DISCLOSURE: This Yelp review appeared within an hour after the below article published. This dangerous development is symbolic of a much larger issue in the camp industry. Sadly, there are myriad examples of camps that will stop at nothing to protect reputations ahead of protecting children. To be clear, Roxie Forbes was not developmentally disabled. However, it is deeply disturbing that Summerkids might have condoned this review by allowing a photo of their daughter to appear, which is a breach of Yelp conduct in this context. It is equally disturbing that anyone might think that the wholly preventable death of any child, let alone if one were disabled, absolves Summerkids or any camp-like operation of neglecting that child to death. Why is a photo of the child of a Summerkids owner — seen third from the left in the review photo — being leveraged in this shocking manner? This foundation urges camps to protect children, not use them as props. Review the article below for more on this critical topic.

UPDATE: Yelp Management has agreed with this foundation’s demand letter and immediately removed this manufactured, disturbing review.

The issue at hand

Now that the pandemic has loosened its deadly grip, children are finally and deservedly returning to some sense of normalcy. Many such children will gleefully attend camps this summer. And while camps can certainly afford social, cultural, educational and recreational benefits, they must also afford sensible protections. Unavoidable distractions and restrictions associated with the previous 16 months must not eclipse vigilance.

As revealed in a formal Complaint and supported by volumes of documents and multiple depositions, an Altadena, California, recreational child care facility named Summerkids is responsible for the death of 6-year-old Roxie Forbes exactly two years ago. Summerkids is also referred to as a day camp.

Summerkids is one of many readily available examples of what parents and guardians should be concerned about in terms of insufficient health and safety standards.

A quick recap

Summerkids owner-operators the DiMassas and staffers are complicit in ending the life of Roxie Forbes, as documented in a publicly available legal Complaint and supporting documents.

Such documents detail how the involved parties fraudulently certified Summerkids counselors as lifeguards. The Complaint, documents and sworn testimony also detail how these acts ultimately caused Roxie to drown in the shallow end of the small Summerkids pool. The counselors admitted that they did not see Roxie floating dead until another counselor, well outside of the pool, purportedly yelled while shaking the pool fence.

According to documents, Summerkids and their instructor Andrew Cervantes may have fraudulently certified more than 100 counselors as lifeguards and water safety instructors since 2011. It is reasonable to believe that these counselors — all college graduates or college students — would know that they needed requisite training and testing to assume lifesaving duties for children as young as three years old. It is also reasonable to believe that lifeguard certification companies should employ better oversight measures to verify proper training and testing before dishing out certifications to ill-prepared recipients.

The counselors at the pool admitted that the lifeguard instructor and Summerkids owner-operator Cara DiMassa did not afford such training or testing. The instructor admitted, under oath, that he obtained his own certifications without requisite training or testing.

Multiple sources have since informed Meow Meow Foundation that Camp Director Cara CiMassa lied to parents about how Roxie died. DiMassa apparently said Roxie died due to being diseased or disabled, which correlates to the above Yelp review. The coroner said Roxie drowned.

Every medical and first responder report has thus far concluded that Roxie died from drowning. Despite this fact, Summerkids continues to falsely claim that some sort of health condition caused Roxie to drown, according to their legal response.

Why does all of this matter?

This foundation was launched in response to the neglect that brutally ended a 6-year-old’s life and the same level of neglect or abuse responsible for the deaths, injuries and sex crimes that occur at camps each year. These incidents are far more common than most families know.

Hundreds if not thousands of parents either continue to disbelieve, disregard or are unaware of the laundry list of Summerkids health and safety issues that have come to light since 2019, evidenced by the fact that Summerkids reopened and families returned to the facility on June 14, 2021. Summerkids has admitted to at least eight serious injuries and fraudulent lifeguard and CPR certification schemes. According to the California Attorney General and Department of Social Services, Summerkids is also an illegal child care operation.

Camps are self-governing businesses with very little if any oversight. They exploit loopholes that enable them to operate despite perpetuating serious health and safety practices.

