Child Care Complaints (continued)

In either case, our Handout entitled “Changes, Changes and New Beginnings” offers some suggestions on how to ease the way when changing programs.

Parents whose children attend a child care center, rather than a family child care home, sometimes have more difficulty resolving problems simply because more people work in the program. First, try discussing the problem with the individual staff member/s involved. Keep in mind, however, that in some centers, staff are not allowed to discuss complaints with parents. In those cases and when you cannot reach satisfaction by talking to staff, you will need to talk with the center director. If the center is non-profit, a Board of Directors has the final say on disputes. In for-profit centers, the final decisions are made by the owners or corporate managers. Find out the exact “chain of command” when first enrolling in a center. (In programs funded by the California Department of Education, families have certain rights and there is a standard appeals process.)

On occasion, parents may find that the problem resulted from staff misinterpreting rules or creating rules the director knew nothing about. Or, they may find the director is more willing than staff to alter or abolish a rule, in particular one that imposes a hardship on more than one family. On the other hand, the director may back up the staff, but give parents a better understanding of a particular policy.

Serious Complaints – What You Can and Should Do About Them

Some complaints involve the health and safety of children. Licensing regulations specify that:

• Programs should not exceed their licensed capacity.
• Programs should employ the number of staff required by their license.
• Children should be supervised at all times.
• Child care facilities should be safe places for children.
• No corporal or humiliating punishment is allowed in child care – no spanking, no smacking of hands, no withholding of food, no calling of names, no isolation in dark places... .
• Once a parent points out a licensing violation to a program, s/he has the right to expect instant if not immediate compliance. (Call BANANAS for more information on DSS regulations.)

A provider who habitually over-enrolls may not respond to gentle calls for compliance. If a program ignores a parent’s initial regulatory complaint, most parents look for a new program. We at BANANAS hope parents will take the additional step of reporting the program to Community Care Licensing (CCL), (510) 622-2602. The agency enforces Department of Social Services regulations for family child care and center-based programs. Removing and safeguarding your own child is not enough. What about the other children in care whose parents may not be aware of the situation? Their only protection lies in parents reporting the problem.

Few, if any, programs ever get closed down based on a single complaint – so parents should not agonize too long over whether or not to report a serious violation. In most cases, the licensing staff will make an unannounced visit and, if the complaint appears valid, direct the program to come into compliance. Parents are becoming much more savvy consumers of child care services, so programs which ignore parental concerns about regulatory issues shouldn’t be surprised when CCL is brought into the picture.

Complaints can also be registered anonymously. Simply call the local CCL office, ask for the worker of the day and let the switchboard operator know you want to make a complaint about a child care program. Don’t use this mechanism for registering complaints about a program’s general rules or program style. CCL has no jurisdiction over these “personal” areas. Parents must negotiate these aspects when choosing care for their children. Complaining to CCL should not be used for revenge when a parent is unhappy with the program for a nonregulatory reason. In the end, the program will be cleared when CCL finds the complaint has no merit. Bogus complaints just clog the system and slow down the licensing staff from investigating the real ones.

Child Abuse

Providers who have “reasonable suspicion” that a child in their care is being abused are required to report the child's family to the child abuse system. A BANANAS social worker will take calls on our WarmLine, 658-6046, from providers who are unsure whether abuse is occurring, or who want more information prior to reporting a family. Once a provider feels a report is indicated, s/he should call Child Protective Services (CPS), 259-1800. This is never an easy step to take.