State regulators are seeking to revoke the license of the home child care center in San Jose where two 1-year-old girls drowned in a backyard pool on Monday.
Authorities are still investigating how Payton Cobb of Hollister, and Lillian Hanan of San Jose, were able to access the pool at the Happy Happy Home Daycare facility on Fleetwood Drive in San Jose's Almaden Valley neighborhood. The Department of Social Services’ Community Care Licensing Division did not wait for police to finish their investigation. On Wednesday, it issued a temporary license suspension against the operators, Nina Fatizadeh and Shanin Shenas.
The regulators have filed a petition to permanently revoke the license as well.
The facility had previously received six citations for monitoring and staffing violations since being licensed in July 2021. While regulators had expressed initial concerns about securing the backyard pool against access by children, they ultimately ruled that gaps in the 5-foot-high barrier had been taken care of.
According to the license revocation, Kevin Gaines, deputy director of the licensing division, alleges the operators “failed to ensure the inaccessibility of a pool at the facility, which caused the deaths” of the two children along with serious injury to a third child.
Gaines’ petition goes on to allege the operators “engaged in conduct that is inimical to the health, morals, welfare, or safety of either an individual in or receiving services from the facility.”
Separately, regulators moved to impose a total of $11,000 in fines related to the incident.
The operators have not responded to requests for comment. They have the right to a hearing to fight the revocation and fine if they choose.
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