Virginia Beach daycares close after insurance issue

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach parents say they are scrambling to find new daycare centers after Wave Children’s Learning Center announced Wednesday evening that they would permanently close after Friday, May 30.

According to a statement from the learning center, the school’s longtime insurer notified them that they would no longer insure the learning center. However, Virginia law requires daycares such as Wave Children’s Learning Center to carry insurance.

A spokesperson for the Wave Children’s Learning Center said this comes after a claim was filed by the learning center.

Furthermore, according to a report on the Virginia Department of Social Services’ website, an investigation was initiated at the learning center after a complaint that a child was seriously injured due to an employee roughly removing the child from a bouncer seat in November 2024.

Records show as a plan of correction, a staff member was fired and administrators went over the importance of properly picking up children, especially infants.

This investigation concluded in late February, however it is currently unclear if this is related to the center’s closure.

The Wave Children’s Learning Center sent this statement to 13News Now: 

The Wave Children’s Learning Center will permanently close June 1, 2025. We know this sudden and painful announcement is jarring to the families who we know and love, and to our staff members who mean the world to us.

Our long-time insurer notified us that they would no longer insure the learning center and Virginia law requires us to carry insurance. The decision shocked us as we have been a customer of the insurance carrier for multiple decades. The decision to drop our insurance coverage was based on a recent claim filed by the learning center.  

Since being made aware of the decision a few weeks ago, we have worked tirelessly to find another provider to no avail. We genuinely thought we could find a solution without sounding alarm bells.

We will do everything in our power to limit the impact to families and our staff.

Over the years, we know we have created a nurturing place where children have been able to grow, learn and thrive. There are simply no words to truly express how disappointed we are that the learning center had to close.

Parents told 13News Now they are upset because they said they only found out about the abrupt closure Wednesday night, which gave them only 48 hours to enroll their children at a different daycare for next week.

“This is a pretty big footprint in Virginia Beach, a lot of children and families are affected by this,” one parent told 13News Now. “Not only children and families, but also the staff as well.”

Parents said they have already reached out to several other learning centers in the area. One parent with two children who attended Wave Children’s Learning Center said he was able to get one child enrolled at the Goddard School starting Monday, however they could not accommodate for his younger child.

“I immediately started contacting other local children centers to try and find care, quality care, at a reasonable price that I felt would be able to look after my child the way that I do,” a Virginia Beach parent said.

We reached out to the Goddard School for comment on how they might accommodate more children, and they confirmed they are receiving an influx of calls in Virginia Beach, but declined any further comment.

In addition, 13News Now obtained this email sent to parents on Wednesday from the learning center, detailing the closure:

Dear Wave Children’s Learning Center Family, 

Our hearts are filled with sadness as we share news which we know will greatly impact your child and your family. With heavy hearts we are announcing that the Wave Children’s Learning Center will permanently close by end of business day Friday, May 30th. We know this sudden disruption to your family is jarring and problematic, but unfortunately the board of directors’ decision to close was unavoidable.

Here is what has brought us to this place. Our long-time insurer notified us that they would no longer insure the learning center. The decision shocked us as we have been a customer of the insurance carrier for more than three decades. The learning center team has learned today that the insurance world is a vastly different place right now. Until now, the board had no reason to question our insurance provider’s commitment to us. These days, many people, perhaps even people you know have experienced the feeling of being unexpectedly dropped by their insurer during this volatile time in the insurance industry.

The insurance company’s decision to drop our insurance coverage was made following a claim filed by the learning center. Since being made aware of the decision to stop insuring us, they have worked tirelessly to find another provider to no avail. Virginia law requires us to carry insurance.

You are probably wondering why they didn’t tell us the learning center may close before now. That is a reasonable question. Looking back, they could have alerted you of the possibility while they were looking for a solution, but they genuinely thought they could find a solution without sounding alarm bells.

We will do everything in our power to limit the impact on your family. We will be refunding the 2025/2026 registration fee along with providing the names of other learning centers, and we will be available to address your questions.

We are truly sorry. If there was any conceivable way to keep the learning center open, we would.

Thank you for entrusting our team with your child’s well-being. We know we have created a nurturing place where children have been able to grow, learn and thrive. Some families have been with us for a brief time, while others have been with us for generations. We are grateful to you all and will truly and deeply miss you.

Attached was a list of other local daycare centers to help parents find new places for their kids.