CFN – Facebook is lit up in Cornwall Ontario as members of the Heart of the Family team are abuzz stating that the daycare that was shut down is now back open. ORIGINAL STORY LINK
From the Daycare’s Facebook page:
It is with GREAT pleasure we announce that Heart of the family is OPEN!!!! We wish to thank all our parents for your support during this difficult time….Our babies are coming home We will be contacting all families tomorrow , you can also call the centre for details tomorrow at any time during the day…..
Pastor Stephenson is on the board of HOTF and Christina Stephenson’s husband.
Heart of the Family was shut down after severe allegations, and an investigation led by one of Cornwall’s finest narcotics investigators.
It rocked the community of over 46,000 people with many coming out either for or against management. Many families were clearly upset as they had no real alternative and their jobs were threatened.
CFN has received no word on any results of the investigations nor if Ms Christina Stephenson is back in charge as the notice from the Ministry stated that she was not to be present with the children. A source said at least two staffers were not returning.
List of conditions required for reopening
CFN has also discovered that after it had been shut down on that Friday night that a meeting had been held at the church where staff were told that their salaries would be paid for one week and several were given gift cards.
Allegations were also made that a list provided to police was incomplete. Staff apparently were also warned by police not to talk with media.
It was also stated that several staff were giving care to kids privately as many of the families had no alternative day care.
Heart of the Family is the largest daycare in Cornwall and the only one offering 24/7 care.
Ms Stephenson, Mr. Stephenson and former director Chelsea Raso all refused to respond to CFN’s phone calls and messages. Ms Stephenson, Ms Wanda Gareau and Mr. Stephenson blocked CFN within minutes of our sending them a FB request for comment as this story was being written.
The Ministry site still shows HOTF as suspended. LINK No statements have been issued by the ministry, CAS, or Police as of press time.
We will be updating this story as more information becomes available.
UPDATE 10AM Thursday June 13th
Cornwall Police confirmed that the Police Investigation is ongoing and has not been closed.
You get what you pay for, and a this “free news” site is clear proof, your comments section plays out like typical social media drama similar to Facebook and Twitter, your journalism includes what tabloids love to include, Facebook screenshots and hearsay…where’s your proof of one week salaries and gift certificates? You rely on unnamed sources just like any other rumor mill does, this “article” which reads more like a blog, was printed within an hours of the status on Facebook saying they were open, “CFN has learned….it has also been stated…” Vague evidence to print, where did your info come from? Facebook messages or were you just waiting to release your updates from the original story and throw it into this one. This is yellow journalism at it’s finest, and before you start claiming I’m taking HOTF’s side, I’m not claiming any, my issue is with your article. Read the Daily report on this then the Freeholder, your worst enemy and maybe catch a few pointers, and if Facebook is a public domain maybe people should take screenshots of your dogs and your statuses, maybe including the one where you threw a hissy fit over the Freeholder leaving you off their little list…this is a city of no relevance to the rest of the world so who cares anyways.
@Lori… If you do not like CFN and what people have to say..why do you feel the need to keep coming back and writing more of your biased opinions??
On the page of Families of HOTF, you seem to take great delight in your angst about CFN..”going over there to say good morning”, and run back to HOTF family page to report on whether or not you have been able to stir up more sh*t.
News is news…2 sides to every storey, truth will prevail, and we will all know whats going on, or has gone on.
However, from the posts on here and on the Family of HOTF..you are the ONLY one trying to constantly stir the proverbial pot..
So… as you have said on the HOTF family site…people should block CFN from viewing peoples facebook etc( which are public domains) unless set to private…Somedays I wish that the readers here could block you..
Does anyone know which staff are not returning?
Yes RI – don’t put anything on your fb wall that you wouldn’t want anyone to read and see. Nothing is private on the internet as we’ve discovered with PRISM, and Echelon before that. Even having privacy settings can blow up when yesterday’s friend isn’t one later.
Thank you for viewing and participating on CFN. As the old quote goes; I may not agree with your opinion, but I’d fight to defend your right to have it as black and vicious as what you just posted was.
As for your quote above; “this is a city of no relevance to the rest of the world so who cares anyways.”
I’d like to think my city is relevant. I think if more people made our city relevant we’d all have better value and improve our city and its reputation.
Think about that one…
The daycare re opened. Good for them. If you wish to send your child there that is your own personal choice and if you stand behind this daycare, so be it. That is your personal choice as well!
