Incident investigation·December 5, 2022

On December 5, 2022, Licensing Program Analyst (LPA) Kari McWilliams conducted an unannounced case management inspection. LPA toured the facility and a census was taken. LPA met with Center Supervisor Michelle Higginson. The purpose of today's inspection was to discuss an incident that was reported to the Department on September 21, 2022. A complete file review was conducted prior to today's inspection. An Unusual Incident Report was submitted to the Fresno Community Care Licensing Office regarding an incident that occurred on September 20, 2022 where Child #1 (C1) reported that a staff member hit him on the arm when he wanted to touch the tv. The facility conducted an internal investigation of the incident; Director II Jelewee Lemus interviewed staff present in the classroom and determined that the staff turned on cartoons for a few minutes and during that time C1 went to go touch the screen and was redirected not to touch the screen. LPA McWilliams spoke to Director Lemus over the phone, Director Lemus stated that through the investigation it was determined that the teacher guided the child’s arm down and did not hit the child as reported. Director Lemus stated that C1 is a very compliant child and does not need any type of correction and it was unusual for him to be redirected causing C1 to have a different idea of the interaction. Director Lemus spoke to C1's authorized representative with the assistance of an interpreter and discussed the outcome of the investigation; the authorized representative reported that it was very out of character for her child to say that, so she wanted to make sure it was reported. The child is still enrolled and attending and there have been no further issues. Director Lemus confirmed on the date of the incident that there were three staff present and 11 kids in the classroom at the time of the incident. Director Lemus stated that there were also discussions with staff regarding turning on cartoons in the classroom and it being against policy. continued on 809-c Exit interview was conducted with Center Supervisor, Michelle Higginson. Per California Code of Regulations Title 22, Division 12, Chapter 1, no deficiency is cited today. Notice of Site Inspection to be posted for 30 days.