Incident investigation·May 10, 2022

On May 10, 2022 at 3:00 PM, Licensing Program Analyst (LPA), Marie Hernandez, conducted an unannounced Case Management Inspection due to an incident with child #1. On 04/06/2022, the Department received the incident report from the facility for child #1. LPA met with the facility director, Tina Prowant. LPA conducted several confidential interviews with the staff, child #1 and the Director. The facility reports that on 04/05/2022 at 4:27 PM, child #1 was left unsupervised outside in the play yard. The amount of time child was left unsupervised could not be determined as the Director and staff were unsure of how long child #1 was left unsupervised. At time of incident, there were three teachers with sixteen children outside in the play yard at time of incident. Child #1 was left unsupervised behind the enclosed play yard gate for an undetermined amount of time until staff noticed the gate door was left opened and unlatched. The staff went to close the gate and that is when staff observed child #1 behind the gate. The staff retrieved child #1 with no further incident. This poses an immediate health and safety risk to children in care. The Director stated the parent was immediately contacted and advised about the incident. Through the course of the incident review, LPA inspected the play yard along with the gate, and conducted several confidential interviews with the staff, child #1 and the Director. The Director stated there was no video footage to show LPA as it erases after a period of time. The interviews revealed that the staff did not observe child #1 go behind the play yard gate unsupervised. The interviews also revealed that the play yard gate latch was broken and not working properly. However, on 04/06/2022, the play yard gate latch was repaired. During the tour, LPA inspected and observed that the play yard gate latch was repaired and working properly during today's visit. On 04/06/2022, the facility conducted an in-service to staff on supervision due to the incident with child #1. The following deficiency is being cited on page 2 (LIC809D) for child #1 being left unsupervised in the play yard on 04/05/2022. An exit interview was conducted, and a copy of the report, Acknowledgement of Receipt of Licensing Reports and the appeal rights were provided to the Director. The Director was advised that acknowledgement of the receipt of Licensing reports are to be received within 24 hours.