The San Jose child care facility where two children drowned Monday had been cited for staffing and monitoring violations by state licensing officials who initially raised separate concerns about the potential for children to access the backyard pool where the deaths later occurred, state licensing records show.
The Happy Happy Home Daycare facility on Fleetwood Drive is operated by Nina Fathizadeh and Shanin Shenas, according to state records, which show the joint operators first sought a state license to run the small family day care facility in 2020.
The backyard pool at the home immediately drew the attention of regulators during pre-licensing inspections in December 2020 and January 2021, according to records from the California Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing division.
Inspectors found four-inch gaps at both ends of the fence enclosing the pool which they noted needed to be reduced, according to their notes from the time. They also noted the fence needed to be altered so the pool wasn’t accessible by “four windows behind the fencing that lead directly to the pool,” according to the inspection records. The inspectors also identified gaps that needed to be addressed on either side of the pool-access gate.
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Later in January 2021, records show, inspectors appeared satisfied the operators had made the necessary changes and issued them a license to operate the daycare center with a capacity of eight children.
“The pool area is inaccessible to the children in care,” the regulators noted. “All items that posed a potential threat to the children in care, from the side and back yard area, have now been removed. The area examined is now in compliance with the health and safety regulations, in accordance with Title 22.”
Since being licensed in January 2021, the facility has been cited six times by state inspectors, including two serious Type A citations, which pertain to immediate health or safety concerns.
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Five of those citations came during an unannounced annual inspection in January of this year, according to state records.
In one instance, inspectors noted an adult assistant in the day care was on duty but had not gone through the requisite criminal record clearance, leading to one Type A citation.
The day care received a second Type A citation when inspectors found five infants in the home, when their license limited the number of infants being cared for at one time to four, according to state records.
The California Department of Social Services also cited the owners for lesser violations in January, including failing to perform a disaster drill within the past six months, failing to fulfill mandated reporter training obligations, and not notifying parents of their rights.
Just last month, the daycare was issued another Type B citation for failing to document the proper monitoring of sleeping infants.
The owners of the daycare center have not responded to NBC Bay Area’s requests for comment.
On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office identified the two victims as 1-year-old Payton Cobb of Hollister and 1-year-old Lillian Hanan of San Jose.
A third unidentified child was rescued from the pool Monday morning with non-life threatening injuries, according to police.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Social Services declined comment, saying the incident remains under investigation.
