How well do you know your daycare? Are your kids really safe when you drop them off? Action News dug deeper into the files of some local daycare centers to find out what dangers might be lurking.

"It was something that never should have happened," said Mary Gamboa, Director of Learning Land Express in Sunnyside. She's been in the childcare business for 28 years, but not without making a few mistakes.

Nine years ago, Mary left a child in the center van after coming back from a field trip. The kid was okay, but the state said Mary couldn't drive the center's children for some time. Mary's case was just one of the records I pulled from the Department of Early Learning. I tracked hundreds of complaints in Yakima County. And investigated all the findings, valid, invalid and inconclusive, that were lodged against registered daycares since they've been licensed. I found the most complaints doesn't always equal the most problems since many can check out to be nothing.

But for one place, it's become very serious. Alvarez ChildCare Center in Sunnyside. They've been licensed just 5 years and have more than two dozen complaints. The Alvarez ChildCare Center was put on probation last November. The owner won't go on camera to explain why.
But this paperwork from the state shows it's because of the number of complaints they've received, and that they have not been able to meet state compliance. That's just one of a dozen allegations against this center.

In fact, less than a week after they were put on probation this complaint came in: it states that one of their workers had broken a little girl's hand and was fired. The investigation reveals the employee admitted to lifting the child wrong by the arms. Her hand wasn't broken, but her elbow was dislocated.

After I persisted, center manager Maggie Alvarez finally agreed to give me five minutes on the phone at her attorney's office. She says in that case, the child fell and the "teacher ran over to quickly pick her up." She also said the parents felt it was "no big deal" and kept their child in her care. If it was no big deal, I wanted to know why the worker was fired. Alvarez said "Because she didn't follow the rules."

But I wanted to know more, so I asked her about this allegation: A center employee and family member had been in jail for stabbing another man. He allegedly also provided childcare overnight. The state deemed that complaint 'valid' and the provider suspended the "family member" and said he would not be rehired. Maggie told me it never happened. And when I told her I had the paperwork in front of me and read her the case number, she still insisted it was a lie.

When I tried to move on to the next allegation, she told me my five minutes were up. I tried to ask about the center's check-in policy after hearing a story that a dad dropped his kids off at her place on accident and no one noticed. But again, she said my time was up. In this case the state again found the allegations to be valid and told Alvarez to correct her registration procedures.

The Department of Early Learning tells me they have extended The Alvarez ChildCare Center's probation for another 6 months, because they still are not in compliance with the state. And if things don't change, they could possibly lose their license.

Problems with the state appear to be a thing of the past for the Learning Land Express in Sunnyside. They've been licensed for more than 15 years. And despite having about 30 complaints lodged over the years, the last one that turned out to be valid was back in 2006.
Mary says, "I have more help in the office and we try to report everything that happens."

Busy Bear Daycare in Selah rounds out the top 3 in Yakima County for the most complaints against a provider, valid, invalid or inconclusive. The center has been licensed for more than 17 years, and in that time, lodged a couple dozen complaints. " I've never counted. It's just something you take care of. You don't really keep track, but there's complaints, yes," says owner Sue Bernier.

And while they do have a lot, they date clear back to 1995 and most of the complaints were about the center being understaffed. Now there are two busy bear daycare centers, separating the infants and toddlers from the older kids. Bernier says, " Now that we're separated we don't have those issues, we're pretty much over staffed at this center."

Comforting news for busy bear parents. But what about your daycare? The complaints are out there and just like the Alvarez child care center, they could be more serious than you think. I did a lot of research on the daycares in our area, but that doesn't mean it will take a lot of work for you to check out yours. In part two of my special report, I'll tell you how you can find the complaints against your childcare provider.