SILENCE IS DEADLY
By Doug Forbes
Meow Meow Foundation is infinitely disturbed by what it now knows about the camp that killed Roxie and about the lack of camp oversight in general. Our responsibility to parents is to speak up so that children are not in harm’s way. After all, we know that silence can in fact be deadly.
Our mission as a foundation will forever be to provide an end-to-end suite of information, education and innovation that eliminates preventable childhood drowning. In other words, we desperately want to and will save kids in Roxie’s honor.
Our 6-year-old daughter died because Summerkids camp counselors neglected her for a considerable amount of time. They even admitted to doing so. Also, every medical and first responder report supports this determination. In fact, the sum of such documentation leads to a conclusion that Roxie was neglected for an outrageous amount of time.
In November, Summerkids Camp Director and owner-operator Cara Di Massa produced a solicitation letter for winter camp 2019 and summer camp 2020. See below.
In this letter, Di Massa said that she had “no additional information” about the “tragic accident.” This is a stunning lie—and a dangerous one at that. Di Massa knows that Roxie died from a preventable drowning. Yet, she chose and continues to choose to mislead families throughout Los Angeles County.
Meow Meow Foundation is shocked by this behavior. As much as we will focus on actions and resources that eliminate catastrophic consequences for kids, we must also enlighten families about organizations that willfully cover up the truth and facts about their operations—the same truth and facts that led to Roxie’s preventable drowning.
In addition, we have discovered that, in August, the Community Care Licensing Division of California’s Department of Social Services cited Summerkids for not being a licensed day care facility. CCL has advised Di Massa that she must obtain a license through CCL or the California Department of Public Health. This is an unlikely outcome.
Di Massa knowingly afforded the below solicitation despite the fact that she is in violation. Again, we urge parents to be vigilant, to ask questions, to require answers—and not simply concerning this particular camp.
There is far more to come on the CCL violation and a checklist to help parents make highly informed decisions.
