Lissete Frausto's Story
*Content warning: Potentially triggering personal story involving child harm*
In 2016, when Lissete’s son was about five months old, she started looking for childcare. With two children under two, she knew she needed more support. But every center in Oakland was full. A coworker had suggested an in-home daycare and Lissete and her husband went to see it. Everything seemed fine. They paid in cash, all out of pocket, to secure spots for their children.
Every day that first week, Lissete called to check in on her kids. By Friday, the woman who ran the daycare snapped, “I’m not going to be able to answer the phone all the time.” Despite her intuition telling her something was wrong on Monday, Lissete held herself back from calling. But when she arrived to pick up her children, her son was lying on the floor, pale and unresponsive. A paper was lying on his chest. When asked what was going on, the woman in charge said, “I needed to make sure he was breathing.”
Unable to wake him up, Lissete immediately took her son to the ER. She was told to monitor him and come back if he didn’t improve. For the next 24 hours, the baby refused his bottle and wouldn’t stop vomiting. She told her husband, “We have to go back.”
Lissete advocated for him and his CT scan revealed bleeding between his skull and his brain, along with multiple hemorrhages in his eyes. Upon admitting the little one to the ICU, the nurse turned to Lissete and said words no mother should ever have to hear: “Your son was shaken.”
Lissete’s son spent two weeks in the ICU, then had monthly follow-up appointments with physicians. He would make a full recovery, but as he got better, Lissete got worse. Gripped with anxiety attacks, she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t work and she wouldn’t let her kids out of her sight.
A social worker eventually told Lissete about Kidango. Though Lisette wasn’t ready to send her son, Kidango seemed like it could be a good fit for her daughter. The staff came to their home to get to know the family better, and Lissete watched in awe at how fast her daughter’s speech, listening, and motor skills grew.
A year after the incident, Lissete felt comfortable sending her little boy back to daycare — as long as it was Kidango. Once he was enrolled, both of them met with a staff therapist and together, they came up with a supportive wellness plan involving the whole family. This holistic approach to childcare is a hallmark of Kidango’s mission. And it drew Lissete in. She started to do workshops and volunteer regularly.
One day, when a family advocate asked if she’d be willing to share her story in support of a bill increasing access to childcare for infants and toddlers at the state level, she said yes. Nervous but determined, Lissete bravely recounted that horrific experience to the elected officials in support of the bill. It passed out of committee in Sacramento with a unanimous 8-0 vote. Soon after, it went into law — and the result brought high-quality services to 20,000 more families across the state.
No family should ever face those terrifying circumstances. Which is why Lissete is now an advocate for access to high-quality childcare at the school, district, county and state level. We are thankful for Lissete’s willingness to share her story and partner with Kidango, bringing more spots in better programs to more kids in the Bay Area.
