complaint·November 24, 2021

CD claimed she assumed the role of Center Director on 09/20/21 and did not have knowledge of the claims so she could not provide information pertaining to any claims prior to 09/20/21. CD expressed that if a child was bitten to the point where the skin broke, then there was a supervision issue. CD did report an incident involving a child (C10) being bitten by another child (C11) on the arm while they were on the Discovery Preschool (DP) outdoor playground on 09/30/21 at 5:28pm. Staff were required to produce an incident report(s) after an incident(s), notify and provide that report(s) to facility management which then notified and provided a duplicate copy of the incident report to parent(s) of all child(ren) involved in the incident(s). Multiple staff statement confirmed the facility’s procedure for reporting unusual incident(s) as described by CD. S2, S3 and S6 reported child (C9) and several other children in the DP class had been bitten by another child (C11) on more than one occasion. S2 and S6 respectively reported that another child (C12) bit C9 on the hand and C9 had either been hit, bitten or hurt between 8 to 10 times. S1 reported a staffing shortage at the facility and staff (S1-S6) statements corroborated that between a period of one to eight weeks, they saw between two to ten incidents involving child(ren) being bitten by another child which sometimes resulted in a visible bite mark, bruise, or broken skin. Parent and adult statements provided by P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P9, A1 and A2 corroborated the allegations, reporting concerns of lack of supervision resulting in a consistent pattern of child(ren) being bitten or injured at the facility, as well as occasions where the facility did not notify parents of incidents in which their child(ren) were involved. P1 reported the facility did not notify C9’s authorized representative of incidents involving C9 being bitten on either the back or neck which resulted in a visible scratch, red bruise or bite mark, and P3 reported her child was bitten at least five times where on multiple occasions P3 saw visible, pink colored bite mark(s) on her child’s shoulder and right arm while in the classroom or playground in March 2021. P3 felt the children were not being supervised enough which led to the incident(s) going unnoticed. P4, reported another child bit her child, and felt there was a definite issue with supervision. Also, between the months of August through September 2021, P5 witnessed her child had a busted lip that was not initially reported, while P9 saw a visible scrape on her child’s right elbow in which staff could not explain. A1 reported in a one-week period, a C11 bit other children at least 10 times and although staff apologized to the parent, the facility did not take necessary steps to prevent or decrease the bite incidents. A2 reported a C11 would sometimes bite one to three times daily in DP and saw that incident report(s) that were sitting on a long table near the sign in/out binder had not been provided to parents. (Continue to LIC 9099-C) On 09/02/21, the Department obtained evidence which showed C9 sustained three visible scratches bruises/marks on the front right corner of the neck and visible bite marks on the mid left and upper right back and right arm. On 10/01/21, CD submitted 52 incident reports for four children, ranging between 06/20/20 through 10/01/21 which documented 33 confirmed biting incidents consisting of C9’s right arm and back biting incidents on 08/27/21 & 10/01/21, 24 incidents involving three other children biting other child(ren) in care, and another seven incidents involving children bitten by another child between 05/12/21 through 10/01/21. Based on the investigation, there’s a preponderance of evidence to show a consistent pattern of children sustaining injuries, primarily resulting from a lack of supervision of the children in care of which parents were not always informed. As such, the California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division 12, Chapter 1 is being cited on the attached LIC 9099D. A previous licensing report was issued on 01/13/21 giving notice of the same violation and a Civil Penalty of $1000 is assessed for a repeat of an immediate Civil Penalty of CCR 101229(a) which resulted in injuries. This is a repeat violation of the deficiency section previously cited and cleared on 01/13/21. Appeal Rights were provided and exit interview conducted. Reports citing Type A violations are to be provided to parents/guardians of children currently in enrolled and to parents/guardians of children newly enrolled at the facility during the next 12 months. Parents/guardians must sign Form LIC9224 to be kept in each child's file.