Equally Created

UPDATE: Although Leslie replied to this review, I had a very unfortunate interaction with her while dropping my daughter off at the center this morning. I was confronted by Leslie as I walked in the building and she was talking extremely loud at me letting me know how she felt about my constructive criticism and concerns. I chose not to engage with her as I was holding my child and it was 7 AM. When she realized I was not engaging and I kept walking, she decided to start yelling as I was walking away down the hallway. A daycare director confronting a parent, especially while they are holding their child, is extremely unprofessional and I now see who Leslie truly is and how she handles situations. Very unfortunate as I never meant for it to come to this, I only wanted to advocate for my daughter. i want to preface by saying we absolutely loved this childcare center in the beginning. My child entered at 8 weeks old and I was commuting an hour out of my way just so she could attend. We ended up leaving and going elsewhere closer to home when she was around 9 months old but quickly came back after only being gone for a week as the care she received at the new center did not compare to Equally Created. However, in March/April 2026 it seemed as though there were quite a few familiar teachers no longer there with little to no communication or info on new employees around my child. My daughter is developmentally delayed due to having Down Syndrome but she is healthy and thriving. I inquired so many times about when she would move up to the next classroom but she was consistently kept in the infant room with children almost a year younger than her. Peer modeling is so important and my daughter was kept from peers her age from what I speculated as them simply not wanting to accommodate her extra needs. I got many reasons as to why she could not move up, reasons that they are required to accommodate based on ADA laws. I tried to be kind and understanding in the beginning but understandably began to get frustrated as I noticed 2 children months younger than my child were moved up. You truly will never understand what it’s like for your child to be excluded due to a disability until you’re experiencing it yourself. I emailed the director, Leslie, about this after we ultimately decided to part ways with Equally Created and transition to a different center. I started the email conversation wanting to give constructive criticism and really get across how hurt I felt as a mother. I was met with excuses, no questions answered, statements that were untrue, and then she ended the email conversation by saying I was being too emotional and “I will not try to offer any further information about our process”. I believe Leslie felt she could talk to me in this way due to helping me with childcare finances while we were going through the adoption process and lost our state funded voucher. I truly do not believe she would’ve spoke in this way to a family that pays full price. Leaving Equally Created like this was ultimately very disappointing. I believe the directors may just need a little more knowledge on developmentally delayed children and how to integrate them into age appropriate classrooms and also how to speak to parents in a less demeaning way. Im hoping this experience will help future families and also teach others compassion and empathy. As a childcare center, you should always be open to criticism, that’s how you do better.