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Choosing
Care on Blind Faith
The
Who's
Watching the Children?
Special Feature from the Orange
County Register in California, conveys a dire
message that rings true clear across North America:
Parents searching for child care are "lulled
into a false sense of security" in their blind
belief that state and provincially run licensed facilities
are safe. Worse, "Referral agencies designed
to help parents find good child care knowingly recommend
problem-plagued facilities, including one where a
child molester was found on the premises, another
with rat infestations and others with chronic overcrowding,"
writes By Kimberly Kindy and Jenifer B. McKim in their
article, Child-care
referral agencies tell little.
The
series of articles spared no mercy. And rightly so.
You can't get people to stand up and pay attention
if you sugar-coat the issues. The Register did their
homework. They analyzed some 60,000 records involving
nearly 2,700 child-care homes and centers. They created
a database to desipher a total of 10,126 violations
that occured from from Jan. 1, 1998 to June 30, 2001.
And, they conducted more than 300 interviews for this
series.
The
results were alarming: The number of citations where
children were placed at risk had been rising. Case
in point: At one home, inspectors found "a chain
saw in the patio, broken swings in the back yard,
nails sticking out of boards, and detergents, snail
poison, Clorox and other cleaners on the floor."
write the journalists.
In
another instance, "A father found his 2-year-old
sleeping on the floor of the garage. The house was
dirty and cluttered". In yet another, the Register
discovered that a private school "received 12
citations since 1998 for unsafe or dirty conditions.
Reports showed children looking for rats near a hole
in the building and playing on broken equipment."
(In
harm's way, By Jenifer B. McKim, Kimberly
Kindy and Natalya Shulyakovskaya, The Orange County
Register.)
In
a nation where suing is almost a national pastime,
Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies
interviewed by the Register cited "the fear of
being sued" as one of the reasons for non-disclosure
to parents. Arguably, one would think that the potential
liability is far greater if they don't screen out
bad listings that are public record. But that only
serves to boast a new fear of being taken to court
for not giving a licensed facility a listing. In fact,
it's actually happened. But what's most mind boggling
is that the agencies told the Register that they honestly
"don't believe it's their job to pass along negative
reports."
Granted,
parents are the consumers and should arm themselves
with as much information on how to choose quality
child care as they can possibly absorb before they
place their child in any setting. That includes a
thorough investigation of the facility license. But
imagine your horror if you found out, after all your
due dilligence in choosing a daycare, that the agency
withheld crucial licensing safety violations about
the referral. Or, if you even can, imagine that charges
of willfully allowing child molestation may not even
necessitate banning a home or center being from a
referral list.
The
responsibility for investigating complaints and enforcing
regulations rests with the licensing bureau, not with
the CCR&R. But many parents are not aware that
they should be talking with their local licensing
office before they even book an appointment to visit
the daycare centre or home, whether or not the referral
came from the CCR&R. After all, as Kindly and
McKim point out in their article, it is rare for any
of California's 61 child-care referral agencies to
ban a child-care facility. "Even
those on probation - a last-ditch effort by the state
to reform facilities where it says children have been
injured or placed in serious jeopardy - can remain
on referral agency lists. Statewide, there are 115
with probationary licenses, including three in Orange
County, but parents are not given this information
either."
The
problem is that in all too many jurisdictions across
North America, parents are given scant little information
to go on even when they do inquire about licensing
violations. In some cases they are told that there
are infractions, but are not told what, or how serious
these problems are or what actions have been taken
to ensure the licnesee is complying with the regulations.
There
has to be some level of concern here for the safety
of the children who's lives may be endangered should
a referral from the CCR&R or Children's Services
registry, lead to a placement at any facilities where
there were serious violations.
The
point of this article is not to bad-mouth CCR&Rs
or Children's Services Departments posting their registrants
online. These services are, without a doubt, extremely
valuable for parents and caregivers. They advocate,
educate and raise awareness of child care in the communities
they serve. And the National
Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
and Child
Care Aware has recently launched a new voluntary,
quality assurance system program for CCR&Rs. Programs
who attain Quality Assurance meet a set of Criteria
for Best Practices. These criteria define measurable,
relevant outcomes and indicators for consumer education
and referral service delivery.
However,
there is no clearly defined mandate in the criteria
for disclosing information to parents on caregivers
and facilities that have been red-flagged by the licensing
bureau or any other law enforcement or Social/Children's
Services office. This can be attributed in part to
the complexity of privacy laws in each state and province
that prohibit certain information from being disclosed
with regards to criminal records and licensing infractions.
It's one thing for a licensing office to investigate
a caregiver or daycare for the purposes of granting
a license. It is clearly another to disclose the findings
of that investigation to anyone other than the caregiver
or business owner.
Some
Good News
But there was some good news mixed in with the alarming
results. The Register noted that "A majority
of homes and centers in Orange County operate free
of citations for safety hazards. And, in most cases,
problems found by state inspectors can be corrected
immediately by locking a gate or latching a drawer."
Many
provinces and states are also working on new programs
that will enhance the quality and availability of
information available to parents by combining the
resources of the licensing office, law enforcement
agencies, and the CCR&Rs.
How
It's Supposed to Work
Child
Care licensing sets out very specific rules, regulations
and minimum standards under which centres and child
care homes must operate. Licensing regulations cover:
- Safety
- Facility
and equipment requirements
- Public
health and nutrition standards
- Fire
safety
- Staff
training
- Child/Staff
rations and group size
- Program
content,
- Record
keeping practices, and
- Policies
and procedures.
These
are the minimum guidelines under which children will
flourish. It is a baseline that divides minimum care
from poor care. Facilities who are constantly in violation
of any of these licensing requirements fall below
this line and can be considered, if the infractions
are serious enough, such as constant overcrowding,
improper staff ratios, safety violations, hiring staff
with marginal criminal record checks, to providing
a poor level of care. On the other side of the bar
are programs that rank way above the baseline for
quality care and are acredited through the Head Start,
or other national child care organizations. They must
meet very strick operational standards to become accredited
and to maintain their accreditation. Such programs
superceed the baseline standards of the licensing
office.
Types
of Licenses
Child
care centres and homes are licensed on a yearly basis
after an inspection from the licensing board. The
licences must be posted where parents can view it.
There are three basic types of licenses, (but this
many vary from state to state or from province to
province):
- A
regular licence
- A
provisional licence, and
- A
licensing order.
A
regular licence is issued for up to one
year and indicates that the centre or home is in compliance
with government regulations.
A
provisional licence
indicates that there are some areas of the regulations
that are not being met. These areas are often listed
on the provisional licence, which is issued for a
shorter period of time that the one year issueance
of the regular license. This gives the child care
centre or home an opportunity to correct any problem
areas and comply with the regulations. Once the conditions
of the provisional licence have been met, the facility
is eligible to obtain a regular licence.
A
licensing order
is issued to a facility when there is a severe violation
of the licensing regulations. The order requires the
licensee to make immediate correction of the default
area(s) listed on the licensing order to bring them
up to regulation standards. Failure to correct the
violation(s) may lead to the loss of the child care
licence. Generally the order will indicate the name
and telephone number of the inspector, who parents
may call to obtain information on the specifics of
the licensing order.
When
a Complaint is Filed
Licensing agencies, generally, will respond to the
following types of complaints:
- Reports
that a child in a child care facility is in immediate
danger because of health and/or safety conditions
- Reports
of child abuse, neglect, or children are left in
the care of a minor with no responsible adult in
attendance
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