The number of child care investigators in Maine will more than double beginning next week. The Department of Health and Human Services today announced the addition of 16 field investigators to ensure high quality and safety at day cares. That brings the total number to 28. DHHS has come under fire recently for failing to follow through with investigations into alleged physical abuse at certain day cares.
It was Sunshine Child Care in Lyman that put DHHS in the spotlight earlier this year. The Department cited the day care in 2012 and 2013 for numerous safety violations and allegations of physical abuse, including force feeding, slapping, and restraining children.
But DHHS still granted the day care a conditional license, and many parents had no idea of the violations. Danielle Pouliot said she didn't find out until she got a phone call from a DHHS investigator.
"And said that my son was involved in an incident, and they said they were still doing all their preliminary research, but his name came up a couple different times with different witnesses," Pouliot says. "So when I heard that and I got the phone call from DHHS, that's when I pulled him immediately."
As word of the violations spread, other parents followed suit, and Sunshine Child Care closed in January. In the midst of all this, DHHS licensing policies and procedures were scrutinized by the media, lawmakers, and the government accountability office, which is currently pursuing two reviews into the department for licensing and overall culture.
DHHS Director of Licensing and Regulatory Services Ken Albert says his division did some self-scrutinizing too.
"We took a look at our staff, what their caseloads were, which were roughly 180, and determined what it would take to decrease those caseloads to national standards," Albert says.
Even with the hiring of additional staff, each investigator will handle about 80 cases. Albert says the department is making other changes. "And this really is result of our internal review regarding the Sunshine Child Care matter," he says. "We looked at was there a human error there? Were there systemic errors? And really identified that there was both."
So DHHS is also creating a licensing advisory panel that will meet every other week to review cases and determine if licensing action is needed. The department will also set up a public Web portal by next January, where parents can research the status and action history of licensed day cares.
Donna Bouyea, who runs a licensed home-based day care in Lewiston, welcomes the changes. She says, being in an urban area, investigators stop by her day care unannounced about every six to eight months.
"For where we're at, where I'm located, I mean, ours are pretty good," Bouyea says. "But I know that they have said that some of them, they have had more homes added to them, so it takes more time. And, you know, they want to do a good job too."
Bouyea says the investigators are also an important resource when she has questions or needs help finding services for children.
Parent Danielle Pouliot is relieved at the changes, but says it remains to be seen whether they will translate into better practices at DHHS.
"You know, file the reports and the reports need to be taken seriously," she says, "because in our case, there are certain things that got pushed into the other paperwork."
Ken Albert of DHHS says parents should also do their due diligence and ask day cares whether they're licensed and in good standing.
