Sunday

To Employers in Colorado...

beware 3 I don't know if you can do anything, but I feel better knowing that I am making contact in hopes it might stop future abuse from happening. I live in Spring TX. I have a 4 year old son and an 8 year old son. From October 5 2009 until October 19th 2010, we had a nanny working for us. She was hired thru a nanny agency and was perfect for my boys. However, things changed and she was fired October 19th 2010 after I set up a camera and recorded 10 hours worth of video of this woman with my children. The video revealed this woman sleeping on the couch for hours and leaving my then 3 yr old son completely unattended, ignoring my children, screaming, yelling, name calling, spanking, lying to us about the events of the day and excusing herself to my bedroom to relieve herself of sexual frustrations. She was reported to the nanny service I hired her from, who removed her from their database and vowed never to list her again, and to Child Protective Services here in the Harris county area. The CPS worker that I filed the report with told me that the State of Texas could not file charges against her because she didn't physically leave the property and there was no bruising on my sons. They could however list on her background checks that she has been flagged as an abuser. He explained that this would prevent her from working with children again in a job that did a background check i.e. daycare centers, school districts, and nanny agencies and if by chance she was with any of those places already a random background check would also reveal this information and she would be fired. It wouldn't however prevent her from taking a job watching her neighbors kids where a background check might not be done. I felt I was able to protect some children from future abuse.

I recently found out she will be moving from Texas to Colorado and is looking to finish her early education degree and go back to working as a nanny or in a day care center until her education is complete. I contacted the CPS office again worried that more children might now be in danger. I was informed by Texas CPS, Child Care Licensing, and Background Department that this flag will not transfer from state to state. It needed to be criminal charges in order to prevent her from hurting anymore kids, which I was informed in December the State of Texas was not going to do.

I feel totally helpless here and want to warn everyone of this woman, Brittani H****, in hopes that should she apply with their agency, maybe just maybe they will refuse her. I know this could be looked at as just heresay, but I would want someone to inform me if they knew something that wouldn't show up on a background check. I don't know where in Colorado she is moving, just that she is moving in with her boyfriends sister in Colorado. I have her name and social security number as well as her TX Drivers License number, if it is needed. I hope some prevention of future child abuse can be done. Thank you.

15 comments:

Truth Seeker... said...

Wow..this nanny sounds like she is not only negligent w/children, she also is abusive as well. There is no excuse for her to be sleeping while your child is awake and to yell and call your children names. The worst part of this is the fact that she spanked your children w/out your permission!! She should definitely NEVER ever work caring for young children again. EVER!! I would be so mad if someone laid their hands on my children!
I had a quick question...it seems you set up the nanny cam later on as opposed to when you initially hired her. Did something happen where you had suspicions? Anyway, I am glad you are taking a very pro-active approach to insure that no other family went through what you did. I hope your children weren't emotionally affected by this crazy/lazy person. I hope they now have a competent and loving nanny who represents the vast majority of us. :)

brynn maer said...

How do you know she beat off in your bedroom? How many cameras are we setting up?

Truth Seeker said...

Were there any in the bathroom as well??!

toodles said...

Stay home with your children, nannies lie and use friends and relatives for referances and you would never know it! I have worked as a nanny in a home where a infant died in the care of a previous nanny. When I arrived at the job there was a kindergardener and a infant. I don't understand how the mother went back to work, I would have chosen to stay home with my baby. Unfortunately it is all about the money with these working parents.

MissMannah said...

I can't force myself to focus on the point of this post because of this line: "excusing herself to my bedroom to relieve herself of sexual frustrations". What??? How in the world would you know that unless you were specifically filming her in the bathroom, in which case she can sue the pants off you! (no pun intended)

MissMannah said...

Ok, I just realised I'm blind and it says "bedroom" not bathroom. Looks like I need a new glasses prescription pretty soon.

I still think it is pretty crazy that this nanny worked for you for over a year before you did anything. Did you not have any suspicions? Did your 8 year old never say anything?

Nanny E said...

I'm pretty surprised that the general consensus here seems to be that the OP should not have had a camera in her bedroom..why not? I work as a nanny, and they have cameras in every room except the bathrooms and my bedroom. They were very upfront about them, and showed me them when I started work with them. The OP maybe should have told the nanny about the cameras, but is that the real issue here?! She MASTURBATED in their BEDROOM! While she was on the clock and around their children! That is so disgustingly obscene and highly unprofessional! If she was a live in, and they had taped her in her own room privately or something, I can see the issue, but I really don't feel sorry for a nanny this screwed up

Nanny E said...

@ MissMannah I was wondering the same thing...maybe it was a typo, and she meant Oct 2009 as an end date? If not, did she wait a year before looking at the cameras? Kinda confusing

Jacqui said...

If the nanny did that in the bedroom, then please do not show the tape to your husband. Take my word for it. Don't do it. You'll regret it.

Wow said...

Mom must have become suspicious after a year because she stated that nanny was fired on
October 19, 2010, after she set up a camera and recorded 10 hours of the nanny with her children.

Victoria said...

I guess we won't be finding out if Mom had a camera in every room of the house.
I bet your nanny suspected the cameras and was sleeping, masturbating and the like so you would fire her. She probably hated the job and wanted to be fired. Such immaturity, but it happens more often than not. I was once a nanny who hated her job, but didn't want to be the bad guy who put out the whole family, so I just slept, left the house a mess and talked on my cell phone and texted so my bosses would fire me. It worked and now I have a better job where I make twice as much.
Just a thought....

nycmom said...

Victoria, I'm not clear on how that was better for you. I am genuinely curious. Wouldn't it have been better to make up another reason for needing to leave, get a great written reference, give notice and then move on? I ask only because I would assume your new employer wanted a reference and the old employer would have given a poor one.

Victoria said...

To nycmom-I didn't use them as a job reference since I was only there three weeks. I hated that job. They referred to me as the "hired help" over and over when they were talking to people on the phone and whenever people were over. Once, she even told the cable guy that the "hired help" would let him in the next day. They barely spoke to me, except to give me instructions on what to do for the day and whenever I tried to speak to them, they acted like they were too good for me. Snobs. They were rich and lived on a beautiful estate and probably viewed me as "beneath them." The funny part is that they offered full disclosure on the cameras when I started the job and I STILL slept and did a lousy job. They must have been scratching their heads about that one...like, "WTF is she doing? After all, she knows she is being videotaped????!!"....lol.

nycmom said...

Victoria,

Well that makes sense! Sorry you had such a bad experience, and glad you have now found a great job!

Reese said...

I would be careful of posting negative information on CL. I have done so before regarding a bad home daycare that my son was in for a week. I not only got flagged multiple times, but I also was threatened by the owner of the daycare that if I didn't stop, she was going to sue me for libel. I think she was spitting out fluff, but who knows what one can do? I know it is a crime to pretend you are someone else on FB. You can pay a hefty fine or go to jail. I would err on the side of caution and just let it go.