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Gongwer News
Service, May 23, 2005
State officials have failed to adequately check the criminal backgrounds
of childcare workers and to conduct required inspections of childcare
centers in a timely fashion, an audit from Auditor General Thomas McTavish
showed. However, the audit raised no issues in how the state investigated
complaints made of childcare centers.
The Department of Human Services concurred with all the broad findings of
the audit, though it disagreed with some specifics of the recommendations.
The audit looked at the Child Day Care and Child Welfare Licensing
divisions of the former Family Independence Agency, which had all been
moved in 2003 into the newly named Office of Children and Adult Licensing.
The FIA became the Department of Human Services in March.
The audit reviewed the operations of the then two divisions from October
1, 2001 to September 30, 2003.
The agencies have responsibilities over thousands of childcare centers -
according to the audit. 14,700 child day care homes and 4,700 child day
care centers - as well as some 8,000 foster homes and hundreds of other
childcare institutions, camps and placement agencies.
Of the problems listed by the audit - conducting criminal checks,
conducting inspections, and issuing licenses in a timely fashion - some of
the biggest lapses occurred in conducting the inspections.
The audit found that as many as 18 percent of physical inspections of some
2,100 centers were not completed within 90 days as required, and in some
cases it took more than one year for inspections to actually take place.
The audit also found the department did not always follow up with physical
inspections of newly registered centers where problems were found within
90 days after the initial problems were located.
And the audit also found that the agencies had not conducted inspections
of 10 percent of all the homes in each county during each fiscal year.
In terms of checking for criminal backgrounds, the audit found that in 5
percent of the files checked that required criminal background checks were
not completed of center program directors, and in another series of checks
not completed in 15 percent of the of the program administrators reviewed.
The audit also found that the agencies did not periodically get updates on
the criminal histories of licensees or individuals who live in houses that
operate as group day-care homes.
The department said in its response to the audit that it had begun a new
system in January to check on criminal histories of those involved in the
childcare programs. It has also started a new business rule that no new
license will be issued until a criminal check has been completed.
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