Problems at KinderCare Learning Companies (KLC)
KinderCare Learning Companies (NYSE: KLC — $1.51 billion) operates ~1,500 daycares across 41 states and calls itself “the largest private provider of high-quality early education and childcare services in the United States.” The company caters largely to working class families, has a special program to watch the children of military servicemembers, and receives hundreds of millions in government subsidies on the logic that good and safe early childcare makes all of society better off. Investors believe KinderCare can continue its private equity growth playbook in the public markets and raise prices, cut costs, and grow through acquisitions to dominate America’s fragmented childcare landscape.
Today’s investigation from The Bear Cave finds that KinderCare often fails to deliver the safe and nurturing environment it promises parents and taxpayers. The Bear Cave finds that toddlers escape from the KinderCare daycares onto busy roads, are left alone locked inside KinderCare buildings and buses, and are physically, verbally, and sexually abused, with many cases going unreported until bystanders raise alarm or video evidence circulates. In sum, The Bear Cave believes KinderCare is a broken business that harms the children and families it claims to help.
On May 15, 2024, Kimberly Hopson dropped her 11-month-old son off at a KinderCare in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Hours later, she was told to pick up her son, who was vomiting. After noticing scratch marks on her son’s body, she confronted KinderCare staff, who all denied wrongdoing. Ms. Hopson then filed a police report and took her son to an emergency room where he tested positive for cocaine.
A search of Ms. Hopson’s home found nothing; however, a drug-sniffing dog “found cocaine in a plastic bag in a worker’s backpack in the infant room” at KinderCare.
Ms. Hopson said that her son now has developmental delays and told a reporter,
“The baby I brought home that day is not the same baby I dropped off… I wish I didn’t send him to KinderCare that day. I wish I didn’t. That day changed everything.”
The local news investigation found that the Oak Creek KinderCare had numerous prior safety violations including “staff being aggressive with infants,” “undocumented injuries,” and “access to power tools and toxic chemicals.”
Ms. Hopson said the day the KinderCare had its license revoked was “the first time I smiled in a long time.”
One top YouTube comment read,
“KinderCare needs to be closed permanently.”
And many replies indicated the issues were widespread:
“All KinderCares.”
“It does, all the locations are shady.”
“The ones in Texas have issues too, I am convinced it’s the entire KinderCare company. My son was left outside on the playground at age 2. Another worker advised me, and thankfully was able to find a better option.”
Other examples abound.
In April 2021, a woman posted a video on Facebook after she drove by a 3-year-old toddler roaming the streets outside a Milford, Connecticut KinderCare. The woman alerted daycare staff who “had no idea the child had been missing.” The boy’s father only learned of the incident after the video went viral online, with the bystander saying,
“They really have this baby out here by himself.”
That KinderCare was previously cited “for 10 violations during an unannounced visit by state licensing inspectors. The violations included health and safety protocols, and later that year a teacher was suspended for leaving a child unattended.”
In October 2021, an infant died after being sick all day at a KinderCare. A doctor determined that “there was no negligence on the part of employees at the daycare;” however, the daycare later faced two formal complaints around child injuries and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services found several violations at the facility and worked to revoke its license. That KinderCare appears to be operational today following an appeal.
In February 2022, a KinderCare in southern Florida locked a 2-year-old inside alone after a mom arrived 15 minutes late, around 6:30pm. Because no one was inside, the mom called police who ultimately pried the door open. The 2-year-old stood on a chair to see her mom outside the locked window calling for help.
The incident went viral nationally, with one former KinderCare employee writing,
“Let me tell you. I’m NOT surprised by this! I quit after 3 months due to the unprofessionalism and circus show that they exhibited.”
The following month, a KinderCare teacher in Richland, Washington went viral after repeatedly pouring water on a sleeping child. A second KinderCare teacher uploaded the stunt to Snapchat where it caused outrage and was later reuploaded on Facebook.
The local news station interviewed a former KinderCare employee who highlighted cultural issues at the location:
“There were also a couple times I would write an injury report and give it to my boss who would literally rip it up in my face and say ‘don’t tell the parents this.’”
In August 2022, police officers arrested a Florida KinderCare teacher for child abuse after “yelling at the victim and repeatedly punching the child with both an open and closed fist to the back and side of the head.”
In April 2023, a California KinderCare left a 5-year-old locked in an 80-degree-plus bus for two hours. The mom commented,
“I do not know how I could live with it if he had died.”
Also in April 2023, two suspicious parents in Texas sewed a recording device into their 20-month-old toddler’s jacket. The recorded audio captured a KinderCare employee threatening children, saying in part:
“I’m gonna go and I’m going to beat both of y’all. That’s what I’m going to do.”
“I’m about to throw some b*tch swings at some of y’all right now.”
“Get up and move! Sit down (baby whimpers). Sit your a** down. Come sit down now (name redacted).”
“Touch it and you die.”
“Just get away from me, because I will end up in jail.”
In August 2024, another 3-year-old toddler was recorded escaping a KinderCare into a busy street. A stranger found the child and brought him to a nearby Labcorp business, which later gave the child back to KinderCare. Ultimately, the family only learned about the full incident after photos and video from a passerby went viral:
In a news interview, the grandmother said,
“He’s been in the street, he’s been in Labcorp (a nearby business), he’s in the arms of a good stranger. And [KinderCare] is oblivious.”
And last week, prosecutors moved for a speedy trial after a KinderCare worker was “accused of attacking toddler with a pizza cutter.”