Parents Scramble, Pull Kids from Urbandale Child Care Center

Parents of children who attended Urbandale's Imagination and Education Station child-care center were scrambling Wednesday to find alternate care, staying home from work, or trying to get their children into the center's West Des Moines location.

The after Urbandale workers refused to work unless they were paid.

Owner Theresa Mulhern has not returned phone calls or e-mails and was not available to speak to a reporter who came to her West Des Moines center Wednesday.

Waiting for Care

"I'm kind of upset because I'm supposed to be at work right now," said Brandon Harrington of Urbandale, who was waiting with his 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, in the lobby of the West Des Moines center at noon.

Harrington said he brought Olivia to the center after her doctor's appointment this morning and was told that the center could not take her, even though she was there Tuesday.

"I've been sitting in there waiting for somebody to pick up their child before they can take Olivia and I can go to work," he said. "I have a really important job. I'm needed," he said.

Harrington said his wife was not told Monday afternoon that the Urbandale center would be closed the next day. "They didn't give us any notice. There was just this paper on the door Tuesday morning."

Inadequate Staffing
David and Kara Smith of Urbandale decided to remove their 10-month-old son, Gavin, out of the West Des Moines center after a day and a half.

"It's going to be tough find another day-care center," said David. Although the couple has been very pleased with the Urbandale center, when they heard news reports about the picketing workers Monday, they were skeptical about sending Gavin to its West Des Moines location. They weren't sure if there would be enough employees to care for the children.

He said they still were concerned on Tuesday night, but "we thought we'd give it another day."  However, he said his wife stopped by today and Gavin had not had his morning nap and had only one bottle instead of two, and "she was not happy."

He removed his son from the center by noon. It wasn't an easy decision to make. Gavin had been sick for almost a month, so both parents are out of paid sick-leave at their jobs. 

Suspicions Mounted

Jennifer Cook, of Johnston, also said she had been happy with the Urbandale center for the year that she took her 15-month-old daughter, Megan, there.

"I was really impressed with the day care when we toured there and Theresa was very nice," she said.

But in the last month, she said she had become more concerned. Although child-care workers never complained to her, she was seeing comments on their Facebook pages that they weren't getting paid regularly.

Then one Monday last month, she was dropping Megan off and found the center closed - a note on the door said the center was being closed for three days upon the order of the Polk County Health Department because of a whooping-cough outbreak, she said.

Worried about her child's health, she said she called the health department. She was told that they had not issued any order to close the center and that they were getting a lot of calls from parents. One child at the center did have whooping cough, but health officials said they did not suggest closing the center.

"That bothered me a lot that she shut down and public health said there was no reason to shut down," Cook said.

Cook said when she asked Mulhern about what health officials had told her, Mulhern continued to insist that the health department had ordered the closure.

Rick Kozin, a program manager for the Polk County Health Department said Wednesday that state law prohibits him from speaking specifically about any person or business affected by a communicable disease.

"However, I can unequivocally say that the Polk County Health Department has never required, nor suggested, nor demanded that any business shut down because of pertussis (whooping cough)," Kozin said.

Cook said she is disappointed with recent events, but had begun looking for alternate care for her daughter. On Wednesday, she was staying home with Megan.