Unlicensed daycare: Hidden camera investigation (CBC Marketplace)

this week on marketplace we take you inside daycares do you have like first aid CPR certification well I been doing this for many years they should be one of the safest places children spend time but we reveal a patchwork system anybody can provide child care and that's really wrong with no rules potential dangers and people breaking the law concerned about your kids safety in your daycare we're going undercover checking out daycares to see what goes on when parents aren't around searching for a space of our own we'll test if the place is trusted to look after kids are safe the people qualified hey hi okay we investigate twenty daycares starting at this Toronto home first impressions it doesn't look much like a daycare the TV's on three children and a cluttered kitchen and we're told there's space for more kids so it's 17 months something you'd be able to holiday yeah yeah so we asked for a tour it starts in the basement playroom pretty small area and no windows so this is where they play and check out where the kids nap now we're rearranging at it there's barely room to move that goes um fast seems like it's more for storage than sleeping babies so he'll be on the floor so he doesn't get roll-off so will the other babies well and worse no other way out in case of a fire back upstairs yeah things don't get any better with the outdoor play space all gone during the day so the kids my pelvic area it's a parking pad in a laneway there's no fencing on the yard and there's the street right there this is where children here run around ride their bikes and daycares like this are not unusual across Canada there are so few licensed daycare spots there's only room for 20 scent of kids who need looking after most children go to unlicensed or private daycare an unregulated industry where no one's checking up and sometimes those daycares make startling news 14 month-old baby dies at a home daycare a daycare operator has been charged in the sudden death of a baby boy night a Yorkton teenager is accused of sexual assault involving a local daycare so how much do parents know about who's keeping an eye on their kids we commissioned a national survey pull more than a thousand moms and dads and discover parents are often in the dark when we ask do all daycares have to meet standards or regulations seventy-five percent say yes or they don't know truth is only licensed daycares have to meet certain standards we want an expert's take on our survey and hidden camera tests so we head to one of Canada's top childcare researchers Erica hi Eric Martha friendly runs a research center for early childhood education do you think most people realize anyone can hang out a shingle in this country and run an unlicensed daycare I think most people think that there's much more government oversight than there actually is so that's the playroom no windows so what does she think of the first place we check out oh wow that's that's just like so they sleep in a room that has no windows no door to get outside that's not where children should be spending their days and I think this really illustrates why in regulations there's oversight then somebody comes and says no need have a fire door you need to have windows so this is perfectly legal yes it's perfectly legal and that's what a lot of people are doing anyone can run an unlicensed daycare in this country there's only one rule you can't look after more kids than your province allows and why bother with a license when not having one can be so lucrative what did you say your rate was I stood per week with five kids this place would bring in 4,000 a month a lot of money when you consider credentials aren't required and when it comes to her safety training just listen do you have like first aid CPR on vacation well I've been doing this for many years so first date basically yeah you know wrong about calming on one and Isles so one thing I've never had she just said in an emergency she'd call nine nine one makes us wonder how often unlicensed daycares don't have safety basics in our survey we asked parents using unlicensed care if the person looking after their child has cpr and first aid certification almost one third say there's no safety training or they don't know serious consequences if a child chokes or hurts themselves which is why in most licensed daycares safety trainings mandatory back on hidden camera our test continues in another home daycare just one out I got one coming now series ones here back on it at first there seemed to be more adults milling around than children but then we spot a toddler at the top of the stairs no baby gates in sight she tells us she's looking after three kids who get the run of the house this is like a toy room they pull everything out people crazy doesn't look much like a daycare to Martha friendly if you are caring for children that you should be focusing on caring for children not having them kind of traipsing around the house incidentally while your friends or your neighbors or whomever they were are kind of coming and going and when it comes to this day care workers credentials unapologetically she tells us she has none I'm just a mom like this because they carry she says she's just a mom who runs a home daycare she could be a fine mom but it's different to be taking care of other people's children which is why I think that then these things like training come more important it's not your own children you're actually doing it's an economic activity training and early childhood education is important because the early years are key so we survey parents about that to ask if the person looking after their kids has training or qualifications in early childhood education 58% tell us no or again they just don't know and we're about to uncover more problems we find a daycare in a Toronto neighborhood with plenty of young families I have to take care of the neighborhood Gloria de Mello runs the daycare kids are everywhere all three years old or younger but wait a second in Ontario daycares can't have more than five kids unless they're licensed no these are private but Gloria's husband Sultan Jaffa reassures us all these kids aren't the norm she's actually we just came consistent we're going for our like guys are having a little play date today he says some kids are just here for a short visit from their second daycare nearby but we're not convinced that's what's going on when we watch parents doing morning drop-off there's Gloria opening up the daycare and child number one there's two three four five wait a second six seven eight nine all told 10 children go inside we show childcare expert Martha friendly what's the concern of having more than five why is that illegal it's a situation where nobody is looking at the space to see if it's safe whether it is there are fire doors whether there's you know exits whether anybody's there allergy procedures so that's why they try to limit what's allowable in you know in terms of the number of kids something we're sure Gloria D'Mello already knows given her history investigators say they were surprised with how many kids they found inside the in-home daycare yep Gloria de Mello has been caught before with too many kids authorities shut down her home daycare after counting 26 kids inside and charged her for running an illegal daycare may not be surprising that she's back at it ten kids equals up to ten thousand dollars a