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Little Smiles Daycare
1718 44th Street, Kentwood MI 49508 · License #DC410343249 · Center
Contact
- Phone
- (616) 827-6453
- Website
- Add via profile claim
- Address
- 1718 44th Street, Kentwood MI 49508 · Directions
Hours
Care & schedule
When they operate
Ages served
- Licensed for 60 children
How this facility compares
Violations per inspection, 3-yrInspection history & violations
Source: Michigan MiLEAP, Child Care Licensing Bureau- Violation
R 400.8271(13) · R 400.8271(13) Child development program plan (13) Parents may visit the center during hours of o peration for the purpose of observing their children.
Center staff ensured they had the proper paperwork and followed court orders appropriately.
- Violation
Based on interviews with staff and parents, CCSM 4 did not hit or spank any child while at the center, including her own.
- Violation
Based on interviews with staff and parents, staff do not threaten the children. ............... ... ........ .............................
- Violation
On 10/06/2022, 1 spoke with complainant who reported that there is no lead caregiver in the Preschool B classroom right now. On 10/10/2022, I completed an unannounced on-site inspection and interviewed center director/licensee designee Erin Farias who denied the allegations. Ms. Farias believes the complaint came as a result of a former CCSM who quit this week and walked out mid shift after being told that she would no longer be the lead caregiver in the Preschool B classroom. Ms. Farias was moving her to a different classroom. Ms. Farias reported that CCSM Natacha Cadet is now the lead caregiver in the Preschool B classroom and started working at the center a month ago. I interviewed Ms. Cadet who confirmed that she is the lead caregiver for the Preschool B classroom. I provided technical assistance to Ms. Farias regarding lead caregiver qualifications, verification of qualifications, and how to verify out of country/non-English documentation.
- Violation
The complainant reported that there is a lot of yelling at the children in the toddler room by CCSMs Melisa Hernandez and Camille Gilmore. I interviewed Ms. Farias who reported that she has not heard Ms. Hernandez and Ms. Gilmore yelling at the children and would redirect them if she had. Ms. Cadet reported that she never hears anyone yelling at any children in the center. I interviewed CCSM Quinnett Morton who reported that the only time anyone's voice is raised at the center is if it is necessary to get a child's attention due to a safety issue. She has never heard anyone speaking to children in an inappropriate manner. I interviewed Ms. Hernandez who explained that she yelled when across the room from a child who was biting in order to try to get them to stop before she could make it to them. She denied that children are being yelled at in a disciplinary manner. On 02/07/2023, I spoke with Child A's Mother who reported that she has not heard any CCSMs yelling when she is at the center. She has no concerns about the care provided and has been happy with her child's care. She stated that the center has handles biting situations really well. On 2/08/2023, I spoke with Child B's Mother who reported that she has not heard any CCSMs yelling when she is at the center. She has no concerns about the care her child is receiving at the center.
- Violation
The complainant who reported that the center is short staffed and on Monday, 10/03/2022, CCSM Jasmine Brown was working in the toddler classroom by herself with 13 children. Ms. Farias reported that the toddler classroom did not maintain the required staff member to child ratio on 10/03/2022 due to three CCSMs calling in sick. There were 10 children with 1 CCSM. All the children were 2 years old; they follow the required 1 CCSM to 8 children ratio. She estimated that they were out of ratio for about 10 minutes. She reported that the preschool classroom was not out of ratio. Ms. Cadet had no information about the allegation but reported that her classroom has been in compliance with the required staff to child ratio. Ms. Morton reported that her classroom does not operate out of ratio or over capacity. She did not recall the toddler classroom being out of ratio. Ms. Hernandez reported that she came in at 9:00 AM on 10/03/2022, the toddler classroom was not out of ratio at that time. The classroom never has more than 12 children in it. Ms. Farias emailed copies of staff and children's attendance records. Based on the records, the toddler classroom did not maintain the required staff to child ratio from 9:45 until 10:53 AM. There were 8 children in the classroom with CCSM Jasmine 9th Brown, the child arrived at 9:45 AM and the 10th child arrived at 9:58 AM. Ms. Hernandez clocked in at 10:53 AM. Preschool A and Preschool B both had 7 children with 1 CCSM. Preschool C was not operating. None of the classrooms were operating over the maximum group size or capacity. Child A's Mother reported that she always sees the toddler classroom in ratio when she is there. The classroom typically has 10 children and 1 CCSMs. Child B's Mother had no concerns about the classrooms operating out of ratio.
