A Los Angeles daycare where at least three toddlers were drugged with methamphetamine is still open, still accepting children, and — according to about half a dozen parents who spoke to CBS California Investigates — still not telling families about any of it. The state of California found out in July 2024. It is now June 2026. Do the math.
What Actually Happened to These Kids
On May 30, 2024, Jose Aguilar's 4-year-old daughter came home from Rainbow Early Learning Center in Winnetka vomiting, unable to sleep, unable to stop talking, and unable to sit still for two days straight. He and his wife took her to the hospital. Her bloodwork came back positive for amphetamine.
Around the same time, a 2-year-old girl from the same daycare tested positive for methamphetamine. The two children had no family connection. They didn't see each other outside of school. The one thing they had in common was that they both went to Rainbow Early Learning Center and came home poisoned.
A California Department of Social Services investigation completed in July 2024 found that a daycare employee had, and this is the state's own language, "placed a small bag containing meth in a bathroom cubby." The investigation concluded that three children were "exposed to and allowed to ingest substances containing amphetamine and/or methamphetamine." The employee was fired. She is now barred from working at any facility licensed by CDSS. And Rainbow Early Learning Center is still open.
The Punishment: A Strongly Worded Probation
Here is what happened after the state confirmed toddlers had ingested methamphetamine at a licensed childcare facility. Tampe Management, the company that owns Rainbow Early Learning Center, reached an agreement with CDSS in February 2026 — a year and a half after the investigation concluded — that included the revocation of the facility's license.
Except the revocation is on hold. For three years. While the facility operates under probationary conditions. So the punishment for running a daycare where children were given meth is: keep running the daycare, just on probation, and try not to do it again for three years.
CBS California Investigates visited the facility in April 2026 and was met by a woman who closed the gate and refused to answer any questions. The school's director, reached separately by phone, confirmed the employee had been fired. That appears to be the extent of the accountability conversation the facility is interested in having.
Parents Had No Idea
California state regulations require that Rainbow Early Learning Center inform all current and prospective parents of its probationary status. According to CBS California Investigates, about half a dozen parents said they had received no such notification. None.
Dominic Gamali, whose daughter currently attends the daycare, told CBS California Investigates: "Under no circumstances should people be able to get off easy. I feel these establishments should be completely shut down." He said this as a parent who still had a child enrolled there, apparently because nobody had told him what the state investigation found.
Attorney Ese Omofoa, who represents the Bekir family in a lawsuit against the facility, told CBS California Investigates that when the children first showed symptoms, staff didn't take it seriously. "Parents weren't notified. Medical personnel wasn't contacted," he said. Two toddlers had to be taken to the hospital and have their blood tested before anyone started paying attention.
This Is Not an Isolated Incident
CBS California Investigates pulled data from CDSS showing that between 2020 and 2025, 393 childcare centers and family daycare homes across California were placed on probationary status for failing to comply with health and safety regulations. Los Angeles County alone accounted for 132 of those.
Here is where it gets worse. When CBS California Investigates filed a Public Records Act request for the names and addresses of those facilities, CDSS said that information is exempt from disclosure. They asked for the dates the probationary orders were issued. CDSS said that data is unavailable due to system limitations. They asked for the reasons facilities were placed on probation. CDSS said the request "exceeds the scope of the Department's responsibilities under the Public Records Act."
So: 393 childcare facilities across California are on probation for safety violations, and the state agency responsible for child welfare has determined that parents do not have the right to know which ones, when, or why. CDSS did note that it also has a separate ongoing investigation into another Tampe Management facility after a lawsuit alleged a child was left in a locked vehicle for approximately an hour. That daycare's staff also declined to comment.
The Kids Are Not Okay
Aguilar's daughter is now 6 years old. She still struggles to focus at school and at home. She cannot make it through the night on her own. Her parents have set up a bed for her in their room so they can check on her.
"It's really hard for me. We don't sleep the same like normal before because I have to check my daughter every day," Aguilar told CBS California Investigates. His daughter was drugged at daycare when she was 4 years old and is still experiencing the effects two years later. The facility that did this to her is still open and accepting children.
Both Aguilar's and Bekir's daughters have since been moved to different schools. That is the only justice these families have seen so far.
The Dingo Take
Let's be precise about what California decided here. The state investigated a daycare, confirmed that a staff member hid methamphetamine where toddlers could reach it, confirmed that at least three children ingested it, confirmed that symptoms were ignored and parents were not notified, and then gave the facility a three-year probationary period and sent them on their way. A 4-year-old went home vomiting and wired on meth and the institutional response was: probation. Three years. Don't do it again.
And the California Department of Social Services, the agency charged with protecting children in licensed care facilities, has structured its record-keeping in such a way that 393 facilities are flagged as safety violations and the public cannot find out which ones they are. This is not a bureaucratic oversight. This is a system that is actively more protective of childcare operators than of the children in their care. The only tool CDSS pointed parents toward was a search function where you can look up individual facilities by name. Which helps a lot if you already know which facility to distrust.
Somewhere in Los Angeles County right now, a parent is dropping their kid off at one of 132 probationary childcare facilities without knowing it. The state knows. They just decided that's not information parents need. A 6-year-old can't sleep through the night because a daycare employee left meth in a bathroom cubby, and the daycare is on probation. California, you absolute disaster.
