Safari Childcare

After reading a previous review from November 2010, this does not seem to be an acceptable place for both children and adults. Lucky for me I have not had to use, nor will I use, their services. What I can comment on is the hiring practices experienced there. A friend of ours had the experience of going through the entire process of their job application. When it came time to offer a job, this is when the experience turned south. After receiving the initial message about their desire to hire, numerous follow up attempts by our friend were made to confirm the job acceptance. After several voice mail messages and e-mails to the facility that went unanswered, they were finally informed that the position was filled because of a lack of response by the receiptent and the job offer was no longer available. WHAT!!??? \r \r Once again another attempt was made to confirm if an opening was available. Initially the response was positive in which there were still job openings available. But once AGAIN, the HR contact was ""in a meeting"" and suddenly there were no job openings available. WHAT!!??\r \r In the end, it appears that our friend was better off. Based upon the review from November 2010 and this experience I will not be making any recomendations for this company. more

I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with my first two children, but with my third I could not, due to starting law school. I could not find very many reviews about Safari, and I realize now, why. I sent in a comment to the corporate office, as well as posting another review, but they must have deleted any “negative” reviews. That seems fairly suspect…. \r \r We enrolled in two different centers, because I thought it was just an anomaly that the first center did not work out for us. Both were identical in terms of bad business practices. First, the staff turnover rate was extremely high. My son went to Pre-K day care for 4 months, and we must have seen a dozen different teachers and staff. I finally had a candid conversation with one of the staff members, and she told me that they get paid minimum wage, and get no vacation or holidays at all during the year. Also, Safari employs teachers right out of school, and as soon they can find something that pays better, they move on. All the teachers I spoke with were very nice, although they all seemed extremely overworked and stressed. Often they were worried about things that seemed more administrative, such as being able to provide lunches or running out of supplies. The same staff member told me that it was because their corporate office is extremely concerned with their budget, and therefore will only purchase the cheapest, most generic foods, and as minimally as possible. I witnessed one of the staff have an emotional break down and run out of the center one evening, after having a telephone conversation with her boss. \r \r The temperature in the buildings was also at times unbearable. I would drop my son off in the morning, and during the summer it was entirely too hot. In the fall/winter, it was freezing when I would come in to pick him up. Often, he would be hungry and very cranky. He developed two viral infections during the time period there. That was the final straw. It is very difficult to entrust strangers with the care of your child, and I sincerely believe that there is something suspicious about the very structure of this company. Perhaps they are worried more about the “bottom line” and financial issues, rather than the well being of the children. Whatever it is, I won’t be returning. I enrolled my son in Kinder Care, and we have been very pleased. \r \r Hopefully this review will help others with making an informed decision about where to send their children, if it doesn’t get deleted like my first review. \r more