month when we come back driving kids with no car seats and angry parents react I can make you shut it off we're taking you inside unlicensed daycares so far the places we've seen are substandard even illegal others we visit might look ok but we find rules broken there to here we're told the daycare is licensed but when we check it's not and here her credentials check out how many kids do you have right now Rafa eight but again we discover more kids than the law allows so how are they different from licensed daycares that have rules to follow to find out we catch up with this team from an Ottawa licensing agency they draw by licensed daycares to make sure standards are in place Wow we've got four kids there's a list of requirements to meet like weekly schedules proof of credentials a safe environment all the rooms get the once-over all stairs need baby games making sure children are safe if a daycare is unlicensed the only rule to break is about the numbers through access to information we discover an Ontario alone there been 757 complaints in the last three years all about daycares with too many kids that was the case in an Ottawa suburb where we had to meet a family dealing with the fallout hi Melanie hi Erica nice to meet you as soon as Melanie and Olano dad found out they were expecting their first child they got on Ottawa's 10,000 long waitlist for licensed daycare they waited 19 months heard nothing so they put their son Jeremy in an unlicensed home daycare so you really did your due diligence looking for a place I think we really really did I would show up with my list of questions and I had at least 30 questions on my list and sat down and asked all my questions asked all the right questions but before long things started to slip we'd asked her what you have planned for the day and we wouldn't get an answer sometimes we didn't even know he was going out for a playdate like two the day of July 20th that's the day Jeremy's daycare brings him on an outing without permission they head to the backyard of this home daycare where there are 30 other kids that's illegal no one notices when Jeremy falls into the pool and drowned a leg gets the call at work I received a voicemail from her and I called back and basically that's when I learned he had jumped in a big pool and then he called me at work and the shock of my life yeah he told me that Jeremy had jumped in the pool at Wendy's and I didn't even know what to think dying we didn't even know he was going there which is why Alana and Melanie Odette pushed for an inquest after Jeremy's death they want all daycares to be licensed meet safety standards jurors at the inquest agreed three months ago they called on the Ontario government to create more licensed daycare it's very important for us as now we do have other children and we want to make sure that we do the right steps to make sure that they're safe but will government listen we discovered Jeremy's is the fourth Ontario inquest calling for more oversight frustrating for child care researcher Martha friendly it's about time that we had enough quality licensed child care so that families wouldn't be in this kind of situation the federal government and the provincial governments really need to get together to make that happen we asked for an interview with Ontario's minister in charge of child care so someone could please call us back to find out why so many parents still have no choice but to use unlicensed care instead we get a statement saying the government is working to improve and modernize the childcare sector in Ontario and have helped to create 90,000 childcare spaces since 2003 but clearly not enough after our call the province does tell us it's now investigating the two daycares Gloria de Melo and her husband salt and Java run and there's more when we dig into their background we learn salt and Java is charged in connection with a criminal ring allegedly bilking a bank out of two million dollars he's due in court this spring his charges are not connected to kids but don't you want to know who's looking after yours in our survey when we ask parents if the person looking after their kids has a police background check 66% of them say no or they don't know in licensed daycare everyone is screened and when we watch salton we noticed something strange on several days he walks kids from their second daycare to a van parked nearby he loads them in including an infant and has gone for about 10 minutes before arriving at their other daycare and when our cameraman checks to see if the children have been transported safely incredibly there's no sign of car seats not here no we're not only illegal yes when we come back we go looking for answers what about transporting kids without car seats and so do some parents I'm very angry about what you guys are doing we've been taking you inside unlicensed daycares including this one owned by Gloria de Mello it's illegal and her husband is moving kids from his daycare to hers in a van with no car seats a crash with no protection on this snowy day any parent's worst nightmare we want to know why they're putting kids at risk we ask Gloria de Mello for an interview but don't hear back so we catch up with her heading into the daycare hi Gloria Erica Johnson from marketplace just answer a couple questions we're concerned about your kids safety in your daycare Cory you know that's illegal to have ten kids in your daycare parents are trusting you with the safety of your kids why are you running an illegal daycare what about transporting kids without car seats toddlers and infants Gloria how safe is that for the kids you know that's illegal and it's dangerous Gloria may not be talking but the conversations not over back at our van we were approached by a parent from Gloria's daycare very angry right what you guys are doing he knows about our investigation and doesn't like it she is running something and putting the safety of kids in danger that's why there are rules in Ontario that you can't have more than five in a daycare unless you're licensed because I understand that okay I understand that but I do not believe what she does is wrong sure kid the kids will visit back and forth between the daycares you know some of the kids that get brought over from the other daycare they're being brought over without car seats not in it not in the car ever in a car we've seen them put the kids do you actually have that one on video with kids being put in a without a car see yes we do I'd like to see it we offer to show our footage to the parents of kids involved those who see it are angry but none want to go on camera instead parents at the daycare send us a statement saying they agree that poor judgment was used but that Sultan and Gloria love our children and we support and trust them with their care maybe so but until government's step up parents across the country still have no choice but to leave their kids in places with no oversight no safety checks just questions about who's watching the kids for questions you should ask your daycare check out the tip sheet on our website

Channel: CBC News

Views: 1,520,535

Keywords: CBC News, CBCNews, CBC broadcasting media, public broadcasting news, Canadian News, Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (TV network), CBC News Network, daycare, unlicensed daycare, kids, children, child welfare

Id: mpiRE4ZAp2U

Length: 18min 53sec (1133 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 25 2015