http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-fort-c...,5135642.story

Fort Collins Police say 35-year-old Jennifer Fisher is facing misdemeanor charges of child abuse for allegedly leaving eight children under her care alone in her home to go pick up her own children.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...16/detail.html

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins child care owner accused of leaving eight children -- ages 11 months to four years -- home alone has been charged with eight counts of misdemeanor child abuse, police said Thursday.

Jennifer Fisher, 35, who ran the day care from her home at 5306 White Willow Drive, is accused of leaving the eight children unsupervised for 1½ hours while she picked up her own children and ran an errand, said Rita Davis, spokeswoman for the Fort Collins Police Department.

The investigation began after the Colorado Department of Human Services received an anonymous tip that Fisher was leaving children in her care alone when she left to pick up her own children, Davis said

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And you wonder why parents are paranoid with DCP?

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I hear that.

I can't believe she left when she knew the DHS had caught her right then and there. What kind of magical thinking did she have going on to think that they weren't going to follow up to see if kids were there?

What's weird about it is that they accepted that she was off of work but didn't require her to show them that there weren't any kids in the house. My State requires that you allow them in whether or not you are working that day. The inspectors are allowed to check the house for kids.

I think they waited outside on her street until they saw her not only out of the house but off of her property with the car. Then they stopped and confronted her when the knew they had her driving away. If they would have confronted her in the driveway before she pulled out then she could have stated she was just running out to the car.

The deal of them just sitting there for at least one and a half hours means they left with her still not being back at the house. They had a good suspicion there were kids in there but why did they not push it further and see if the kids were actually in there? I don't get that part.

She's got some spainin to do. Hopefully there was an adult in there. Maybe she had an unregistered person in there with them and she didn't want to get in trouble for having someone in there that wasn't approved. That would be way less of a crime than leaving eight babies by themselves. The oldest was only four.

That's the best case scenario I can think for her. She's going to have the charges for the kids and they could charge her for lying to a DHS worker too.

I can't imagine what kind of crazy would lead someone to leave eight kids in the house by themselves. The Jessica Tata thing was really recent. Every provider I know knows about that fire. It's not like there hasn't been a recent horrible tragedy to tweek away at your conscience to keep you from ever taking that chance.

This is also an issue of being over capacity. If she was within her capacity and she had a proper vehichle she could have taken the kids with her to go get her kid. What she couldn't do is do it easily and run errands to boot.

For her to be gone that long she had to have had many many times of doing this where she was successful. This is one of those things where you would start by doing a quick dash somewhere and then increased the time you were gone bit by bit over time until it became a "no big deal" cuz nothings happened behavior.

I've had two clients in my 17 years who came from day cares where they caught their provider leaving their kid alone in the house. Both cases they were friends with the provider and never turned them in for it. I got a lot of show ups at unscheduled times with them.

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What is wrong with people? I am paranoid about walking the 6 feet out my front door at naptime to grab the mail!

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How is it she was not arrested???

I would be under the jail by now.

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Sorry for a second post, but...

I am also curious as to why the CCR&R worker did not press to see inside or have a list of her clients. Mine has all my clients numbers and times of service.

I also have to call and notify her when I close. Why did this provider not seem to have any oversight?? She was "licensed".

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She's only charged with a MISDEMEANOR??? It's not even a felony? Unless maybe they are getting their ducks in a row for some felony charges.

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ducks in a row may mean proving that there wasn't another adult in the house.

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Wtf.... are people that stupid?? I mean, it's stupid to do that in the first place, but did she NOT hear of that Tata chick and the fire??? Wow..

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True, but I have a hard time believing this would have made the news had there been another adult in the home, YKWIM??

A simple "Over Ratio Citation" does not even warrant questioning from parents anymore since it can happen accidentally when one parent picks up late and another drops off too early.

I really feel that the school probably noticed she was picking up solo and the kid had mentioned that Mom had all the other kids at home.... Kids talk.

If not the school my money is on the neighbors...

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My money is on a neighborhood day care provider.

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True. I did not even think of that!!

I know I would have confronted her myself since that kind of BS gives us all a black eye. I would have been LIVID.

I cannot come up with any scenario in my mind where leaving babies unattended is the best answer. Maybe with a gun to my head to prevent them from being injured. You???

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High probability of not getting caught.
Easier to not have them then have them.
Magical thinking that nothing will ever happen to HER while she is out that will prevent her from being able to return on time to be undetected.

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Didn't this stupid woman read the paper or see the news where the children died in a fire in TX when left alone?

Why did the inspector take 1 1/2 hrs before checking the house? IMHO, she should have checked the house immediately. Had one of the children been injured, it would have been on her head.

I bet a neighbor called it in. I sure would have.

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The inspector caught her leaving the house. The lady said she was off that day. She didn't have proof the kids were in there I guess.

I guess the DHS worker hung out for an hour and a half and then left. The lady didn't return in that time.

Very weird though. You would think the DHS worker would have just stayed or confronted the lady when she had her outside.

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Am I understanding this correctly...It seems to me that she was licensed for SIX under schoolaged, but had 8 kids under school aged when she left them unattended?

Also, why in the world would the licensor hang out and wait to see how long she was gone without checking to see if there were children present? If there was any question AT ALL you would think that licensing would have called the police, gotten a warrant, and checked the freakin' house.

Something isn't adding up! What if one of those kids would have somehow been injured while the licensor was sitting outside? Every year at licensing, I give up the names and phone numbers of my clients...do they not have that information? Could they not have checked to see if she had the day off immediately?

