Kirchner Annette dba Annette's Little Angels - Lino Lakes MN Group family child care

I think it’s time that I shared our story about the daycare abuse my child experienced at Annette’s Little Angels in Lino Lakes. It's very long, so I apologize about that and appreciate anyone taking the time to read it. I have also made this post public.

In February of 2022, my husband (Jason) and I brought my infant daughter (Willa) to the ER because she was sick and her breathing was off. We thought she might have pneumonia, so we asked for an x-ray to be done. When the doctor came back, he asked us if Willa had been in any accidents. Confused, we said no. He then told us that she had four fractured, but healing ribs. He asked us if we knew how it happened. We had no idea.

We were then told that they suspected abuse and that we needed to wait for an ambulance to transport us to Children’s Hospital where she can be further evaluated. We were not allowed to leave with her. There was a snow storm that day, and we waited hours for that ambulance to arrive, sitting in shock, worry, anxiety, and fear.

Willa and I rode in the ambulance together to Children’s in Minneapolis. Jason drove our car and stopped at Walmart to get more formula and diapers. We had run out since we weren’t expecting to be gone for so long. Willa slept in the ambulance on the way there, and I stared at my poor baby the whole time. She’s the love of my life. My double rainbow baby. I felt so unbearably sad and guilty that I never knew something so serious was wrong. How did I miss this?

Willa and I got to Children’s and they put us in a triage room. Jason arrived a little later. We waited in that room for a couple hours, nurses coming in and out. They brought in a crib for Willa. We were trying to get her to fall asleep because it was late, but it’s not her normal routine and she was so overstimulated she couldn’t sleep. She was crying a lot, so the nurses kept opening the blinds to check on us. We felt a deep, painful sting of judgment coming from them.

After a couple hours of waiting in the triage room, they transferred us upstairs to a room where we could stay overnight. We were told that Willa would be undergoing a bone scan in the morning. Jason and I decided that I would stay there, and he would go home to take care of the dogs and return in the morning.

I turned off all the lights and rocked my baby until she fell asleep. I sat there staring at her, giving her a million kisses, and breathing her in, believing it was going to be one of the last times I got to rock her to sleep. I was sure she was going to be taken away from me for something I did not do.

I eventually laid down on the pull-out couch and stared at the ceiling, tossed and turned for hours. I was still in so much shock I couldn’t even cry. I could barely believe what was happening. My thoughts were going a million miles an hour. I didn’t sleep for even one minute that night.

Eventually, the sun came up and a nurse came in to tell me it was time to take Willa to her scan. Jason wasn’t back yet, and I asked if they could bring him to where we were going to be when he arrived. We went downstairs to the imaging room, and there was a long, hard, cold table that Willa would have to lie on. Originally, one of the technicians told me that I can’t be in there, but a nurse got her to change her mind and let me stay.

Watching Willa go through the imaging absolutely broke my heart. She was so scared and she cried the whole time. This is when the tears came for me. I couldn’t keep them in any longer and I also sobbed the whole time. Not only did my baby go through the pain of getting her ribs broken, but now she had to have all these scary and uncomfortable tests done. At only four months old, she had been through so much already.

After the scan, we went back to our room, and Dr. Hudson came up to talk to us. He is a doctor that specializes in abuse. He asked us for the timeline of when Willa had been sick, if there’s been any periods of time where she’s been fussier than usual. I told him that at the end of January she seemed fussier than usual, but I thought it was just Leap 4 and I took her to an aquarium a few times to try and tire her out. I asked how this never was caught by us or any of her doctors. He told us that infants’ bones are much more pliable than adults and that it can be hard to catch.

He then did an examination of her. While we were standing by her in the crib, he told us that her injury is consistent with abuse and that he will have to contact law enforcement and child protection. We asked if it could’ve been from birth, and he said it was very unlikely. We asked if there was any way it could’ve been an accident, and he said it was very unlikely. He told us if we have to wonder about it, that’s not it; that if you did it, you’d know. He also said the injury was consistent with being squeezed very hard. Additionally, he told us he estimated the injury to have happened about a month ago. He asked if he could do a CT of her head to make sure she wasn’t also shaken. We agreed to this and, later, she was taken to have this done. She was so scared and cried the whole time. Thankfully, the scan came back that she had not been shaken. He also told us that Willa will be fine and should not have any lasting effects from the rib fractures.

