Colorado Police found 26 toddlers hidden behind a false wall located in an at-home daycare.
On Thursday, November 14, Colorado Police went to a daycare called Play Mountain Place to do a welfare check after the daycare had received a complaint saying that they were exceeding the number of children they were allowed to watch. The daycare is only licensed to watch 6 children at a time. When the police arrived they said that the owner, Carla Faith, was not cooperative. Play Mountain Place is run out of her home and she did not want to help the police out with their investigation. Police could hear children coming from below them.
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The police entered the home and followed the noise of the children. They walked downstairs into a finished basement where they pulled back a false wall where they found 26 toddlers huddled together. All of the children, who were all 3 and younger, were all safely returned to their parents. The daycare has obviously been shut down until the investigation has been finished. The police also shut down another daycare run by Faith called Counterpoint School.
All of the parents are understandably very upset by the entire situation. “I was on a year-long waiting list to get into that place,” Jeanette Conde told the Gazette. “Everybody loved it. We loved it. But apparently it was just too many kids." Conde's 2-year-old son and 3 1/2-year-old daughter attended both Play Mountain Place and Centerpoint School. She had no idea that the school was not in compliance and her children have never shown any signs that there was something wrong with the daycare. “I’m completely betrayed," Conde shared, noting that she chose the center when she decided to go back to culinary school, and now she may have to hit pause on her degree. "Every parent that we talk to, we all feel it is so hard to trust your children with people and we felt like we could really trust them,” she continued.
The police have not found anything to show that the children were abused or neglected. They have yet to find anything to prove that the children were mistreated or at risk. None of the parents have said that they thought anything bad was happening. The newspaper also spoke with Betsy Murphy, a mother whose 2-year-old son has attended Play Mountain Place for some time. Murphy admitted to being blindsided by the news, but described Faith as "personable and caring," and that as far as she could tell, the daycare facility was always run with professionalism. “It never seemed chaotic,” Murphy noted. “I’ve been to a hundred daycares, and they are gross. This one wasn’t. It was calm, clean, and wonderful.” One mother shared that her son once shared something that she was a little bit worried, but she didn't understand what he was talking about. "Don’t take me to the little house," he told her. "Don’t take me downstairs.”
"I want to know if there is something going on that my child was exposed to. I think that’s a basic question: ‘Why did you get your license taken away and why are you being investigated?” Rob Francis, a Centerpoint parent, told the Gazette. All of the parents are now really worried and they really don't want to leave their children with anybody. Murphey said “The thought of leaving him again is terrifying because I thought this was a great place. There’s a huge problem here. This is a person I love, I trusted with my son.” Faith has not been arrested and has not been charged with anything as of yet. However, she might be charged if they found enough evidence.
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