How could you go to someones house to investigate them leaving children unattended, watch them leave, and then sit and wait!

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A third felony sends you to jail for life in California. I've seen three strikers get life for stealing.

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I guess it depends on how valid the complaint felt to them. I'm sure they get a TON of complaints that turn out to be vengeful complaints with no merit.

We also don't know how believable she was when she told the DHS worker that she was off.

The thing that doesn't make sense is why the inspector hung out for so long and didn't stay. What goes in must come out. If they wanted to know if there were kids in there why didn't they come and hang out at pick up time?

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I suppose the person hung around to see if she was returning from school with her own kids while the person was waiting for a search warrant to be issued.

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They didn't report searching her home.

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Ok, but isn't the average "life sentence" about 7 years??

Rotating door system, IMHO.

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You're right. Something isn't adding up and the story your getting is from reporters that will make a story seem bigger than it is.

She did have a lot of nerve proceeding as usual after being questioned by the authorities. I hope they shut her down permanently.

It's so shocking for us because we would NEVER do such a thing but there are people that do it every day. The alcoholic mother that leaves her child sleeping in bed because she ran out of booze. The parents that think nothing of leaving children strapped in car seats while they run in a store for "just a minute". We all know that there's never a shopping trip that's "just a minute" and if you've got kids, you bring them with you because the car's not going to watch them.

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Something is adding up for me either. I've had this exact call placed on me before and although it was totally unwarranted I was treated like I was guilty until proven innocent. Horrible experience.

I left everyday at 2 pm to go get my youngest at school while the littles were napping. What the person that complained didn't mention was that my father lived next door and that a DCB got dropped off at 2 pm everyday. DCB's mom would come in and sit with the sleeping kids or my dad would come over so I could grab my dd. All of the DCF's knew about the arrangement too (I asked in advance if it was ok).

All ended well with some phone calls to parents and talking to a few neighbors. DD's teacher also confirmed my story since she made sure dd came straight out everyday so I was gone for as short a time as possible. I think it was a concerned parent at the school that called or a neighbor that hates children.

But that CPS woman went through my whole house the first day and came back twice and went through the house again both times in surprise visits (at pickup time). The first day she waited outside until after I was suppose to be gone to come to my door. DD was home sick that day though so I hadn't left. They did NOT wait around to see what I would do. They were concerned about the children first and foremost. This story seems like parts have been left out to me.

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There is more to this story than we know. The investgators should go back to ALL the families she worked for and interview the parents. This might give them more information. I know our family left her because of concerns but could not identify a crime.

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that awkward moment, when you know who reported her.
and i've known this lady my entire life, doesn't seem like her. i highly highly doubt the children were unattended. the story isn't even complete so i don't think you should be judging somebody you don't know.

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True. But for every one horrible DCP, there are 100 horrible parents who abuse and/or neglect their own children.

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I think everyone is being too hard on this child care provider. Do you know what a hassle it would have been for her to:

a) Load up all of the DCK's to take them with her?
b) Find an assistant who could watch DCK's while she picked up her children from shcool?
c) Arrange for a parent from her children's school to bring her children home?

Also, it's much easier to get errands done during the day. Do you honestly expect her to go to the grocery store after her daycare is closed?

*sarcasm*

This gal clearly has a MAJOR screw loose.

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AND, drunk drivers get their hands slapped for killing another person.

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The police are going to be reluctant to talk about the case if they are still investigating it and if they think it might result in a trail. It is hard and sad to think about but we need to just wait and see let the "system" do its job.

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Shocking. Sad. Pathetic. INTOLERABLE. Of course, I feel bad for the kids, who may have been frightened being left alone. But I feel incredibly bad for the parents who must be wracked with guilt and filled with regret and anger, while trying to answer the question "How did I not know, what are the long-term reprocussions for my child, how can I forgive myself?". Could any of you imagine being the mother of the 11 month old?

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We had an incident in FL where mom was finally arrested after 27 (gasp!) visits from police and DCF. Her 18 month old was found with severe chemical burns on his feet, so the child would stay put and not walk around. 27 visits. Really.

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Unbelievable!!!

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You would think all neglectful providers would learn their lesson after the dealdy fire that recently took place and claimed the lives of innocent children! These reports literally make my stomach flip! I worry about leaving the kids to rush to the restroom for a min and here we have people doing these kinds of things.

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Cheeky I swear to u my jaw was on the floor and I was about to rant on u when I read the 1st line! I'm so glad I take the time to read all the details. Silly me!

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OMG that poor baby!!! What did she get for that? Let me guess 1 or 2 yrs? Wait no probabtion huh? Totally unbelievable!!

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She is charged with 3 felony counts. Hasn't gone to trial yet. She is at least being held without bond. This is FL, so let's hope she gets more time than Casey Anthony did.

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No ranting needed. At least not on this post.

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CheekyChick, I almost had a fit too, when I read that first sentence, and then glanced down to see if maybe you were just being funny! Was pretty relieved when I saw you were being sarcastic!

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I'm not allowed to leave my home even to get the mail when there are kids in the house.

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Has anyone heard what has happened to this provider? I've had interviews with parents and they all ask about this women. One parent said she only got a slap on the hand and don't do it again by the judge. If that is true than, there is something wrong with are legal system. God bless that nothing did happen to the kids in her care, but I guess it takes something happening to a child for any punishment to take effect.

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