Safari Childcare

The only reason I'm writing this review is too warn other parents that their kids are not safe there. My son got hurt twice, I wasn't notified and staff didn't even know what happened. Just concerns me because I pay so much and it seems like it didn't matter. There is always new staff, my son finally got use to her new teacher there and than a few days later another new staff member. Makes ya think what's really happening there while I'm at work. more

Please listen to the reviews about poor district management. She is rude to parents, blames parents for staffing problems and talks about her employees personal problems. She can't take any responsibility for poor service and doesn't even have kids herself. She is incapable of keeping her staff and the kids suffer, my kid was picked up 2 days in a row with dirty diapers. They weren't putting cream on, causing a horrible rash. We were here 2 months and there were 2 mgrs.. \r \r more

I know for a FACT that they DO actually make their employees write their own reviews for them. Management doesn't know what they are doing, and nobody is happy here more

My child started here at 3mo age. Since then I have moved him to a different location at 12 mo age. Overall I was pleased/ok with the care he received. There are a few teachers there that I absolutely loved and felt comfortable leaving him with. One thing that always ircked me was their turn over rate. There are several Teachers and TA's at this location that really seem to like what they do and care as to what the child is fussing about, while others just realize this profession is not for them. They were kind and worked with me and any request I made. The AM lead teacher is awesome! Overall if I ever had to use them again I would be ok with it. more

DCFS should be informed of these actions more

I am not surprised that there are sooooo many bad reviews of safari! Like many others I had a horrible experience with the management. My daughters rate was supposed to be changed to a lower one at the beginning of this summer and I had more than one conversation with the director about it. Then six weeks later I found out she never made the adjustment and she took no blame for it stating that I never told her for sure that I wanted a lower rate! First of all, we had the conversation more than once and secondly, why would I want to pay more if I didn't have too?? She was coming more days a week and I was adding my son so her rate was supposed to go down. She said I was supposed to have signed a tuition rate change sheet and given it to her. Ummm, she never gave me a tuition sheet in the first place! She never even mentioned it during the few times we talked about it! But, that's not her fault right? Then during the whole dispute they agreed to go back and adjust the rate but said I had to pay a 100 non-refundable dollar security fee to keep coming there! Really?!?! Of course I said I don't think so, just give me my credit and I will be on my way. And this is the best part. I get an email saying that if they were to go back and adjust my rate then I would have had to be paying 2 weeks in advance and would have had to pay that 100 sec deposit to get that lower rate. They said, It's all written on the tuition sheet! Ummmmmmm, the director FAILED to give me that remember! So how am I to know to pay 2 weeks in advance and give them a hundred bucks! So she never gave it to me or even verbalized it! So they basically went back on everything they said they were going to do and I didn't get a refund. Oh yeah, and they treated me like dirt during this whole matter. I was planning on pulling my daughter out and finding a better place this fall anyway, now I just have to do it a few weeks earlier. I only settled for Safari because I needed very minimum hrs of childcare and they are the only one I had found that offer an hourly rate. I always knew that if I needed care for my daughter more days a week, which I do now, I would NOT want her there. I ALWAYS felt they were very disorganized in the office. I found it to be often chaotic in the office and the management always looked flustered. I hope this saves other parents from taking the cheap route because it's not worth it. more

As a nurse, I would say, these people are unprofessional in dealing with what happened inside the daycare. My son had a bloody lips due to some playtime which I don't mind. What bothers us was that they did not informed us when it happened. We only found out about it was when my husband picked him up in the afternoon. They even have a form about the accident and it was so odd that they did not call us because there was a questions that states "" Where the parents/guardian informed?"" OBviously they did not. I made them aware of their failure about it and pointed out that these are children who cannot speak out for themselves yet. And as parents we have to know these things for our children's safety. Then it happened again and still did not hear about the incident till my husband picked my son up. The people working there are unprofessional and rude when they speak to me in-front of my kid. I'm not even sure if these people have gone to school about childcare. It is true Laura does not care. I don't even understand why she became a director. That place is not safe for kids. They will not report to us properly what has happened inside that daycare. All the good teachers are gone, replaced by rude individuals who does not know how to respect each child and be an advocate for their well-being. more

I just want to say that I think Safari Childcare it wonderful! Over the past 2 years, my son has had the opportunity to attend at the locations in Palatine, Cary, and McHenry. He absolutely loves all 3. My education and professional background is in education and I have been consistently impressed by how much my son is learning, from letter sounds and vowels to our city, state and capital to concepts such as more and less at an early age. Safari keeps him busy every day and I have projects all over my refrigerator to prove it. He has met many friends and talks about Safari constantly. I also love that I only pay for the hours he attends! more

My son went to Safari for 2 weeks, and this daycare lies to the state and tries to get money from other assistance programs even tho I had paid for services. They have very young girls taking care of the children. I walked in one night to see my son running around at 11pm listening to B96, and resceling with another boy. The director is the most unprofessional person I've ever worked for. There were 2 other workers that were very snotty and didn't respond or communicate with any concerns other than money. They never put sunscreen on my son when he went outside and he would tell me that he didn't get food in the evening. I would most definitely not take my child to that daycare!!!! Food was terrible also!! more

Based off of my experiences with this organization i do not find it hard to believe they would stoop so low as to write good reviews, seeing as just browsing the web you can find multiple POOR reviews for Safari Childcare!!! I have been told by two different employees that a 4 year old child escaped and crossed Algonquin Rd, a very busy main street to go to a Mc Dolnalds, to which i am not sure the parent was even notified of this. I left my child in the care of Safari only to pick up a dirty cold baby almost every day. Do not fall for the cut rate daycare as they have only the finest cut-rate employees working for them. Parents your much better off spending the little bit of extra money for REAL childcare professionals!!!!!! more

My kids love it! You know when it is a good daycare if they don’t want to stay there is something going on. So far I love. The staff is highly trained both through college and in school philosophy. There is a lot of individual attention given to each child as well as small group and large group activities. The teachers don't do a lot of direct teaching, but they do provide awesome lessons which allow the children to teach themselves. Which I love so, they could be self sufficient. The teachers observe each child's development, and parent teacher the conferences are held not only to let parents know how their children are doing. There is no other school in area that compares to Safari! more

The other reviews that gave this facility 5 stars were all done on one day, and by an anonymous user.... I bet this company writes those themselves.... \r \r 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