There were allegations which may or may not have been true but that was someone’s personal opinion that the policies were a little flimsy and kids safety was in question. We have the ministry, CAS and the police investigating. Who cares if I’m pro or anti HOTF! It’s a personal choice. At the end of the day I shouldn’t have to see rude comments from pro or anti HOTF protesters telling me who and what to believe. This is why the proper respective organizations have stood up to investigate. Lets just allow them to do their due diligence. The investigation is not over and the daycare has a temporary license. Awesome. That means both sides should just shut it and see how things unfold. Does it really matter who is right and who is wrong and who has insider info Yatta Yatta Yatta??? Quit the jabs, quit with the negativity. If you love the daycare, awesome. If you think there is truth to the allegations then remove your child and find new care. Enough with the he said she said bullshit. Lets all let the professionals do their job. There are three different organizations involved and I am sure the truth, regardless of what that truth may be will surface.
‘If you don’t want the world to know your business don’t post it on Facebook’
@ newsreader – My “Good Morning” comment on FB was obviously tongue in cheek. I was coming over to see what you vultures were up to after the Mr. Stephenson announced that HOTF was open for business! As a supporter of HOTF, I was ecstatic & more than happy to rub it in the faces of those who made assumptions, false accusations & relied on the rumour mill for their information. As for me stirring the pot… Seriously? LOL! What? Because I challenge a few morons, I’m considered biased? Have you taken a look at the posts in this forum? 99% of the people posting here have the mentality of a lynch mob & would burn the Stephensons at the stake if given the chance. I don’t go back to the FB page to “report” anything or boast about stirring shit. Spare me. Nor did I tell anyone to block CFN. Get your facts straight. I said that if people didn’t want screen shots of their personal FB pages posted here on CFN, I highly recommend that they change their privacy settings.
Why is it ok for people who are not supporters of HOTF to go creep the FB page & return here to report their findings & not even accurately at that. Rarely have I seen a post where people’s words haven’t been twisted around. At least when I post, I don’t make up shit in order to sensationalize the story.
Why do I keep coming back here? None of your business, that’s why. If you don’t like my posts, don’t read ’em. Pretty simple. 🙂
Jamie, I realize that we haven’t exactly been on the same side of the fence, but I do want to thank you for allowing everyone to voice their opinions.
@Lori- where do you get the info that these are false accusations? Because someone from Heart told you so? That seems reliable!
“As a supporter of HOTF, I was ecstatic & more than happy to rub it in the faces of those who made assumptions, false accusations…”
I personally never assumed they would stay closed for good- I knew what to expect from the Ministry and knew that they would open once they complied with the list of things that the Ministry gave them to do.
With that being said, people still need to remember that there is an active investigation going on. Heart has reopened but is not in the clear by any means. The did not reopen because the accusations were deemed false. They are open because they have complied with set Ministry guidelines.
Allegations are still very real and being looked into by the police.
@LYNN and @ Reality Is.. – great posts, very well worded and well said, keeps people like @jstuart and @melanie Leger in check with there slanderous under-tones and bias remarks, still wondering though jamie why you have not removed or moderated the comment calling people that work at HOTF “freaks” thats unprofessional to even have that posted to the blog !
OV why do I have a creeping suspicion your last name is Stephenson?
@Outside/viewer… I also liked Lynn’s statement, however, I do not believe I have been slanderous is the least bit. I have stated facts and shared my experience. I’m not asking you to agree with me or change your opinion to match mine. I have not been mean to the “supporters” nor have I done any name calling. Maybe you should have a re-read! 😛
Nobody wants to see a viable business shut down by any level of government. Let’s hope that the HOTF stays open and operates within the requirements of the law.
Jamie I think you are right their. I made the same accusation on the last story.
@Mel, like I said before you can’t fix stupid. Let people think that the daycare was closed because of “false allegation” and reopened because in less then two weeks they proved them all wrong lol. There are people on here arguing FACTS and logic and are doing way more damage to their own cause then we ever could. Imagine all the intelligent people who are reading this for information and have no desire to comment. They are reading all these comments and they see what’s going on.
Once charges are laid they will be singing a different tune. Lets just say it could all come down to a haircut.
Wow !!! Can’t wait to hear the boasting about ‘views’ next month!! Really Jamie, just can keep personal out of it !!! When next Feb whatever comes along I hope that you pack right up and get the hell outta dodge…. Since the day you arrived in this city you have done nothing but stir up shit, and seem quite content doing it, even relishing in it. This is not your city and can’t wait until you go back to wherever it is you came from and leave us all the hell alone. For the record my last name is not Stevenson nor do I work at HOTF!
OV/Joe Blow… if you have such a problem with this guy and what/how he tells his new stories then why do you come to read?