- Violation
On 10/03/2022, the toddler classroom had 11 children in attendance. The space is approved for a capacity of 12 toddlers.
- Violation
On 8/30/2022 I completed an unannounced visit to the child care facility. I met with Program Director Erin Farias. Ms. Farias stated staff have their cell phones in classrooms, but they are not to be using them while they are watching children. She stated the employee handbook also states employees cannot be playing on their phones. She stated she has not seen or heard of any issues with staff on their phones. 2 I interviewed staff member Camille Gilmore. Ms. Gilmore works in the toddler room. Ms. Gilmore stated she has her cell phone on her, but she is not on her cell phone while she is watching children. She will glance at her phone if someone is calling but will not answer it. She will use her phone and make return calls when she is on break. If there is an emergency, she will get in touch with Ms. Farias and then coordinate a way for her to answer the phone and for another staff member to step in for her. Ms. Gilmore has not witnessed any other staff members on their phones when they are working. I interviewed child care staff member Brianna Daniel. Ms. Daniel stated she is not on her phone when she is watching children. She works in the toddler room, and she does not see anyone else using their phones while they are working with children. She has her phone on her in case there is an emergency, but she does not check it unless she is on her break. I walked the child care center, and I did not notice any staff on their cell phones while they were working with children. I contacted child care staff member Breonna Lott. Ms. Lott stated she works in the toddler room and helps in other areas. She has not been on her phone while she is working. She has not seen other workers on their phones while they are working. She has used her phone in an emergency, but she asked for someone to cover her while she took a phone call. I attempted to contact Child A's Mother and Child B's Mother on 8/30/2022 and 9/7/2022. I left messages on both phone call attempts. At the completion of this report, I did not receive a call back from either.
- Violation
On 8/30/2022 I completed an unannounced visit to the child care facility. I interviewed Program Director Erin Farias. Ms. Farias stated she had heard from staff that while children in the toddler room listening to music before lunch, an advertisement for Halloween came on. During the advertisement there was some scary sounding talking and Halloween sounds. Once staff heard this advertisement, they skipped the advertisement. Some of the children in the class were scared because of the sounds. This was not done intentionally and was an accident. Staff notified her and let her know. Ms. Farias and staff have agreed to try to listen when music changes or an advertisement comes on and skip the advertisement as soon as possible. I interviewed child care staff member Camille Gilmore. Ms. Gilmore stated when she was working in the Toddler room, the music they were listening to before getting ready for lunch went from a song to an advertisement for Halloween. When this advertisement came on, there was some low sounding voices and some scary noises. As soon as she heard this, she went over and skipped the advertisement like you normally can do on YouTube. After she skipped the advertisement, some children were upset because of the scary noises. The music then changed back to nursery rhymes. She said they did not put on scary music on purpose and this was just a YouTube advertisement that came. Since it was August, they were promoting Halloween. Ms. Gilmore could not remember if this was an advertisement for Halloween U.S.A. and costumes. I interviewed child care staff member Brianna Daniel. Ms. Daniel said when she was working in the Toddler room, the music they were listening to on the iPad on YouTube switched to an advertisement for Halloween and some of the children in care did not like it. The advertisement was skipped and the music went back on. This was an accident and not intentional. The advertisement was only on for a few seconds but was a little loud and that is what most likely scared some of the children. Ms. Farias was notified about the scary advertisement and they talked about making sure to pay attention when a song goes off and listen for what advertisements might come on. On 8/30/2022 I contacted child care staff member Breonna Lott. Ms. Lott stated the classrooms were listening to children's music and then an advertisement for Halloween came on the YouTube music channel. This sounded scary and some of the children in care started to cry. This advertisement was changed as soon as they started to hear it and the children's music was put back on. She said this was not something that was done on purpose and this advertisement just came on. Once they changed the song back to children's music, the children went back to getting ready for lunch. 4 I attempted to contact Child A's Mother and Child B's Mother on 8/30/2022 and 9/7/2022. I left messages on both phone call attempts. At the completion of this report, I did not receive a call back from either.
