On March 4, 2026, parents of 21 children at Lil' Explorers Childcare in Plymouth filed a civil lawsuit in Hennepin County, accusing Cadence Education LLC and a former staffer of repeatedly using abusive discipline on toddlers. The complaint seeks roughly $50,000 for each child and says the young students now struggle with night terrors, toileting regressions and heightened fear responses. The suit comes in the wake of cellphone video that circulated last year and a criminal plea in which the former teacher admitted to malicious punishment of a child.
What the complaint says
The lawsuit claims that staff, including former employee Katie Ann Voigt, “daily exposed” toddlers to abusive conduct, and that multiple employees raised red flags with management without seeing meaningful discipline or intervention. The complaint also accuses the license holder of violating Minnesota Department of Human Services rules, including the use of prohibited disciplinary tactics, and seeks damages for emotional and developmental injuries, according to KARE11.
Video evidence and criminal case
Cellphone video secretly recorded by a teaching assistant shows the staffer yelling at toddlers and handling them roughly, according to prosecutors and local reporting. The employee later pleaded guilty to counts that included malicious punishment of a child and received a sentence that included probation and a short work-release component, per reporting by KSTP.
State records show prior complaints
Public records from the Minnesota Department of Human Services show the Plymouth site went through multiple licensing reviews and maltreatment investigations in 2024 and 2025, with related violation notices added to the facility’s public file. Those documents, available through the DHS licensing lookup, also include follow-up memorandums and a maltreatment investigative memorandum that appear in the public record.
Company response and next steps
Cadence Education has told reporters it “does not tolerate behavior of this kind” and says the individuals involved are no longer employed. The company has also said it cooperated with authorities. Court filings cited in news coverage state that the Plymouth location later changed hands after the incidents, and parents’ attorneys argue that a change in ownership does not erase corporate accountability, according to FOX 9.
Legal implications
The criminal guilty plea, together with the DHS inspection and investigation record, gives plaintiffs multiple avenues for civil recovery and could expose the license holder to administrative sanctions or other regulatory action. Attorneys for the families say discovery in Hennepin County will probe what managers and corporate officials knew and when, and they expect state records and the guilty plea to be central pieces of that inquiry, based on public reporting and the DHS documents.
