A troubled Roanoke Valley child care provider has filed bankruptcy.

The company, Little People Learning Center Inc., intends to reorganize financially after closing three of seven day care centers, leaving four operating, said Mark Black, the company's lawyer.

Black filed the case on the company's behalf April 9 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke.

Linda Brumfield, company president, declined to comment.

Paperwork lists assets of $184,407 and debts of $1.5 million. Black said the debt figure will likely be reduced by $750,000 after a landlord found a new tenant for one of the closed day care centers and indicated plans to not seek all rent due under a lease that runs to 2015.

A creditor meeting is scheduled Wednesday.

Inspectors have found Little People facilities out of compliance with the law on multiple occasions, both at locations that were closed and at the locations still operating.

Elaine Moore, a Department of Social Services inspector, said the most serious problems included inadequate staffing, missing documentation that staff are qualified to care for children and lack of upkeep and maintenance of the facilities.

Conditions were so lacking last summer that Moore's agency began proceedings to close Planet Kids at 4509 Bonsack Road in Bonsack. The problems included overflowing toilets, exposed nails and an out-of-service swimming pool. However, nothing posed an immediate danger to the children.

Moore said Little People appealed the closure action and the case is scheduled to be heard in June.

That location remains open as do the Little People child care centers at 80 Summerfield Court in Cloverdale, 628 Townside Road in Roanoke and 1299 Colorado St. in Salem.

The Salem facility is operating on a provisional license because of repeated failures to comply with licensing requirements, Moore said.

The facilities that closed -- 161 Laymantown Road in Troutville, 317 Kimball Ave. in Roanoke and 2010 Apperson Drive in Salem -- were not closed as a result of state action.

DSS has fined Little People twice in the past 18 months -- $500 in December 2006 and $500 in March 2007 -- said agency spokeswoman Marianne McGhee. One of the fines has not been paid, she said.

In spite of the loss of three Little People locations, the Roanoke Valley is not experiencing a day care shortage, one industry observer said.

"I do believe there are ample quality centers around the valley that would accommodate children from 6 weeks to 12 years old," said Maria Ferrone, president of the Southwest Virginia Association of Early Childhood Educators.

In the New River Valley, in contrast, providers say the gap between the amount of child care available and the amount needed is as wide as it's ever been.