Day Care In Everett Shut Down By State -- Health, Safety Flaws Are Cited In Closure Of Little Hands

Kimberly Redden got a nasty shock when she went to pick up her two daughters from Everett's Little Hands day-care center this week. A judge had ordered the place shut down, leaving Redden and dozens of other parents scrambling to find new day care with no notice.

"None whatsoever," said Redden. "I found out Tuesday evening at

5:30 when I went to pick them up. I'm very upset."

Little Hands was shut down by a court order after years of complaints by state inspectors, who have accused the center of poor care and sought to revoke its license since 1994, according to Larry Levine, regional manager for the Office of Child Care Policy, which licenses and inspects day-care facilities for the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

For now, Redden said, she's out the $729 she paid for February. The check already had been deposited by Little Hands' owner, Lemae Mitchell, even though she declared bankruptcy last month.

DSHS has been trying to shut Mitchell's day-care center for years, pointing to a host of complaints from parents, who have said their children were left unsupervised or in unsanitary conditions and, in some cases, came home with bruises or bites.

"It was just a case of citing her for many violations - her inability to meet licensing requirements and to provide a facility that met the health and safety requirements of children," Levine said.

One parent said she arrived at the facility one day to find an infant "choking on its own vomit" while a staff member rinsed out a cloth but didn't attend to the baby, according to court documents filed in support of the state's license-revocation efforts.

Mitchell said yesterday that she's been fighting the state in court for years and didn't expect the abrupt shutdown this week. She said the bankruptcy filing was intended to keep attorneys who had represented her from seizing state payments that she needed to pay the day-care center's rent and salaries of her 18 workers.

"I care about those parents," Mitchell said. "They are going to get their money back. I didn't take their money knowing I was going to be closed."

Mitchell said her attorneys recently withdrew from her case, leaving her with no way to stop Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Anita Farris from granting an injunction to the state Monday, allowing the day-care center to be abruptly shut until an appeals court could sort out whether her license should be permanently revoked.

Other accusations contained in court papers included a child's diapers not being changed all day, staff members leaving toddlers unattended while another toddler urinated on the kitchen floor, and a child whose wrists were bruised when a day-care worker picked him up to put him in a "time out."

Mitchell said her center was not a dangerous place to leave children.

"People can come visit any time," she said. "The community can see what's going on. There are windows on the front and back. Why would you bring your children there if I am so horrible?"

Mitchell blames the closure on a vendetta by DSHS administrators who she says tangled with her mother when she used to run a day-care business.

Redden's daughters, 5-year-old Ariel and 3-year-old Ajetta, loved the day-care center and are sad they can't go back, their mother said. The children are spending days with a relative for now, and they'll start attending a new day-care center next week.

Redden said she was surprised to hear of the accusations about Little Hands, though one of her children came home once sporting a bite mark from a playmate. "And I had noticed staff shortages," she added.

Mitchell said she wants to get Little Hands running again, but her finances have been exhausted by attorney fees. "I have an overdrawn account. I have no groceries. I have nothing," she said.

Jim Brunner's phone message number is 425-745-7808. His e-mail address is jbrunner@seattletimes.com