complaint·May 14, 2024

Allegation: Staff did not prevent children in care from engaging in inappropriate interactions in the restroom. The complainant did not provide any contact information. An interview with the complainant was not possible. On 2/28/2024, the LPA interviewed six staff during the initial visit. Three of the staff interviewed stated they heard about or saw inappropriate interactions happening between preschool children. Staff consistently stated that they supervised C1 closely to prevent further incidents. Staff 5 (S5) said they tried supervising C1 one-on-one to prevent the child from touching other daycare children. However, one-on-one supervision was not possible one hundred percent of the time because other children’s needs would go unmet. Staff 4 (S4) and S5 stated that their classroom is supervised by two staff almost always. Staff explained they supervise children when they used the restroom and did not allow more than one child to use the restroom together to prevent incidents. On 2/28/2024, the LPA obtained incident reports sent to C1’s parents and “ouch” reports sent to the parents of children harmed by C1. An incident report sent on 12/06/23 states that C1 “needs a reminder to not touch friends’ private area.” The report indicates the child “continues to do it” suggesting similar interactions happened in the past. Another incident report dated 2/14/24 documents that the child approached a “friend” and exposed his or her body to the friend. One ouch report dated 2/26/24 states that the child bit another child on the buttocks and touched another child’s buttocks. Staff state that they were always present when incidents happened and immediately stopped the child by talking to the child or redirecting the child. On 3/25/2024, the LPAs called 16 parents requesting an interview. Three parents were reached. The parents interviewed did not express any concerns and did not provide any information that could corroborate or dismiss any of the allegations addressed in this licensing report. The rest of the parents were not reached or did not respond to the Department’s request for an interview. CONTINUE ON THE NEXT PAGE Allegation: Staff did not prevent C1 from harming children in care. On 2/28/2024, the LPA interviewed six staff during the initial visit. Four of the staff interviewed said they heard about or saw a child harming other children in care. S6 stated that one of two staff “has to be with C1 the whole time because the child would randomly hurt friends.” To prevent the child from harming other children, S6 said, staff closely supervised the child and used strategies including the following: writing incident reports to get the child’s parents involved, talking to the child about the behavior, redirecting the child to different activities, and involving administrative staff in managing the child’s challenging behavior. Director Abeyta stated that classroom staff are trained to redirect children to other learning activities to prevent unsafe behavior. The director added that children are given time with “stuffies” to help them self-soothe when they “act out” and that the school sought professional help soon after the child exhibited the challenging behavior. On 5/8/24, school staff provided records documenting the steps school staff took to help C1 manage the behavior. Documents include strategies used such as communication with parents and external resource agencies. Records and interview statements show that school staff actively sought to meet the children’s needs and to protect their health, safety, and personal rights. Based on the interviews conducted and records review, the preponderance of evidence standard has not been met. Although the allegations above may have happened or is valid, there is not a preponderance of evidence to prove the alleged violations did or did not occur, therefore the allegation is unsubstantiated. The Appeal Rights were discussed. All appeals must be submitted in writing and received by the Regional Office within 15 business days. A notice of site visit was issued and must remain posted for 30 days. An exit interview was conducted, and the report was reviewed with the director. The facility representative was provided a copy of their appeal rights (LIC 9058) and their signature on this form acknowledges receipt of these rights and a copy of the report. END. On 2/28/2024, the LPA interviewed six staff during the initial visit. Four of the staff interviewed said they heard about or saw a child harming other children in care. Two staff disclosed that C1 randomly hit, punched, and scratched other children. The children sustained injuries and red marks in different parts of their bodies including the face and neck. Staff also disclosed that Child 1 (C1) targeted Child 2 (C2) and C2 sustained marks on the face, neck, and back. During staff interviews, staff disclosed that C1 touched other children under the cot during nap time. The staff also disclosed that “when other kids go inside the restroom, the child runs in there and touches the kids” inappropriately. On 2/28/2024, the LPA obtained reports sent to parents. Incidents are dated November 2023 through February 14, 2024. The incident reports state that C1 hit other children, pulled a child's hair, scratched other children, and punched another child on the back. “Ouch” reports dated October 2023 through February 27, 2024, state that the child harmed other children by scratching, kicking their faces, pushing them, and stepping on their faces. Incident reports also disclose inappropriate touching. These include C1 inappropriately touching other children during nap time, touching other children while they were in the restroom, and the child exposing his or her body to another child inappropriately. One incident report states that the child targets girls and that C1 “needs a reminder to not touch friends’ private areas.” On 3/25/2024, the LPAs called 16 parents requesting an interview. Three parents were reached. The parents interviewed did not express any concerns and did not provide any information that could corroborate or dismiss any of the allegations addressed in this licensing report. The rest of the parents were not reached or did not respond to the Department’s request for an interview. CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE. This reports is an amendment of the original report dated 5/14/24. On 5/7/24, The LPA interviewed six children. Four of the six children stated that C1 harmed them and gestured scratching, grabbing the arm, and hitting when asked how the child harmed them. Three of the six children indicated that they were scared of the child. Interview statements and records show that school staff actively sought to meet the children’s needs and protect their health, safety, and personal rights. One-on-one supervision was not possible one hundred percent of the time because other children’s needs would go unmet. In spite of the school staff's efforts, the incidents did happen, resulting in violations of the children’s personal rights. Based on the records reviewed and interview statements, the preponderance of evidence standard has been met, therefore the above allegations are found to be SUBSTANTIATED. A substantiated finding means that the allegations are valid. Director Abeyta was informed that this licensing report dated 5/14/2024 documents one “Type A” citation. Type A citation must be posted for 30 consecutive days during the hours that children are in care as there are/were immediate risks to the health, safety, or personal rights of children in care. LPA A. Silva further informed the director that a copy of this licensing report must be provided to parents or guardians of all clients currently enrolled by the next business day or by the next day the children are in care, a copy of this report must be provided to the parents or guardians of all newly enrolled clients for 12 months from the date of this report, and signed Acknowledgement of Receipt of Licensing Report (LIC 9224) form, or another written equivalent statement, must be placed in the child's file for verification of receipt of the report. The Appeal Rights and deficiencies were discussed. All appeals must be submitted in writing and received by the Regional Office within 15 business days. A notice of site visit was issued and must remain posted for 30 days. An exit interview was conducted, and the report was reviewed with the director. The facility representative was provided a copy of their appeal rights (LIC 9058) and their signature on this form acknowledges receipt of these rights and a copy of the report. END.