Daycare Owner Apologizes in Email for Closing Urbandale and West Des Moines Centers

Theresa Mulhern, owner of Imagination and Education Station in Urbandale, which closed last week, said in an email today to parents that she is closing her West Des Moines child-care center as well.

This is the text of the email. The only thing that has been deleted is Mulhern's email address.

Dear Parents: 

I want to express my sorrow and appologies.

Our centers are closed permanently as of today. 

After receiving notices of termination from dozens of families, 22 yesterday morning alone, it became apparent that no matter how hard we tried we were not going to be able to recover. I could not in good conscience continue to accept money from parents and assure them everything was going to be fine.

The last week has been surreal for me. After years of helping families who could not afford quality child care to have it, I am now being accused of things I don't even understand. I am being made into a monster and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

To the parents who lost their child care, I am heartbroken at what you are now going through. Several of my staff have gone now to doing in-home, so if you want help reaching one of them please let me know.

To the staff who worked all this last week tireless long hours, I love you. You showed up for the kids even when you knew we could go under and not get paid. You put the families first and spent a week loving those kids in spite of picketing, media, cruelty from ex-coworkers on Facebook and in the neighborhood. I thank you for standing by me and by the parents.

To the many families who stood up for me, I appreciate your care and loyalty. I hope you realize that no matter what comes next of this I will always love and remember your children.

I will be making a statement at some point to the media, but every day I see new things I didn't know about before, so I am waiting for legal advice.

Please know that I did not go down without a fight. For months I have worked tirelessly to collect payments to ensure the centers survived. I am asking any parents who tried to pay their bill and were told by staff that we could not take credit cards or that they would get back to them with an amount to come forward and email me, so that we can take that money and pay the staff who worked so hard for you.

I ask that you be kind to the staff and each other. I think this whole thing has brought forth a hate and cruelty that is a sad statement of how the world is becoming. Blaming the workers who picketed or the workers who stayed is not productive. Our entire business is about families and children. Teaching them kindness, compassion and forgiveness is the one lesson I think we forget.

I am asking that you please email any requests for refunds or other compensation. I do not know yet how any of this will be handled. I am also asking that you give my family time to recover from this devastation by letting us have time to make decisions about where we go from here.

We will arrange for everyone to be able to pick up their child's belongings.

Theresa