes there. I complained to the "big whigs".... wonder if anything happened? For now, I'm over it.

To: Kare-A-Lot Staff
1030 King Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43212

April 14, 2008
On Wednesday February 6th I had a discussion with M*** about my son, concerning his medication. Prior to our conversation, I discovered there was some concern regarding my son after I was told to call her in order to retrieve my son’s medication. I have a significant issue with the events that occurred on Wednesday February 6th. M*** informed me that My son’s teachers (S.P. and E.Z.) gave her my son’s medication stating, “Here is his medication, what do you want to do with it?” M*** also said that I simply drop My son off, I don’t say anything to the staff, I don’t listen to the staff, and I am very hard to get in contact with. My questions to you are the following: Do the other parents stay and chat with you when they drop off their children? Do I not speak to you when I drop My son off? Who said that I must listen to the staff? Every time you have called me haven’t I either returned your phone call or came straight to the daycare center? I often am unable to answer the phone because my phone is either on vibrate or off while I’m in class. I am a graduate student. And most master’s and PhD students fund their education by teaching undergraduates. I don’t have my phone on while I am teaching class and it is usually on vibrate when I am in my own classes. The last time you called I was in the class I teach. I left the class to come and pick up My son because you stated he was sick. You cannot say that I don’t either call you back or come directly to the center. Even if I never returned your phone calls or never came directly to the center, each of you saw me after My son’s recent sickness and none of you addressed your concerns with me. There is no excuse for that except that you all thought you had more of My son’s interest in mind than I did.
What did you except of me? When My son was sick the first time you all gave me a list of foods he should eat. I took this list and asked My son’s physician to ask about the validity of your suggestions then moved forward accordingly. Did you except me give you an update you on all that I do in taking care of my son? Do you request this of all the parents?
After My son went to the doctor, Ms. P. told me that My son woke up not feeling well and his body was “shaking”. She later expressed her concern to M*** and NOT me. If I was asked, then I would have informed the teachers that I had already talked to the doctor about the one episode when he woke up trembling , his temperature, and respiratory issues. I was told that it was a combination of side effects of the Albuterol and the temperature he had. There was nothing that could be done about it accept to give him Tylenol. I medication regime I was already giving to him. The symptoms simply had to pass. But no one asked me about My son waking up from his nap and trembling. It was an assumption among the staff that either I didn’t know or I didn’t care. But this “concern” was taken a step further. Not only did neither M*** or the teachers address me about his trembling at Kare-A-Lot, even days after this occurrence, M*** took it upon herself to call my son’s doctor AND called the pharmacy on the medication bottle to find out my son’s medical information to “get answers” as M*** stated. Attempting to retrieve my son’s medical information was inappropriate, she was over-stepping her bounds and it is ILLEGAL (see HIPPA act). In addition M*** took my son’s medication off Kare-A-Lot premises as a way of holding it collateral so that I had to call her so that she could tell me how she felt. But it’s not just M***. The teachers, who I saw every day, gave her the medicine. I don’t know M*** or any of the teachers well enough to give my son’s medication for them to remove it from the premises. I don’t know what M*** did to my son’s medication. I needed to get his medication refilled because I didn’t know if my son’s medication was tampered with. If I can’t trust his teachers and the director of the center to not over step their bounds, not consent me, remove my son’s medicine, and disobey laws trying to find out my son’s medical information, how could I continue to leave him with the Kare-A-Lot staff?
The Kare-A-Lot staff’s actions imply that you all were making a judgment call; however you clearly overstepped your boundaries by not consenting me in your decision-making regarding my child. You all are assuming that I need your assistance in raising my son. How did you formulate this prejudicial conclusion? Is it because I am a single mother? Because I am Black and My son is one of the few Black children at the center? Or is it because we utilized Title 20? So you all have labeled us based on you prejudices about low-income, Black single-parent families? That must be the reason because there is no other reason for you all to have disrespected us in this manner. There was no reason for you to assume that My son is in harm’s way and is not receiving the best care at home.
Lastly, after telling M*** about her inappropriate actions she proceeds to angrily storm off and say to herself, “I get lectured all day. By teachers, by parents. Soon the students will be lecturing me.” Was this a professional response to a parent who was concerned about the actions of staff that she must trust with the care of her son? It is because of these incidents that I removed my son from Kare-A-Lot at the end of February. It is unfortunate that Kare-A-Lot daycare prejudges their students’ parents and would rather coerce medical establishment into breaking patient confidentiality laws than simply asking the parents about their own children. I hope that there are step for recourse and Kare-A-Lot staff alter the way in which they interact with certain parents.

Sincerely,


Melissa Crum

CC: The Department of Job and Family Services
CC: Action for Children, Franklin County
Action for Children Franklin County78 Jefferson Avenue
Columbus, OH 43215(614) 224-0222 or FAX (614) 224-5437