SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A San Jose home daycare was ordered to shut down immediately on Wednesday in the wake of a tragedy that left two 1-year-old toddlers dead.
Happy Happy Daycare’s license to operate was suspended by officials from the Community Care Licensing Division of the California Department of Social Services.
“You are prohibited from operating this child day care facility,” officials wrote to Happy Happy Daycare’s owners, Nina Fathizadeh and Shahin Shenas.
The victims, Payton Cobb, 1, of Hollister, and Lillian Hanan, 1, of San Jose, drowned Monday morning after they fell into the daycare’s backyard pool. A third child also fell into the pool, was rushed to a hospital, and survived.
The San Jose Police Department is investigating circumstances around how the girls were able to crawl, toddle, or walk through a gate and access the home daycare’s backyard pool without daycare workers noticing or stopping them.
When a KRON4 news reporter knocked on Tuesday, no one answered the front door of the home at 1054 Fleetwood Drive.
The SJPD Homicide Unit and Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office are conducting a joint investigation into the circumstances of the drownings. No criminal charges have yet been filed against Fathizadeh and Shenas.
Fathizadeh and Shenas are facing potential civil penalties and fines. Attorneys for the California Department of Social Services filed court documents stating, “On or about October 2, 2023, respondents failed to ensure the inaccessibility of a pool at the facility, which caused the deaths of Child #1 and Child #2, and serious injury to Child #3, all children in care at the facility.”
