Families of 50 children searching for child care after day care evicted
Dozens of Cincinnati families are scrambling after a large child care center suddenly announced it is closing its doors immediately.
By Jatara McGee
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CINCINNATI, Ohio (WLWT) — Dozens of Cincinnati families are scrambling after a large child care center suddenly announced it is closing its doors immediately.
Families learned over the weekend that Cozy Home Childcare & Learning Center in Avondale is shutting down. The center was open Monday only for families to stop by to pick up their belongings.
The business is being evicted from the property. It opened its doors in 2020, providing a child care option for 6-week-old babies all the way up to 12-year-olds.
The owner, Morgan Brown, started an in-home child care center with six children. With the help of a local development corporation and other community organizations, she was able to expand the business, moving into a new building at the Avondale Town Center in 2020. She said her business was currently caring for between 50 and 55 children.
“I feel heavy with the burden of what the parents are having to go through, what the staff are having to go through,” Brown said. “I was not under the impression we would close, all until — well through this past weekend.”
Eviction proceedings started in late April, but Brown said she was reaching out to city leaders and local organizations for help. She believed there was still hope she could keep the day care’s doors open.
Moms like Keyshawn Byrd are extremely worried they will not be able to find another child care option quickly.
“You don’t want to worry about your kids while you’re at work — not getting treated right. And I feel like Cozy Home was giving my kids what they need,” Byrd said.
Her five- and 10-year-old boys both attended the child care center and seemed to love it. Byrd spent much of the day Monday making calls to other day care centers.
“They’re just saying that they’re full… Their summer program already started. Sorry, we can’t help you. Then they send you out to other child care and they tell you the same thing,” she said. “If I don’t find no support, I have to keep calling off work or send my kids to Virginia, and I don’t want to do that.”
She fears that will be her only option, sending her kids to stay with close relatives in Virginia for the summer until school starts back up.
Other parents who stopped by the child care center Monday expressed similar worries about finding other reliable child care.
Community Builders, a Boston-based nonprofit that owns and manages the Avondale Town Center, released a statement to WLWT.
It reads, “We respect the recent court ruling to end the commercial tenancy of Cozy Home at Avondale Town Center. This court decision follows years of documented concessions we extended to Cozy Home, in an effort to preserve access to child care in Avondale.
Providing high-quality child care at Avondale Town Center continues to be our highest priority. We understand the temporary disruption this may cause families and are connecting parents with licensed, short-term child care providers. Families may receive more information from Preschool Promise at (513) 447-4277 or 4C for Children at (513) 221-0033.
We are grateful to our Avondale partners and neighbors for their continued support. Avondale Town Center continues to attract and retain a variety of local businesses with quality services and amenities for local families.”
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