Child Care Complaints (continued)

While child abuse in a child care setting is rare, it does happen. Parents who suspect child abuse need to report it. If a child has a suspicious injury, she should be taken to a medical facility for an evaluation of the injury. The parent should be candid with the examining nurse or physician about her suspicions. Photographs should be taken to document the injury. Medical personnel are mandated reporters, but this doesn’t mean every suspected case of abuse gets reported to CPS. The parent should ask the doctor or nurse if s/he is going to report the injury. Parents are also welcome to call BANANAS’ WarmLine for information and support. Parents should report any suspected child abuse in the child care setting – physical, sexual, verbal or other type of abusive behavior toward children – to Community Care Licensing. Police departments, CPS and CCL crossreport to each other (i.e. if an abuse complaint comes to the Licensing Office, the Office shares information about the complaint to CPS and the local Police Department, and vice-versa).

However, the cross-reporting might not happen immediately. If a parent is concerned that children are in immediate danger in a child care program, s/he should report the situation directly to the Licensing Office, 622-2602, and, if warranted, to the local Police Department. Sometimes parents want to withdraw a child from care before making an official complaint. This protective gesture is understandable; but it is very important for parents to follow through on a child abuse complaint. Some complaints should never be ignored. When the safety of children is involved, parents and providers must take that extra step of bringing an outside agency into the situation.

In The End...

Here are a few truisms about complaints:

• Parents are rarely going to be completely satisfied with every aspect of the child care program they select. Likewise, programs may never have complete agreement with every parent whose child they enroll. Differences of opinion are unavoidable and, in some cases, healthy.
• Problems can’t be solved unless they are discussed openly, and, hopefully, with good will on both sides. Criticism should always be as constructive as possible and accompanied by some suggestions on how to improve the situation.
• Parents and providers should abide by the rules they agreed to when the child was enrolled or they should jointly change the rules which aren’t working. Compromises made when the parent and provider like and trust each other are usually good for all concerned. However, no compromise will work if the two parties don’t have a basic sense of trust in each other.
• Remember that complaints made with care can lead to the successful resolution of problems.

Summary of Resources

• Call BANANAS, 658-7353, if you have questions about licensing regulations or about how to handle a complaint. We will listen to your concerns and try to help you plan a course of action.
• To report center-based or family child care licensing violations or suspected child abuse in child care, parents should contact Community Care Licensing, 622-2602.
• To report suspected cases of child abuse, contact Child Protective Services, 259-1800.
• Last but not least, parents have the right to check the licensing history of any licensed child care program. The information is available from Community Care Licensing, 622-2614. Providers are also required to provide parents with any licensing report that documents a facility visit or substantiated complaint investigation.

In addition to Handouts, BANANAS also has several videos on parent/provider relations that can be checked out at our office:

• Cultivating Roots: Partnership with Families
• Partnership with Parents For a full listing of available videos, please see our Video Lending Library List at our office or website, www.bananasinc.org. A Rosenberg Foundation Publication

A Rosenberg Foundation Publication

©1985, BANANAS, Inc. Revised 2003.