Every parent who drops their child off at day care does so with one fundamental expectation: that their child will be safe. But a deeply troubling story out of Brooklyn is raising questions that should concern every family in New York. What happens when the agencies charged with protecting children simply don’t do their jobs?
A Second Chance That Never Should Have Happened
Earlier this year, a Brooklyn day care called Eva Creche closed its doors after an employee recorded video showing a worker grabbing and tossing a toddler, and children eating and napping on the floor of a private home that parents had never authorized their kids to visit. The program was also enrolling three times the number of children it was licensed to serve.
What makes this story even more alarming is what investigators found afterward. Public records obtained by parents revealed that the same owner had her license revoked at a different day care in 2020, after inspectors found one staff member supervising six children under the age of two, when state regulations require a one-to-two ratio. She had also refused to let inspectors inside in the first place.
Just five months after that revocation, city officials granted her a brand new license to open Eva Creche.
City health officials acknowledged the prior revocation but said the violations were not deemed serious enough to deny a new license because no child had been immediately harmed. In other words, the system waited for a child to be hurt before taking meaningful action.
The Gaps That Put Children at Risk
Several issues in this case stand out, and they should trouble every New York parent.
Inspectors were on-site the very day children were allegedly transported off premises to an unauthorized private home, and they missed it. The facility’s illegal basement childcare space was never cited. Overenrollment went undetected visit after visit. And crucially, the owner’s prior license revocation was never disclosed to parents. They only learned about it after one parent filed a Freedom of Information Law request.
As one Eva Creche parent put it, if the city was going to give this owner a second chance, why wasn’t she properly monitored? How did inspectors miss the basement? How were the prior violations not a red flag from day one?
These are exactly the right questions, and they deserve answers.
The Human Cost of Low Wages and High Turnover
Child care experts who reviewed the Eva Creche situation pointed to a broader systemic problem: the child care workforce is severely underpaid. Many workers earn minimum wage and qualify for Medicaid or food assistance. Low pay drives high turnover, which makes it difficult for providers to maintain a qualified, stable staff. And financial pressure on providers can lead to dangerous shortcuts, like enrolling far more children than the license allows, simply to generate enough revenue to keep the lights on.
None of that excuses abuse. But it does explain why environments where abuse can happen sometimes develop in the first place, and it underscores why systemic reform is not optional.
What Parents Deserve to Know
In response to the Eva Creche case, New York City announced plans to publish a child care map that would include violation histories for every licensed facility. That is a step forward. But parents at Eva Creche pointed out what should be obvious: the map should also include whether an owner has ever had a prior license revoked or a facility shut down. Violation history without ownership history is an incomplete picture.
Parents should not have to file public records requests to find out whether the person watching their child was previously found unfit to do so.
When Institutions Fail Children, There Must Be Accountability
At PCVA, we represent families whose children have been harmed in settings that were supposed to be safe, including daycares, schools, churches, youth organizations, and other institutions. We know from experience that abuse rarely happens in a vacuum. It happens when supervision is inadequate, when red flags go ignored, and when institutions prioritize their own interests over the safety of the children in their care.
The owners and operators who profit from child care programs have an obligation to run those programs safely. When they fail, and when institutional negligence enables that failure, New York law provides a path to accountability.
If your child has been harmed in a child care setting, you do not have to navigate that alone. Our team is here to help you understand your rights and explore your legal options.