LONGWOOD, Fla. — A school focused on educating children with autism suddenly shut its doors last week, forcing families to desperately search for other means of childcare just as the school year was set to begin.
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The owners of Blossoms Academy, a subsidiary of Behavior Blossoms LLC, texted families to announce the immediate suspension of their program.
“Due to delays from funding sources and the high cost of overhead, the IRS has declared our business unsustainable,” the message from Vanessa Ashton Kindy said. “We were just at the peak of performance… unfortunately, this is why small agencies have so much trouble keeping their doors open.”
In separate messages shared with WFTV, Kindy wrote she “sacrificed” too much and didn’t pay as much attention to profits as she should have to ensure the program had a “heart.”
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However, documents filed with the Florida Department of State paint a picture that wasn’t shared with parents. In May 2024, the IRS hit the husband-and-wife owners of Blossoms with two federal tax liens totaling more than $1.7 million.
The liens covered unpaid income, Medicaid and Social Security taxes back to the founding of the school.
CFO Justin Kindy refused to answer any questions about his school or the liens when WFTV visited his house Thursday.
Some of the questions posed in-person and by email included why the taxes went unpaid, whether any money had been paid back since Kindy was notified of the lien and whether families would get refunded for a pre-paid summer camp that was supposed to run through August 9.
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“I don’t really care about the money, I just care about getting the attention out there about what they did,” one mother said.
The parent, who did not wish to be identified, said she was worried about the impact on families since most programs for kids with disabilities had months-long wait lists.
“I was home for 10 months before I got my son into [Blossoms],” she said, adding that the therapists had been wonderful to her son and she was mostly happy with the program. “They’ve been working on this. They should’ve let the parents know at that time so we could’ve started making arrangements.”
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