SANFORD— Faye Beety has been operating Faye’s Family Daycare on North Avenue for 57 years.

She started caring for other people’s children on nights and weekends — she also had a full -time day job — when she was 22. Almost 40 years ago, she began offering daycare services full-time.

Beety was thinking she might give up her longtime business in the spring.

But the 79-year-old daycare operator was issued a 10-day suspension by the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday while they conduct an investigation.

So Beety has decided to retire right away.

She just wishes it wasn’t under these circumstances.

“I can’t dwell on it,” she said from her dining room on Wednesday afternoon.

In the front room, there are shelves with toys and books, all geared for little ones. Each day, the youngsters got the recommended 20 minutes of reading, there were lessons, and screen time was limited.

Generally, she provided daycare for children ages 2 to 11 years old — including before and after school care for those of school age.

Beety said she decided to give up her license earlier this week after a visit from DHHS investigators on Friday.

The investigators, she said, told her that her son, who had been helping her with the day care after she broke her arm last year, is alleged in a complaint to have taken three of the children to nearby Carpentier Park, left to go to a nearby convenience store to buy alcohol and drank it.

Beety said it is true that her son and his girlfriend went the park with the three children — she’s not sure of the exact date in July — but she said the allegations about the alcohol are not true.

“I can understand (DHHS) checking it out,” she said of the complaint. But, she said, her son wouldn’t lie.

Beety believes she knows who made the complaint, but declined give a name. She did say that the individual owes her money for daycare services and has reneged on her pledge to pay a specific sum each week.

DHHS spokeswoman Emily Spencer said she couldn’t go into specifics, but confirmed an investigation was ongoing and would continue, even though Beety has voluntarily surrendered her license.

Spencer could not provide specific information about a separate 2014 statement of deficiency against the business filed on Sept. 21 that year and resolved Sept. 30, 2014. She referred the question to a colleague, who did not respond by late afternoon on Wednesday.

Beety has been licensed to care for up to 12 children, but most recently cared for six. Her most recent license was renewed on June 27.

She said she’s had no prior complaints.

“I’ve done nothing, nothing” she said.

Beety said she could fight the suspension in court, and she’s had a number of supportive calls from parents of the youngsters in her care, but she’s decided to retire instead.

Raised in Alfred, Beety moved to Sanford at 18. A mother of four, she worked for York County Community Action, later a pediatric clinic called the Health Mobile and York County Health Services and looked after children at nights and on the weekend before making the daycare her full- time job.

“It is what I’ve always wanted to do,” she said of her job caring for children.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.