Every day my daughter came home from school saying, ‘There’s a child at my teacher’s house who looks exactly like me.’ I quietly looked into it—only to uncover a cruel truth tied to my husband’s family…..

My daughter Hazel had just turned four, and every time I looked at her bright eyes and delicate nose I felt an overwhelming sense of love because she seemed to carry so many of my own features in her tiny face.

Since the day she was born, my husband Garrett and I had been hesitant to send her to daycare too early because part of us felt guilty about leaving such a small child with strangers while another reason was that Garrett’s mother had lovingly helped care for Hazel during those early years.

However, as time passed my workload became heavier and my mother in law’s health slowly declined, so Garrett and I finally agreed that it was time to look for a safe daytime childcare arrangement where Hazel could stay while we worked and then return home with us every evening.

A close friend recommended a small home daycare run by a woman named Angela Whitaker, explaining that Angela accepted no more than three children at a time, kept security cameras running, maintained a spotless home, and prepared meals carefully for the kids.