- Violation
On 12/17/2020, I spoke with Child A's Mother. She explained Child A is two years old currently, but she had learned roughly a month ago that Mrs. Farias breast fed Child A without her knowledge. It was explained that this would have happened two years ago and at that time, Mrs. Farias did not ask permission to breast feed Child A. Child 's Mother reported Child A attended child care in 2018 at this center, then left and she had recently connected with Mrs. Farias to determine if an opening at 2 the center was currently available. She said Mrs. Farias replied "yes" and that she would "love to have her son back" since she had breast fed him. She said this wasn't discussed two years ago and she did not confront Mrs. Farias about this statement. Child A's Mother elaborated and shared that Mrs. Farias was close with Child A when he attended the child care as she would purchase goods for Child A and would jokingly refer to him as her son. Child A's Mother stated she isn't sure if anyone would have witnessed this happening, but that staff member, Andrea Pospiech worked at the center two years ago when this incident occurred and is still currently working at this center. She stated she is does not know if any other staff member from two years ago is currently working here. Child A's Mother reported Child A has been disenrolled from the center due to these concerns. When asked about other concerns for the center, she said there were communication concerns regarding Child A being ill as she would receive numerous calls asking to pick Child A up due to a fever, but when she picked him up, he wasn't ill. On 12/29/2020 I made an unannounced visit to the center. I spoke with program director, Erin Farias. Mrs. Farias explained that she was close with Child A as he started child care at this center shortly after his birth and she would comfort him by wearing Child A on her chest using a baby holder. Mrs. Farias said she wished she could nurse Child A to Child A's Mother but denied ever doing so. She said Child A never showed any signs that he was interested in nursing and even if he had, she would not have nursed him. She explained she tried to "do my own maternity leave for him" such as wearing him and doing extra things with Child A that she would do with her own child. Mrs. Farias said she is passionate about giving children with challenging backgrounds extra attention as she receives many children who have experienced trauma at her center. She elaborated that many of these children are "kicked out" of other child care centers and she wanted give Child A extra attention because of her passion with these specific children. Mrs. Farias explained she had a good relationship with Child A's Mother, but there were recent events that complicated their relationship. Mrs. Farias stated roughly two years ago, when she was able to breastfeed, Child B's Mother had asked her if she would nurse Child B and she did. She denied having written consent for this happen but provided contact information for Child B's Mother and reported she had verbal consent. I spoke with caregiver, Andrea Pospiech. She stated she is the infant lead caregiver and the assistant director that has been at this center since April 4th, 2018. She said she is familiar with Child A and she worked with him daily. She said Child A came to the center when he was only four days old. Child A was roughly at the center for two months. Ms. Pospiech stated she has never seen Mrs. Farias breastfeed Child A, but she did breastfeed Child B. She explained Child B had a difficult time taking a bottle and Child B's Mother "jokingly" said Ms. Pospiech should nurse Child B. Ms. Pospiech replied "No", but told Child B's Mother that Mrs. Farias might be open to 3 this idea. Child B's Mother approached Mrs. Farias and she agreed to nurse Child B while in care at the center. Ms. Pospiech said she heard Child B's Mother give consent for Mrs. Farias to breastfeed Child B and Child B's Mother told her that
Questions to ask on your tour
Generated from this facility's specific inspection record
- 1The May 8, 2026 inspection noted: “Center staff ensured they had the proper paperwork and followed court orders appropriately.” — what has changed since then?
- 2The May 9, 2023 inspection noted: “Based on interviews with staff and parents, CCSM 4 did not hit or spank any child while at the center, including her own.” — what has changed since then?
- 3The Oct 6, 2022 inspection noted: “On 10/06/2022, 1 spoke with complainant who reported that there is no lead caregiver in the Preschool B classroom right now. On 10/10/2022, I completed an unann…” — what has changed since then?
Data synced from Michigan MiLEAP, Child Care Licensing Bureau · Source records · Report an error