The following list is not at all availed solely for those who might have enrolled their children at Summerkids. This list is availed to parents and guardians who send their children to camps here, there and anywhere. As a staunch child advocacy organization, it is the foundation’s duty to provide information that educates parents so they can better protect precious young lives.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF QUESTIONS TO ASK CAMPS

10 CRITICAL CAMP TIPS

• It is difficult if not downright impossible to digest or believe accusations about a facility with which you may have a longstanding relationship or other allegiance. NEVER let that history or bias eclipse your responsibility to yourselves and to your children above all else.

• It is also difficult to understand that MOST CAMPS in the United States are either only lightly regulated or not regulated at all. Summerkids does not have a license to operate either as a child care facility or a camp. Many if not most states afford wholesale oversight exemptions for faith-based camps. Intensive Meow Meow Foundation research has found that, while camp structures and food facilities are inspected, programming is likely not. And even if there is some semblance of health department oversight, such oversight is likely woefully insufficient. Most camps do not have to prove they run background checks or enforce emergency action plans or certifications to run high-risk activities such as zip lines or rifle shooting or aquatics or rock wall climbing, etc. Ask how these activities are run, who runs them and what skills, experience and certifications ensure health and safety. You can trust, but you must verify.

• Summerkids apparently disallowed parents/guardians from attending an open house to see its facility in advance. Even as COVID-19 still bares some restrictions, it certainly does not, according to the county, prevent Summerkids or camps from letting parents see what they are buying into. While this restrictive act apparently typifies Summerkids, NEVER send a child to any camp or child care facility without your own preinspection and due diligence.

• Summerkids does not employ a medical or health supervisor or anyone with vital related experience. This is a MAJOR RED FLAG and a telltale sign that they choose not to invest in appropriate protections for children. One of the owners is a doctor who claimed to constantly be on-site. Multiple parties admitted under oath that he was not. He was in Hawaii when the camp killed Roxie. Summerkids also claimed to properly train all of its counselors in CPR. According to sworn testimony and documentation, counselors and staff received a fraction of the required training and testing. Demand to know who is handling medicine application, treatments, emergency procedures and more.

• At the time Summerkids killed Roxie, they chose to have a disturbingly small $1 million insurance policy while caring for hundreds of children. Be concerned about any camp or child care facility that places such a low value on children’s lives.

• The state’s Attorney General and Department of Social Services determined that Summerkids is an illegal child care facility. Learn about your facility’s history, if not legal status. Contact the local police and fire/EMT stations to ask whether they have responded to calls at the facility.

• NEVER strictly rely upon the referrals of friends, family members or associates regarding camps or child care services. Referrals are one factor in making such an important decision. While most camp operators solely rely upon referrals or testimonials to sustain them, parents/guardians heavily rely on reputation to choose them. Sadly, we are far less vigilant than we should be about the health and safety protections at camps with higher risk programming and little if any oversight than we are with lower risk schools.

• Meow Meow Foundation is now working with phenomenal organizations to unveil the widespread crisis of sexual abuse at camps. Thanks to Crimestoppers and other courageous sources, by this summer we will have collectively and tragically assembled a list of approximately 2,000 sex crimes. That number is but a fraction of the reality. Demand to know how your camp protects children from these horrific crimes.

• Camps might say that they run background checks on all personnel. This is both hard to prove and, in many cases, not true. In fact, even the most unassuming owner-operators might have concerning histories that go unchecked. While Meow Meow Foundation works on legislation to mandate background checks, be very mindful of who works with your children. Ask counselors about their experience working with children and what they would do in certain instances. Camp operators are also Mandatory Reporters.

• Your camp should be able to give you a copy of their comprehensive Emergency Action Plan that will inform you about procedures in cases of injuries, deaths, sexual abuse, active shooters, fires, diseases and much more. Ask the camp how often they do training drills on that plan.

  Bonus Tip

• It is NOT important if a camp says it is a member of or accredited by the American Camp Association. After intensive and ongoing research, Meow Meow Foundation officials have thus far determined that the American Camp Association is primarily a camp lobbying group that positions itself as an educational body. Their standards and practices are largely unenforceable in any meaningful way. Their misinformation during COVID-19 is and has been highly concerning. And, their abject failure to publicly address the 95,000 reported cases of sex crimes committed by the Boys Scouts of America against children — many of which were at camps — is enough for anyone to wonder why the American Camp Association and its leader Tom Rosenberg have remained shockingly quiet.