If you have nothing to do with the situation then why do you feel the need to comment? Yes, you are entitled to share your opinion but if you have such a big problem why come here?!? You are getting your panties into an awful big knot for someone who doesn’t like CFN and has nothing to do with the Stephensons or HOTF.
We can all just hope that management will now do their jobs, and the MOE and CAS will keep close tabs on how this day care is run. I was pleased to see they are open again but I had to gasp when I read the caption under the thumbs up pic. Extremely unprofessional given the circumstances and reasons they were closed with “disregard for proper management of the day nursery”. Really bad timing on this lady’s part if she was hoping to return confidence to parents and the community. Nice example to set for the employees and children too. But I do wish them luck as I’ve heard some nice things about this center and parents do seem to be supporting them.
No one person or business is all bad or all good.
J. Stuart please enlighten us with all these charges that are going to be laid!!! you seem to have inside info so please share!!! Does anyone think for a minute that the Ministry would even give a temp license if there were charges that were pending to be laid like you say J. Stuart. Unbelievable to what depths former employees or HCF members (which I believe J. Stuart, you are one) will sink to…..
Jessica N. if you are referring to the comment attributed to Wanda Gareau, things are not always as they appear. So many that are against HOTF for one reason or another have been creeping HOTF FB pages. This stinks of Photoshop…
John Doe I can guarantee you that the photo of Wanda was legit. I also have to share that we have not allowed a few comments for utter violations of our posting privileges. If some of those folks are connected with HOTF it’s very sad indeed and all I can tell some of those folks is that when an organization behaves like HOTF has towards any media outlet it creates questions and conversations. Some of the answers and facets from those sometimes may not be flattering.
UR ALL {MODERATED} HEADS FOR BELIEVING EVERTTHING U READ ON THE INTERNET
Please refer to Schedule “A” 1. (i)
…this is your answer as to why the centre is reopened and an investigation ongoing.
admin the Photo could be legit but what of the caption? That might not be legit.
John Doe I witnessed it on Wanda’s fb page myself. The image was sent after when someone suggested that CFN was making something up. In other words they were busted. Lying to media is also something that is never a smart thing to do. We take offense at that.
OV/Nate – that’s um….mature…..
Left my comp open at work/ apparently there’s a few disgruntled employees around here that are not fans of CFN, {MODERATED}Ill be incredibly surprised if this post makes it considering you have decided no longer to post anything i write as you assume you now know my first name too ? breach of privacy, speculation, allegation, and blatant disregard for your own mission statement. What a joke ! you have “insider” knowledge” that you deem upon yourself to make public, again a perfect CFN moment where your making news, you learned how to use Facebook and found the Stephenson’s kids named and decided to take a shot in the dark ? once again will be surprised if this gets moderated by the “all powerful” admin but this is exactly why this is a blog , and you are a blogger, not a journalist. Not sure what you think you know “big” guy, but i guess a blog is as far as a high school diploma will take you
OV are you or aren’t you Nate Stephenson?
The Ministry, the police and CAS all have different mandates. And target different things in their investigations. I don’t believe that anyone is cleared of any allegations yet. But it seems strange how quickly people from HOTF are to write the allegations off. After reading some of the posts I wouldn’t want my kids at HOTF, as their supporters and employees all seem like they are immature and unprofessional. Is that really what you would want in a role model for your child?
It would be interesting to know why the Director isn’t allowed on the property.
Greetings everyone.
Thought I would take the time to mention something worthwhile in light of all this drama.
First of all from a Christian perspective one must note the story of the women who was caught in adultery and was brought to Jesus by the religious leaders of that day. These leaders had hoped that Jesus would endorse stoning the women to death as was common practice. Instead Jesus said “let he who has not sinned cast the first stone”. Fortunately for the women all had sinned and did not have the legal right to stone her.
I mention this because even if the allegations against HOTF are true none of us has the right to judge them unto condemnation, so I would suggest to those who are out for blood to simply walk away like those self righteous men did in the above mentioned story and let God decide their fate.
Secondly if anyone knows the story of Jesus one must remember that when he was falsely accused he did not open his mouth in his own defence. Jesus could have been proud and boastful and could have cited many of the good things he had done to try and convince his accusers to change their minds, instead he remained humble.
I say all of this to point out that it is quite possible that human pride on both sides of the story is actually at the heart of this story. Question remains will both sides finally show some humility?
@Alain,
I am sure you wrote this with the purest intentions. However its a classic warped religious view. How come whenever Christians are going through a hard time it is deemed to be ” trials and tribulations” ( a test from god). Then when they see someone suffer who they believe deserve it, its “Gods Wrath”
You want to loosely compare Chris to Jesus, well what about the hardships she has caused. This shut down would not have happened if she would have listened to the former program coordinator before Wanda, along with other staff who tried to work within the Day Nurseries Act. Instead of checking her pride at the door and listening to the professionals at her Daycare she intimidated them into submission, or the ones who continued to fight she fired them.
