Report 2005-129 Recommendation 1 Responses
Report 2005-129: Department of Social Services: In Rebuilding Its Child Care Program Oversight, the Department Needs to Improve Its Monitoring Efforts and Enforcement Actions (Release Date: May 2006)
Recommendation #1 To: Social Services, Department of
To ensure that the department continues to make monitoring visits, including periodic inspections and complaint visits, and carries out its other required responsibilities for child care facilities, the department should continue its efforts to make all nonconfidential information about its monitoring visits more readily available to the public.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2012
CDSS has improved the transparency of licensing reports and records to ensure parents and guardians using a licensed child care facility are aware of situations that present the greatest danger to children.
The CDSS' transparency efforts include:
Posting a notice of a site visit at the facility, which indicates an inspection was recently conducted and that copies of the non-confidential reports from that visit may be obtained by contacting the CDSS. Parents may also ask to review the licensee's copy. Licensees are required to leave this notice posted in their facility for 30 consecutive days.
Informing the public on the CDSS' Web site that they may contact the local Regional Office or County Office to make a request to review a facility's non-confidential file in person or over the phone.
Requiring Licensees to provide copies of any document showing a Type A deficiency, a noncompliance conference, and/or any legal action to current parents, as well as all documents showing noncompliance for the 12-month period to new parents upon enrollment of a child in a facility.
The Legislature added to the CDSS' transparency by requiring Resource and Referral Agencies to advise parents of their right to get information about any substantiated or inconclusive complaints concerning a child care provider by calling the local licensing office.
The CDSS meets with stakeholders including the Resource and Referral Network to share licensing information. They, in turn, communicate with providers and the general public relative to licensing requirements, including the posting and parent notification requirements identified above.
In this past year the CDSS made changes to the child care licensing home page in order to make it less cumbersome and easier to navigate. This additionally ensures greater ease of public access to licensing information. In addition to Quarterly Updates, the CDSS provides e-blasts when information is needed immediately. The Community Care Licensing Division believes these changes, coupled with the above information, reflect the CDSS' commitment to make all non-confidential information readily available to the public. Although a future goal, there is no current technological capacity to post licensing reports online.
- Completion Date: May 2012
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
All Recommendations in 2005-129
Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.