Safari Childcare

Do you like day care centers that keep the agreements they make with you upon enrollment? Don’t go to Safari. Safari entered into an agreement with me to provide care for my son on a flexible scheduling basis, then reneged and denied ever having entered into such an agreement (see my pictures for proof).
Do you like day care centers that keep their tuition rates steady for at least the school year, and provide advance notice of increases in tuition or changes to your plan? Don’t go to Safari. Safari wanted to hike my rates dramatically and cancel my enrollment plan (forcing me onto a more expensive plan) with only one week’s notice, mid-​school-​year.
Do you like day care centers that actually give you the rates they quote for you? Don’t go to Safari. I was cited a full-​time weekly rate of $ 240 for a two-​year-​old and $ 210 for a three-​year-​old in April ’16 for my change of enrollment in August ’16, and promised that I would continue to receive the old rates. Safari reneged on this in May ’16 and demanded that I pay for more days at higher rates within a week or get out of the program.
Do you like day care centers that respect your right to free speech and to talk about your experience with them in online reviews? Don’t go to Safari. As soon as I mentioned that I intended to talk about the rapid rate and program changes online, Laura Haas, District Manager for Safari, expelled my son from the program without warning or notice.
Do you like day care centers that aren’t drowning in DCFS investigations? Don’t go to Safari. ¹⁄₅^th of Safari’s centers were shut down by DCFS in 2015. The others are so badly under investigation that Safari has a prickly notice about it on its own Web site, avering to parents that it’s for the parents’ good that they won’t give parental information to DCFS investigators.
Do you like day care centers that keep you informed on how to contact them? Don’t go to Safari. Safari will change staff, change contact e-​mail addresses without any kind of notice, and then blame you for sending messages to a defunct e-​mail address. (See their disenrollment letter to me in pics.)
Do you like day care centers that treat their employees well? Don’t go to Safari. The reviews from former employees on sites like Indeed and GlassDoor are uniformly terrible.
Do you like day care centers that welcome questions about your bill? Don’t go to Safari. My mild inquiries into a possible billing error in which I admitted that I might be at fault were dramatically recast as aggressive accusations which warranted the immediate expulsion of my son from the program. (See my pictures of the e-​mails I sent inquiring about the bill. Do I sound angry and accusatory?)
Do you like day care centers that will try to scare you and intimidate you? Safari is the place to be. After expelling my son from the program without warning or notice, District Manager Laura Haas-​of-​Lies threatened to call the police on me. There had been no threat to her person, my voice was completely calm, and we were *talking on the phone;* she could have hung up at any time. She later sent me a letter demanding that I stay 500 feet away from any Safari location, something that she has no legal right to demand free of a protective order. Safari will try to scare you into silence with intimidation and lies, hoping you will be ignorant of your rights and what the law actually says.
I have posted the «incident report» that Laura Haas-​of-​Lies prepared on why she kicked my son out of Safari in its entirety. I think her histrionics and unprofessional attacks on my parenting speak volumes. Do you want Safari to write a report like that about YOU? Then stay far, far away, and you’re welcome.

Safari is the best daycare around. They have help with my two grandchildren that i have custody of. They have been a support system that the kid needed and are very caring.
The teacher are so nice and understanding.
they let you know how your kids day went and if they had any issue.
I thank God for Safari everyday!!!

Do not send your children here.
Management and staff are unprofessional, many of the teachers don’t perform the diapering procedure correctly, the staff to child ratio is constantly off and creates an unsafe environment for the children, and there is a lot of yelling rather than redirection.
my 20 month… I noticed on one occasion that he was not changed on the every 2 hour schedule that is supposed to be followed, and was given his bottle 2 hours after I told his teacher he was to get one.
I’ve worked in childcare for many years before I became a nurse. I would not recommend this place to any of my family and friends.
All of these facilities need major change.

This place needs to get it together. The daycare is broken up into 5 rooms (according to age). My kids have been in ³⁄₅ of them. The absolute BEST room and BEST teacher is Ms. Anne in Young Preschool. All of the kids adore her! Her room is structured, loving and Ms. Anne keeps everything under control so there isn’t much chaos. (Chaos is not conducive to learning!) By far, the absolute WORST room is Old Preschool. The turn around in that room is CONSTANT. Every time I turn around a teacher is gone and there are new people in there… and the worst part? There is no communication about it!!! These kids don’t even get to build a bond/​trust with some of these people before they are gone. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, they do form a bond and then the teacher is gone without notice. The room is always in complete and utter disarray and chaos. The kids are all over the place. There seems to be no organization/​control on the teacher’s part. I think that they need to adjust the teacher/​child ratio for better supervision in that room. But the weird thing is, even though they always have different/​new teachers in there-​that place is always a chaotic mess! I don’t get it. As I briefly eluded to previously, the communication with parents is almost non-​existent which I think is inexcusable. When my kids switched rooms (graduated to the next, older room), there was no introduction/​transition meeting or conference or… anything! Not even a quick 2-​minute formal introduction. I was never formally introduced to their new «teachers». I don’t even know the people watching my kids anymore! If my kids could just be in Ms. Anne’s room forever, I would feel very confident leaving my kids at Safari and would feel that they are in safe, loving hands. But these days, every time I drop my kids off and I head for the exit, I always have a terrible feeling in my gut. It’s just an undeniable feeling of uneasiness. I HATE leaving them there. (One time, my mother-​in-​law was there and she saw a 2 or 3 y/​o wandering the hallway unattended. She said the teacher didn’t even notice that the child had left the room.) Unfortunately, the only other option that I have for childcare that the school district can pick them up/​drop them off at, we cannot afford… We’re stuck with this for now. If you have any other option, I would recommend going with that one over Safari (at least the Algonquin rd location-​I don’t know about the other locations).
One thing I forgot to mention. Approx. around last summer, there was a new teacher or teacher’s aid working in Old Preschool who was great. She was always smiling/​friendly/​high energy/​kids seemed to love her. Then all of a sudden, she was gone (like usual). But what happened was that they let her begin working although they had not yet received her credentials (the director at the time actually told me this). So, after she had already been working at Safari for weeks, they couldn’t let her come back until they got her credentials… so that makes me wonder. If they are letting people «teach» our children, before confirming that they have formal education to do so… are they also letting people be around our children before doing a proper background check???

If there was a rating lower than one I would have given that rating to Safari day care specific location. The school director has no credibility and integrity. She changes her words as the weather. She then makes a cold face (when changing the story) with no expressions and regrets. I had my child attend this location and there was zero effort from the teachers to involve my child in any school activity. Thus my child remained lonely. Teachers themselves do not do much effort and show any passion in their work. Please do not waste your money at this day care. Your child is very valuable especially while you are away from him/​her this day care will not give your child any Care & Attention !

I’ve had my now toddler at this day care for almost a year now. I absolutely love this place. My daughter has learned so much being at this location. She knows how to name a lot more things/​items than your average 2 year old. She has greats manners, of course we enforce it at home and at daycare they reinforce it. She knows sing alongs, shapes, numbers and some colors. I will say that they do consistently have new employees but there is one who attends to my daughters class Ms. Wendy and she is amazing! My daughter loves her and asks for her on a daily basis. The director Beth is also very sweet and kind. I definitely recommend this place :)