Parents sue Plymouth Lil’ Explorers, ex‑teacher over abuse

Twenty-one parents whose children attended Lil’ Explorers Childcare Center in Plymouth have filed a civil lawsuit in Hennepin County against the center’s parent company, Cadence Education LLC, and former teacher Katie Ann Voigt, alleging their 21 minor children were subjected to recurring physical, mental and emotional abuse. Filed March 4, 2026, the complaint says kids were "daily exposed to abusive behavior" from staff, including Voigt, and that many now suffer toileting regressions, night terrors, heightened fear responses, aggression and anxiety. The suit follows Voigt’s 2025 guilty plea to two counts of malicious punishment of a child, after another staffer secretly recorded videos of her screaming at toddlers, pushing one into a table and yanking a child up by the arm, and after DHS cited the Plymouth site three times in 2024, twice over discipline. Parents are seeking at least $50,000 per plaintiff couple in damages and argue Cadence failed to provide the "safe, appropriate, kind, empathetic and respectful care" it advertised. For metro families already anxious about staffing and oversight in big-chain daycares, the case spotlights how much harm can happen inside a licensed center before regulators and parents catch it, and whether firing a bad teacher after the videos surface is anywhere near enough accountability.