Parents of kids in need of daycare have been left without answers after the Kids Fort Child & Out of School Care burnt down in early August.
The fire, which occurred on August 14, is being investigated as arson. Parents were initially told that they could bring kids to a sister daycare in Sherwood Park but details have been sparse ever since.
Brandi Holyoak, one of the parents affected, says that daycare management has gone silent.
“The fire didn’t just affect the owners but the families who were involved with it,” said Holyoak.
This has led to some frustration as parents like Holyoak scrambled to find alternative plans for their kids while also trying to be reimbursed money for a service that effectively doesn’t exist.
“I messaged the daycare regarding payments because I had paid for August and because I had the funds at the time, I also paid for September so I didn’t have to stress,” said Holyoak. “I emailed them inquiring about refunds for September and what I should do and I have yet to receive a response back.”
“I don’t expect August [to be refunded] but for the families who had paid for September, what do we do? That’s a large amount of money to fork out and then to have to find brand new daycare, even if it’s temporary, we have to pay those fees again.”
Holyoak has exhausted every contact around the daycare to get answers, whether that is through a specific app used by the daycare, emails, and even Facebook messages. The most frustrating part is that it seems her messages are wilfully being ignored.
“My messages are showing that they are being read but they are not being responded to,” said Holyoak.
In all, Holyoak is out an additional $230 because of this situation, which she agrees is not a whole lot of money but it is still money that is effectively going nowhere.
“It's not a lot of money but, in the end, it’s still money I had to earn and fork out for a service that is not being provided.”
FortSaskOnline attempted to get in contact with the daycare, but all attempts were unsuccessful.