There had been previous reports of abuse at the SmallTrans Bears daycare in downtown Oakland, but a slew of strange text messages received to parents of children enrolled in the program included information that were difficult to brush off as mere speculation.
In early summer, an unidentified sender warned parents on the group thread that Cindy Jackson Burns and her employees beat crying toddlers with bare hands, spanked them with a wooden spoon, whipped them with wet towels, and left them alone in a dark bathroom as punishments.
The child’s things are also being tossed around and children are being aggressively grabbed and pinched, according to the sender.
According to the informant, Jackson Burns made a girl bleed after striking her three times in the mouth. He then allegedly forced an employee to fabricate a story about the child falling. It was said in the texts that the manager serves them cold meals if she dislikes them.
Many of the dozens of families who had enrolled their children in the daycare quickly withdrew their children. In an effort to defuse the situation, Jackson Burns attempted to hold a virtual conference where she cast the accusations as the work of an ex-employee out to destroy the daycare’s image.
Parents had been exchanging urgent messages in a WhatsApp group for days about holding Jackson Burns responsible, so that defense didn’t sit well with them.
Daycare officials in California went on to strip SmallTrans Bears of their license, accuse Jackson Burns of having a hand in the abuse of children, and ban her from ever again working with children, all because it didn’t convince them. According to witnesses questioned in the matter, a criminal investigation has been initiated due to the allegations of child abuse.
Dozens of parents were left frantically trying to find daycare as events unfolded so quickly, all the while searching for clues that their children may have been abused.
Concerns began to surface two years ago, following Jackson Burns’ replacement of a long-established daycare at the Grand Avenue Caltrans building.
The State’s Community Care and Licensing Division, which oversees child-care facilities, conducted an investigation into allegations that employees at SmallTrans Bears were rude and physically abusive against children. The agency interviewed the director, staff, and parents, but in a report from August 2022, it stated that it was unable to provide evidence to support the charges.
The next time the agency came was over two years later. However, from time to time, more casual gripes would surface in online parenting communities or review sites.
“According to interviews, staff members were physically abusing the children in their care, as well as verbally abusing them, threatening them, and using inappropriate names. Additionally, staff members have been known to leave children in the director’s office or the toddler bathroom as a form of punishment for bad behavior or crying, posing a serious threat to their well-being, safety, and personal rights,” the authorities stated.
Not long after that, the state revoked the licensing of the facility, informing Jackson Burns that she would never be able to work in a child-care facility in California again unless she appealed.