For in depth information please follow our blog at: http://darksideofchildcare.blogspot.com.

Please help us end the abuse of power by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services(DFPS) Childcare Licensing Division. My family has been forced to endure some of the most horrific abuse of power as can be imagined. My hearing against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is finally going to be held on June 10, 2015 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Please help us by signing the petition.

In addition to the information that we have provided in this petition we have created a blog that describes in detail the egregious abuses committed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Please sign my petition and visit our blog. You will be shocked and disturbed at the information it contains. What began as a battle to save my daycare and to remove me from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Central Registry has turned into a statewide battle against an Agency that endangers the lives of children.  Please visit our blog for more information http://darksideofchildcare.blogspot.com/

The reason for my petition:

The rule to being placed on the Central Registry is this: a person would have needed to abuse a child or have committed a neglectful act in caring for a child that would have put a child at risk of injury. I was not at my daycare when an incident  occurred but I did have a person in charge of the daycare in my absence. Being put on the Central Registry prevents a person from being able to work or be present in child-care related occupations.

On November 7, 2013, while I was running errands for the daycare, a staff member ignored my order of not combining her pre-k group with the toddlers in the wash room, as it would create a chaotic situation. To make things worse, she left her pre-k group with a caregiver that was busy changing one of her toddlers on the diaper changing table. This  prevented the toddler teacher from being able to properly supervise the children. The Pre-k teacher left the door of the washroom open as she left to another room leaving her children unsupervised. An action completely against the training and instruction provided to her. Amidst the chaos and while the prek teacher was in the other room, one of the toddlers ran out of the now opened door and ran out of the building. I thank God for the child not getting hurt. We called the child's parents and Childcare Licensing immediately.

Ms. Monica Martinez, DFPS investigator, came immediately to investigate the incident. One of the things that she checked was if the staff had been properly trained. She stated to myself and my husband that the staff informed her that the week-long training that they received was extensive, and included grueling tests that they had to pass in order to work at the daycare. She was impressed.  She would later alter and falsify her writeups of the incident to give the appearance that the staff were not trained despite the training being well documented. Our training greatly exceeds the training requirements of the State of Texas Minimum Standards by which we operate.

Regarding the incident, according to both Ms. Martinez and the pre-k teacher, the pre-k teacher admitted that she had been ordered by myself not to combine the children in the restroom or the adjoining room but failed to follow the order.

On the day in which Ms. Martinez came to investigate the incident, which was also on the day that it occurred. She provided me with a safety plan in which neither the pre-k teacher nor the toddler teacher were allowed to work alone with the children (or directly with each other). She stated that one or both of the employees would probably be put onto the DFPS Central Registry. It was obvious that I personally was not at fault yet it is I that am being placed on the Central Registry while the two caregivers that were involved in the incident received no punishment whatsoever they are by the way no longer employed at the daycare. A red flag regarding Childcare licensings intentions came  on 12/6/2013 when Ms. Martinez called and asked for us to send her a copy of my husbands first aid/cpr and proof of our transportation training. Things that were completely unrelated to the investigation.

There is a history of DFPS Childcare licensing (specifically the offices of Adrienne Driggers, the District Director for regions 8, 10, and 11 which encompass San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley) doing illegal and unethical things to try and prevent my husband and I from operating a children's daycare. Below is a list of some of the tactics that they used when we operated in San Antonio:

Elizabeth Venecia, childcare licensing representative, on 5 occasions (all within a few days of each other) failed to provide me with writeups within the mandatory 10 day period. As a result, I was unable to make any corrections. Because Ms. Venecia came just days apart between her visits I probably wouldn't have had time to make any corrections even if she had provided me with the writeups as she did not provide the time necessary to make corrections.  Those write-ups made up approximately 75% of my total. The majority of the approximately 25% I received before I opened. They closed my daycare as a result of the repeat write-ups. No child ever needed medical attention or was ever in any danger.

Jessica Nombrana, childcare licensing investigator, ordering a staff member to leave a child unattended at a diaper changing table, so that the caregiver could wipe another child's nose.

Elizabeth Venecia ordering the staff to lock the doors to the daycare rooms only for Jessica Nombrana to come a few days later to write up the daycare for having the doors locked. This is also when Ms. Nombrana ordered the staff member to leave a child unattended at the diaper changing table. Fortunately, our staff had been trained to never leave a child unattended on a diaper changing table.

Adrienne Driggers, District Director, withheld information that would have allowed me to fight the closing of my daycare.

Adrienne Driggers, withheld a letter that she wrote herself stating that I could not be a license holder for a period of 2 years stating instead that the period was for 5 years. We have the email proving this. We were forced to move to Oklahoma as a result of her deceit.