There is no way around this, she is a tyrant who demands absolute control of the information that leaves the daycare. And as we have learned in history with absolute Monarchies and what we have already discovered with how Chris handled (or shredded) certain documents. We know that Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
That is why this board of hand picked friends and church members need to be dismantled. They are not equipped with the proper tools or knowledge to keep her in check.
If you feel so bad for Chris how do you feel about the staff member s who lost their job by doing the right thing. And to top it all off you have management and supporters boasting about how much better the daycare will be now that the ministry came in. It came at the cost of the best staff members that centre ever had.
HI Mr. Stuart,
Thank you for your comments and duly noted. Please read again my original post. I do not deny or support the allegations made against the daycare. In a nutshell whatever is hidden in the dark will be brought out into the light. If the allegations are true then it will be clear. If they are false then those accused would be better off remaining humble in such circumstances than to open up their mouths in their own defense. Ultimately God is judge of all and both the accusers and the accused stand before him and will have to give an account.
The ministry shut HOTH DOWN PERIOD!That is a black eye for the daycare and wearing rose colored glasses cant HIDE this reality . Some of the serious infractions they uncovered were addressed by HOTF having to make immediate changes and commitments for the ministry to grant them a temporary license. Beyond the infractions ALREADY FOUND there is an on going investigation by C.A.S and the Police to see if there’s further negligence. Yes even Christians have to Obey the Laws of the land ! Oh and guess what tax payers have a God given right to know just what their hard earned dollars are going towards.Nearly 200.000 thousand dollars was handed over to Heart of the family Day Care through the city. Its like a game of shells or bait and switch regarding Executive Directors.You have Dave Wood in 2009 via standard freeholder making statements about his plans for the daycare ect. and of course they already had acquired their funding from the city. Then hes replaced by chris stephenson who has no formal education and isnt qualified!! Its like they had the right guy in place temporarily as executive director to bait the city for funding and then switched to the pastors wife after securing the funding. Ya the DEVIL is in the details which eventually lead to the closure of the day care due to unqualified abstinent mismanagement. Yet her face book states info by her AS Executive Directorate since 2008.So did standard free holder just make up the info cause no EARLY articles exist with chris as E.D LOL! Please stop this fiasco why should hard earned tax dollars go to pay an unprofessional executive directors salary under whos improper management HOTF was shut down! At the end of the day its always about the money..its a business as they have stated themselves on several occasions. If Jesus WAS running HOTF his main concern would be the children under his care..but the ministry is doing a great job acting on HIS behalf which CANT be said for the church who claimed to have such high standards and integrity that C.A.S and the Police have to investigate further due to earlier negligence improper conduct. BTW..Jesus had to chase a few money changers out of the temple cause they’re not a great mix.
@Brandi
Heart is not open based on a temporary license, if you would be so kind to refer to the ministry website you will find that Heart is open with 100% compliance. Also, 95% of the staff were already certified with CPR but to show the ministry respect and comply ALL staff went through the training again. So now these wonderful teachers are EXTRA certified. If I’m not mistaken miss Brandi, I would go out on a whim and say your name would be the one and only Erin-Dyck MArtin.. a disgruntled staff member who was terminated. Seems all of the hostile people who are putting up their remarks on this site are staff who were “wronged”. Move on and get over yourselves. Heart is open!! with 100% compliance license!
The ministry looks at their checklist and sure they may have 100% complainance, but that doesn’t take away they allegations of a chil falling due to lack of supervision, or a child being lifted up the stairs so their feet aren’t touching the ground. It also doesn’t take away allegations of childrend being restrained in high chairs for long periods of time and being faced into a wall. It also doesn’t take away the allegations of a child getting cleaning fluid all over and possibly ingesting. All it shows is they have fixed a few problems. Good for them for 100% on the checklist.
