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If that childcare was the WORST experience of my life I wouldn't wait until the end of the week to pull my child. Funny how people are.
I was an infant and young toddler at Cranberry Christian Child Care. My father, since deceased, was the operator while my mother did pediatric heart valve transplants from over 600 sudden death infants. Julie Fabian who has been working for Lifesteps for over 18 yrs was their first director. I was the first child to be asked to leave this Center, and my parents owned the place!! Why, because I was a very fussy one on one kind of baby, I'm told, and I needed one on one care. My parents accepted that fact and found me a baby sitter while they owned and operated a childcare facility. No drama, no blaming, no bashing.
This has been the absolute WORST experience I have ever had. It it really difficult to leave your child as a new parent and this daycare made that transition even worse. I would not recommend this child care center to my worst enemy.
We were forced to find a new daycare when our first daycare closed. We needed to find a place that was reasonably priced and Cranberry Christian Child Care seemed to be the only option in the Cranberry area. We toured the facility and liked what we heard/saw so thought it would be a good fit for us. The owner is a very forward woman and I appreciated her openness and honesty when we toured.
The relationship we had with CCCC was a little rocky to start. I picked my son up the first week and he had a pacifier in his mouth that was not his. My husband told the staff that we were not okay with him using a pacifier that wasn't his and he was told that the center has pacifiers that they clean regularly and use for all the kids. My husband asked that he only be given the pacifiers we bring in but when I picked him up on a subsequent day, he had a center pacifier in his mouth. He came home in other kid's clothes when he had an accident. I once picked him up and he was in a little girl's sleeper. I asked why and was told that he didn't have any extra clothes on hand although I am certain that I brought in extra clothes. I assume they went home on another child but I didn't want to seem like a crazy new mom and just went with the flow because the owner would constantly call me paranoid and say that I was an overprotective first time mother.
As the weeks went on I began to get more comfortable with the center and grew to really like the two women taking care of my son all day. There were still some things that bothered me such as the diaper cream I brought it was used on other kids, and my son was fed baby food that I did not bring in but, all in all, nothing that would make me look elsewhere for child care.
After a few months one of the girls in my son's room went out on maternity leave and the owner decided to make some other changes regarding staffing at that time. She pulled the other woman from the room and replaced both of them with two new, young girls. She sent a letter to all the parents with mini bios of the new girls to introduce them. The transition was rough, to say the least. My son was absolutely filthy for the first week that I brought him home, he was given food that I was not asked to approve and he had scratches on his body. The lady who used to work with him actually told me that she would be "embarassed to send a child home looking like that". I thought that a week was enough time to get settled and sent the owner an email about my concerns. She called me the same day I sent the email and had excuses for everything. I was told that the girls were new and weren't aware that babies needed their necks wiped after a bottle and that while they look young they are more than capable of taking care of children and that neither of them have long nails and that my son was probably scratched by another child. She did say that she appreciated my reaching out with my concerns and, for the most part, they were addressed. She said that I needed to stop worrying so much and that I needed to stop being so paranoid.
About 3 weeks later, while I was at work, I received a phone call from the owner who asked me if I had any concerns about how old one of the new girls was. When I told her no and asked her why she was calling to ask, she said that someone reported her to the state and she was calling to find out who it was. I assured her that it was not me who called and felt very uneasy after the conversation. About an hour later, my husband called to let me know that the owner had also called him asking if he had called the state. She told my husband that she was going to "get to the bottom of it" because whoever called "needed to go". At this point I was very concerned that she thought it was me. When I picked up my son that evening one of the new girls lied to me about having a daughter and so I was convinced they thought it was me and the staff member was trying to make it seem as though she was capable of taking care of an infant. At that point my husband and I started to look into alternative child care facilities since I did not trust that my son was being cared for properly.
We were lucky enough to find one that we liked and eventually scheduled a start date for the upcoming Monday. We reviewed the handbook from CCCC and it did not have a termination policy so when my husband dropped off our son on Wednesday, he told the staff that Friday would be our last day. At around 8:30 am I received a phone call from a blocked number but did not answer. It turns out that the owner was trying to call me. She called my husband when I didn't answer and told my husband that we needed to come and pick up our child and that they would not be watching him for the rest of the day or week.
When I arrived to pick up my son, most of his things were in plastic bags and my son was screaming. The girl who lied to me handed him to me and said "he's probably hungry". I went through his bags and asked if I could have his pacifiers and the owner told me that they had been thrown away. She then proceeded to tell me that she "doesn't need this s***" and when I told her that I just thought we didn't see eye to eye she said, "that's because my eyes are open".
All in all, this has been a horrible experience and I want all of the mothers out there, especially first time mothers, to know what to expect at this child care center. First time mothers are stereotyped as paranoid, overprotective, crazy parents and you are constantly reminded of that every time you see the owner. Although the owner claims to be Christian, she makes for a horrible role model for the kids, swearing in front of them and just being a grown up "bully". She makes parents feel afraid to complain about issues regarding their children and would rather get rid of a parent than address the parents concern.
I only hope that perspective clients will read this review and give it some thought when choosing a child care center. I wish someone would have written a review like this before I decided to trust them to take care of my son.
After the closure of my previous daycare that we absolutely loved, I enrolled my two boys into Cranberry Christian Child Care in Jan 13. I can’t say it would’ve been my #1 choice but was given my options in the area due to pricing. Since then I have had several concerns with the care of my now 9 mo old. On numerous occasions his shirt would be drenched from drooling all day and inadequate bib changes. I stopped sending him in nice clothes because he’d come home filthy from food and stained clothes. He often would build up a diaper rash throughout the week and I'd battle it on the weekends and see it improve only to come back again on Monday. (Even the doctor wanted to write them a note at his last checkup because it was so bad.) I was told sometime in February that my baby had been crying nonstop all day. I went to get him, took him to the doctor to find nothing wrong and he was fine at home. The next day I called to check on him and he was fussing for them. We thought maybe it was teething. In March I was told he turned a corner and was much better. While we never had a great feeling of the place, we weren’t sure moving the boys was the best thing since our 3 yr old was adjusting well despite the education program they have was far inferior to the old daycare. My 3 yr old would often say how he missed his last daycare and that we should get a new daycare, but I couldn’t get any concrete reason from him. The owner recently received a visit from the state and called me and other parents to ask if I called the state and said she was calling all parents to "get to the bottom of it." The call was borderline harassment. On a Tuesday the owner called me at work and said she wanted to talk to me when I got there. I was informed that my 9 mo old screams all day long for hours. (First I heard of this since the incident a couple months prior.) She said they're not doing him any good and I should find a new daycare and make Friday our last day. The next day around 9 am I got a call from her saying that she gave me until Friday as a courtesy but they're done with us and want me to come get them now. I asked if the baby was crying and she said "No, we're just done." I asked her to gather their things and she said she already did. When I arrived the boys' belongings were in bags (not everything, just what they cared to gather). I knew my friend had given her notice that morning to pull her son out so I said to her that I don't know what them pulling their son out has to do with me. She told me I needed to leave and that WE cause too much drama. I've complained to her about issues I had with the care of my son and feel that is my job as a parent. This is supposed to be a Christian center, and none of her actions reflect that let alone a proper business owner. To top off, the paper for him that they are to fill out for the day was blank. It had been 4 hours at that point since I fed and changed him at home. This leaves me to wonder if they just fill in diaper changes and feedings throughout the day instead of when it actually happened. I wish I had listened to my instinct and 3yr old and gotten a new daycare long ago.