What Is Wrong With People?

[nannyde]

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-fort-collins-daycare-operator-charged-with-child-abuse-20110512,0,5135642.story

Fort Collins Police say 35-year-old Jennifer Fisher is facing misdemeanor charges of child abuse for allegedly leaving eight children under her care alone in her home to go pick up her own children.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/27868516/detail.html

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins child care owner accused of leaving eight children -- ages 11 months to four years -- home alone has been charged with eight counts of misdemeanor child abuse, police said Thursday.

Jennifer Fisher, 35, who ran the day care from her home at 5306 White Willow Drive, is accused of leaving the eight children unsupervised for 1½ hours while she picked up her own children and ran an errand, said Rita Davis, spokeswoman for the Fort Collins Police Department.

The investigation began after the Colorado Department of Human Services received an anonymous tip that Fisher was leaving children in her care alone when she left to pick up her own children, Davis said

[Qpmomma]

And you wonder why parents are paranoid with DCP?

[nannyde]

And you wonder why parents are paranoid with DCP?

I hear that.

I can't believe she left when she knew the DHS had caught her right then and there. What kind of magical thinking did she have going on to think that they weren't going to follow up to see if kids were there?

What's weird about it is that they accepted that she was off of work but didn't require her to show them that there weren't any kids in the house. My State requires that you allow them in whether or not you are working that day. The inspectors are allowed to check the house for kids.

I think they waited outside on her street until they saw her not only out of the house but off of her property with the car. Then they stopped and confronted her when the knew they had her driving away. If they would have confronted her in the driveway before she pulled out then she could have stated she was just running out to the car.

The deal of them just sitting there for at least one and a half hours means they left with her still not being back at the house. They had a good suspicion there were kids in there but why did they not push it further and see if the kids were actually in there? I don't get that part.

She's got some spainin to do. Hopefully there was an adult in there. Maybe she had an unregistered person in there with them and she didn't want to get in trouble for having someone in there that wasn't approved. That would be way less of a crime than leaving eight babies by themselves. The oldest was only four.

That's the best case scenario I can think for her. She's going to have the charges for the kids and they could charge her for lying to a DHS worker too.

I can't imagine what kind of crazy would lead someone to leave eight kids in the house by themselves. The Jessica Tata thing was really recent. Every provider I know knows about that fire. It's not like there hasn't been a recent horrible tragedy to tweek away at your conscience to keep you from ever taking that chance.

This is also an issue of being over capacity. If she was within her capacity and she had a proper vehichle she could have taken the kids with her to go get her kid. What she couldn't do is do it easily and run errands to boot.

For her to be gone that long she had to have had many many times of doing this where she was successful. This is one of those things where you would start by doing a quick dash somewhere and then increased the time you were gone bit by bit over time until it became a "no big deal" cuz nothings happened behavior.

I've had two clients in my 17 years who came from day cares where they caught their provider leaving their kid alone in the house. Both cases they were friends with the provider and never turned them in for it. I got a lot of show ups at unscheduled times with them.

[JenNJ]

What is wrong with people? I am paranoid about walking the 6 feet out my front door at naptime to grab the mail!

[Cat Herder]

How is it she was not arrested???

I would be under the jail by now.

[Cat Herder]

Sorry for a second post, but...

I am also curious as to why the CCR&R worker did not press to see inside or have a list of her clients. Mine has all my clients numbers and times of service.

I also have to call and notify her when I close. Why did this provider not seem to have any oversight?? She was "licensed". :confused::confused:

[Lilbutterflie]

She's only charged with a MISDEMEANOR??? It's not even a felony? Unless maybe they are getting their ducks in a row for some felony charges.

[nannyde]

She's only charged with a MISDEMEANOR??? It's not even a felony? Unless maybe they are getting their ducks in a row for some felony charges.

ducks in a row may mean proving that there wasn't another adult in the house.

[KEG123]

Wtf.... are people that stupid?? I mean, it's stupid to do that in the first place, but did she NOT hear of that Tata chick and the fire??? Wow..

[Cat Herder]

ducks in a row may mean proving that there wasn't another adult in the house.

True, but I have a hard time believing this would have made the news had there been another adult in the home, YKWIM??

A simple "Over Ratio Citation" does not even warrant questioning from parents anymore since it can happen accidentally when one parent picks up late and another drops off too early.

I really feel that the school probably noticed she was picking up solo and the kid had mentioned that Mom had all the other kids at home.... Kids talk.

If not the school my money is on the neighbors...

[nannyde]

True, but I have a hard time believing this would have made the news had there been another adult in the home, YKWIM??

A simple "Over Ratio Citation" does not even warrant questioning from parents anymore since it can happen accidentally when one parent picks up late and another drops off too early.

I really feel that the school probably noticed she was picking up solo and the kid had mentioned that Mom had all the other kids at home.... Kids talk.

If not the school my money is on the neighbors...

My money is on a neighborhood day care provider.

[Cat Herder]

My money is on a neighborhood day care provider.

True. I did not even think of that!!

I know I would have confronted her myself since that kind of BS gives us all a black eye. I would have been LIVID.

I cannot come up with any scenario in my mind where leaving babies unattended is the best answer. Maybe with a gun to my head to prevent them from being injured. You???

[nannyde]

True. I did not even think of that!!

I know I would have confronted her myself since that kind of BS gives us all a black eye. I would have been LIVID.

I cannot come up with any scenario in my mind where leaving babies unattended is the best answer. Maybe with a gun to my head to prevent them from being injured. You???

High probability of not getting caught.
Easier to not have them then have them.
Magical thinking that nothing will ever happen to HER while she is out that will prevent her from being able to return on time to be undetected.

[sharlan]

Didn't this stupid woman read the paper or see the news where the children died in a fire in TX when left alone?

Why did the inspector take 1 1/2 hrs before checking the house? IMHO, she should have checked the house immediately. Had one of the children been injured, it would have been on her head.

I bet a neighbor called it in. I sure would have.

[nannyde]

Didn't this stupid woman read the paper or see the news where the children died in a fire in TX when left alone?

Why did the inspector take 1 1/2 hrs before checking the house? IMHO, she should have checked the house immediately. Had one of the children been injured, it would have been on her head.

I bet a neighbor called it in. I sure would have.

The inspector caught her leaving the house. The lady said she was off that day. She didn't have proof the kids were in there I guess.

I guess the DHS worker hung out for an hour and a half and then left. The lady didn't return in that time.

Very weird though. You would think the DHS worker would have just stayed or confronted the lady when she had her outside.