Just to clarify I resigned my position and I was NOT fired and if I have something to share about my experience it has and will continue to be where my voice matters and I certainly wouldn’t be hiding behind a pseudo name.. If you know me at all you know I have no issue standing up for myself.. Just ask Chris, she knows this well..Thanks for thinking of me though. . 🙂
Oh My!! I’m accused of BEING Erin Martin BY Erin Martina! Well isn’t that interesting considering Ive never met nor conversed with this individual. However it is ridiculous that you use the name Erin MarTINA as your own, that’s just so clever… NOT! You have my sympathy REAL ERIN if you worked under the unqualified and unprofessional Chris Stephenson PLAYING Executive director of HOTF at the TAX PAYERS EXPENSE! Also some staff and I particularly mean MANAGEMENT showed ZERO RESPECT regarding the Ministry’s shut down and SUSPENSION of Heart of the Family day care. It was as if they were being attacked unjustly by the Ministry ,C.A.S and Cornwall Police agency rather than ACKNOWLEDGING even so much as their Present Wrong Doings. Which were FOUNDED and had to be addressed by implementing changes to their Practices and Procedures if they were to REGAIN a license to operate..while an ongoing Police and C.A.S investigation Continues. Don’t tell me that “Out of respect” for the ministry they “retrained”…They had to “COMPLY” to the Directions of the Ministry due to the NEGLIGENCE of an uneducated , Pompous, Executive Director Chris Stephenson, appointed by a Board of close friends and church members. ALL this sadly at the Expense of CHILDREN’S better welfare …and the lowly tax payer footing the bill for a Game of Shells!
I wonder how many kids actually went back to this daycare? How many parents enrolled their kids somewhere else? Such a disgustingly shady town we have.
Next time I see people like yourselves (pros and cons on this issue) trying to sell as many pink t-shirts as you can on National Bully Day, I will blow my nose in it… these parents go on witchhunts to out child bullies while at the same time act like a bunch of cheap thugs..hypocrites using social media to control others and advance self serving morals…argue, bully, call eachother every name in the book..makes for good reading..but don’t think that your above the ranks of cheap dime-store hood.
I have something here for all of you to read and this child abuse isn’t just centred in Fossoli/Cornwall but right here in Ottawa. I just looked at Yahoo and I said that I have to send this to you. At Bayview Public School here in Ottawa some teachers were fired over having to force senior kindergarden kids to lay down and possibly their mouths taped. I will give you the name of the article just now to read:
Children at Ottawa daycare taped down during nap time; workers fired
http://ca.news/yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/chil
Not all people are made to look after kids and I had my problems both with individual sitters as well as with the schools. Only two sitters (2 wonderful Greek ladies) took good care of my kids or should I say 3 Greek ladies yes 3 were good. You have to be mighty careful about people today.
When my kids finished high school my husband and I said to the principal in Fossoli/Cornwall: thank God that I no longer have any more kids in school.
I miss the days when my kids were little but not to put them in the hands of bad people like what I did as a huge mistake. Know what is going on at all times with your children.
Jamie this is something for the people to read. We are living in dangerous times.
I was shocked but not surprized at the allegations and the closing of HOTF day care center. The bottom line is that there was enough findings by the outside agencies to close the center and to ensure that compliance and standards were met. I think as the investigation continues, we will hopefully get at the truth of the matter. I’ve worked with many day care centers, staff and schools throughout this area and some of the stuff I’ve seen has been disturbing. Why should this center be any different and how did they initially run this day care without everything in place to begin with? Personally, as a parent, this incident would cause me to lose faith in the ability of the center to provide appropriate care and programming for my child, I would not go back to it.
Looking after kids is one of the hardest jobs that anybody would want to undertake and it isn’t just anybody who can handle this. I had many private sitters in my time and I have heard a lot of horror stories of some daycare facilities here in Ottawa in past years. I went to a well known daycare when my kids were very small and I said no that I will send them to private care. Most sitters were the worst that anyone could ask for. I had only a few good ones and they had to go back to work and one left for Vancouver with her family.
When you have your child in care of other people (no matter who they are) you take a huge risk. When my kids were I the care of one particular Canadian woman she came well recommended by a woman that I knew who worked for CAS of all places – she was a social worker – and I can’t tell you the hell that I went through with her to find out just what kind of a person she was and the CAS was shocked when I told on her. I knew many people here in Ottawa of professional status and all I heard from that woman’s neighbors how my kids were badly neglected. I wrote a letter to my supervisor’s boss and resigned from my permanent government job to stay at home with my kids since they were the most important in my life. I never regretted what I did.
Read about what happened at Bayview Public School in the west end of Ottawa and see what happened there.
What about the children? I’m a little shocked and quite frankly appalled that more parents aren’t horrified at the thought of sending their children to HOTF. It is very disheartening that HOTF supporters don’t seem to realize or care that the children who attend HOTF and their parents look up to the staff and administration of the daycare for support and guidance. These poor children have been neglected and put in harmful situations and have been hurt while at HOTF. The bottom line in all of this is the safety and well being of the children. HOTF are not victims, the children are. Our community needs to stand up and be the voice for these children.