We went back up to our room, and we were told the police and social worker were here to interview us separately. They also said they needed to draw Willa’s blood. Jason volunteered to go first, so I stayed with Willa while they tried to draw her blood. The nurse wasn’t able to do it, so she had to go get another nurse. Willa ended up being poked multiple times.

Jason came back up with the social worker and then it was my turn. We went downstairs to an interview room where there were two detectives and then the social worker, who I recognized from my job. I was interviewed, which was terrifying, but thankfully I was told that Willa would be going home with us.

A safety plan was prepared for us in which Willa was not allowed to go to any daycares, and only family members were allowed to watch her in our home. I volunteered that we will put up cameras around our house. A nurse came in and discharged us, we packed up all our stuff, and went home.

At home, I called my mom. We were talking about everything, and she brought up the week of January that Willa was being fussy. I looked back, and I remembered that I had an e-mail from Willa’s daycare provider, Annette Kirchner, on Friday, January 21, 2022, stating that Willa had a good morning but then was crying hard all day; that she would cry when anyone would even talk and that she wasn’t eating well.

I had taken Willa to urgent care right after she was picked up from daycare that Friday. They examined her and gave her the diagnosis of “fussy infant.” The next morning, I brought her back because I could tell something was really wrong. She was turning red when she was crying, and she was crying hard. At the time, I wondered if she had an ear infection or a yeast infection. She did have some gunk in her diaper area when she was examined, so they sent us home with a prescription for “poop goop" and another diagnosis of "fussy infant."

Later, the detectives called and asked to have a meeting at the Blaine Police Department. Jason and I both went there and were interviewed separately once again. I brought up the daycare to them, and I also gave them the large stack of printed materials I have. They said they would look into it. They asked if they could take my phone and do a forensic investigation of it. I agreed, and so did Jason to have his phone searched. They also asked if we’d be willing to take a polygraph test, and both of us said we would, although they never did it.

We were later told by the detective that nothing suspicious was found on either of our phones. However, they had interviewed Annette, and they had found “inconsistencies” with what she told them and what they found on her phone. They then asked her to take a polygraph test. She got a lawyer and refused to do the test or cooperate in any further interviews.

Since then, the Blaine Police have not done much more. The case is still open but they aren’t actively investigating it. They never even interviewed other families whose kids went to this daycare, and they never interviewed neighbors.

Every month since this horrible trauma has happened, I’ve been checking the DHS website on the status of Annette’s daycare license. In mid-April of this year, I found something. Her license had been revoked April 5th due to the abuse of another child. The order of license revocation states:

“In determining whether a licensing action is warranted, DHS evaluated the facts, conditions, and circumstances concerning your program’s operation. This includes consideration of the well-being of children served in your program, available evaluations from consumers of your program, and information about the qualifications of caregivers working in your program. Specifically, because you physically abused a child in care, because you were found responsible for maltreatment, and because you are disqualified and ordered immediately removed from access to children served by your program. DHS has determined that revocation of your license is appropriate based on the violations identified below and the program evaluation.”

The police still are not doing anything about this, even with a second child having been abused. Because of this, I started posting on social media about this daycare. I have received multiple responses stating that Annette was physically and verbally abusive and engaged in the maltreatment and neglect of multiple children. I currently know of 3 physical abuse allegations and 2 maltreatment/neglect allegations.

I am unsure why justice for Willa, the other children, or the safety of children at daycare does not seem to be a priority to the authorities. I am sure the parents of the child who was most recently abused would be very unhappy to know there have been multiple prior complaints about Annette, and that she was allowed to keep operating.

If you are reading this post and have information or an experience with this daycare, please come forward to let me or the police know. Please do not be afraid to get involved! We need to protect children. More needs to be done.