When my husband, Hilario Gonzales, opened his own daycare they continued with their unethical and illegal tactics including:

Veronica Lopez, Childcare licensing investigator, stealing my timesheets in an attempt to prevent Hilario from proving that I was rarely at the daycare. DFPS was not allowing me to work at the daycare despite not being on the Central Registry.

Geneva Hudel,Childcare licensing investigator, ripping a baseboard off the wall then writing up the daycare for having a loose baseboard.

Geneva Hudel, falsifying writeups that Hilario was telling parents how to respond to her questions in an investigation brought about by a disgruntled employee. The parents statements corroborated what Hilario was telling her. She refused to accept this.

Adrienne Driggers, District Director, closed my husbands daycare:

Stating that "even my appearing to be more knowledgeable than the rest of the staff constituted a major violation of the conditions set on his license." I have this on email! Consider that I began working with children in 1992 making my years of experience almost equal to the age of some of the employees. Not to mention the fact that my age alone gave me the appearance of being more knowledgeable.

Geneva Hudel used my speaking with a parent regarding items for sale at an HEB Plus as justification for saying that I was the person running the daycare. This single event was what was ultimately used to close Hilario's daycare. I have the parents statement of her conversation with Ms. Hudel to prove this.

Adrienne Driggers closed Hilario's daycare despite there not being a single incident that warranted the closing.

Hilario's daycare was closed despite there being approximately 200 daycare centers in the San Antonio district alone that had more writeups than my husband's daycare. Strangely enough, only two of out of the 200 license holders that had more writeups than Hilario, had Spanish surnames. Those two individuals operated governmental Head Start Programs. Hilario had 44 writeups, 15-17 when you remove those that were falsified.

Perhaps not surprising is that Ms. Driggers closed Hilario's daycare mere weeks before my two years of being unable to be a license holder expired. Of course, I didn't know that as Adrienne Driggers withheld that information from me (I have the email to prove that she stated 5 years).

The Department of Family and Protective Services Attorney, Patricia Fernandez, overrode Adrienne Driggers and allowed Hilario to be able to operate as a Director, but Ms. Driggers had already closed the daycare. Ms. Driggers attempted to prevent this from happening when we returned to Corpus Christi but was forced to comply by Ms. Fernandez.

Childcare Licensing's actions in San Antonio led to the molestation of two children that had been in our care but were forced to be taken care of by a family friend as a result of the closings. That family friend had a teenage son that took the innocence of these children. Childcare Licensing's actions also resulted in the death of our unborn child through a miscarriage when I was 2 1/2 months pregnant (They put me through an incredible amount of stress and I had no choice but to carry heavy equipment in clearing out the daycare). As a result of nearly becoming homeless we had to move to Oklahoma to survive as we were having difficulty finding employment in Texas.

By placing me on the Central Registry, Adrienne Driggers would be able to close my daycare despite it having only 13 total writeups in a one and a half year period, while having a target on my back.

Update: Adrienne Driggers ordered the closing of my daycare on 1/2/14. She apparently ignored my requests to challenge the writeups against me including my being placed on the Central Registry through the DFPS administrative review process. Her superiors: Paul Morris and Julie Richards were made aware that Adrienne Driggers ignored my right to due process by ignoring my requests. The writeups in which I was not allowed to challenge plus the former staff member's actions in ignoring her well documented training(particularly supervision) were what was used to keep me on the Central Registry and to close my daycare. We recently discovered that TWO children ran out of the building at another daycare in Corpus Christi. That daycare was placed on a six month probation of which has been completed. Now that the State of Texas has essentially executed me they are  trying to prove that I was guilty. I had an informal hearing with a lady named Kimberly Evans-Handy to try and remove me from the Central Registry. In my conversation with her to schedule the informal hearing she indicated that she had already made up her mind. I attempted to get it scheduled with somebody else through her superior, Julie Richards, but she refused to allow it. The most striking thing that Ms. Evans-Handy said to me in the informal hearing, in the presence of my husband and my attorney, was that she did not care to receive documentation from me that would prove that I should not be placed on the Central Registry. She stated that I could send it but that she was not going to look at it. I sent it to her anyway but she ignored it as was expected. Despite providing her with the rules that governed being placed on the Central Registry for abuse and neglect and how they did not apply to me Ms. Evans-Handy upheld the decision to place me on the Central Registry. The administrative review, the informal hearing, was a complete sham. Justice has not prevailed but with the grace of God and the help of a lot of people  I will prevail in this nightmare. The parents at the daycare stand united with me and the daycare and against Adrienne Driggers by  refusing to enroll their children anywhere else. The children cry to their parents for their return to the daycare. Please help our families by signing the petition, sharing it with everybody you know, and call your elected state officials because if you have children that go to daycare, this affects you and them. Working with children is all that I have ever wanted to do. Please help me.   Thank you.