9.1 Parental Complaint Process

Lead Agencies must maintain a record of substantiated parental complaints against child care providers and make information regarding such complaints available to the public on request. Lead Agencies must also provide a detailed description of the hotline or similar reporting process for parents to submit complaints about child care providers; the process for substantiating complaints; the manner in which the Lead Agency maintains a record of substantiated parental complaints; and ways that the Lead Agency makes information on such parental complaints available to the public on request. Lead Agencies are not required to limit the complaint process to parents. 9.1.1 Parental complaint process a. Describe the Lead Agency’s hotline or similar reporting process through which parents can submit complaints about child care providers, including a link if it is a Web-based process: The DCF hosts multiple channels through which parents can submit complaints. Parents may file complaints by contacting DCF’s abuse hotline (https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/abuse/abuse-hotline ), the local child care licensing office (https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-care/child- care-providers-and-staff/child-care-contacts ), or by submitting a complaint via the Child Care Provider Complaint portal (https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child- family/child-care/child-care-resources-families/file-child-care-provider-complaint ). The DEL receives parents’ provider complaints through the CCR&R State Network’s toll- free parent line. Allegations of child abuse or neglect and health and safety concerns are forwarded to the abuse hotline or licensing, as applicable. Parents may also access DEL’s online complaint form to report fraud, program abuse, or mismanagement. See link: Preventing Fraud (Preventing Fraud (fldoe.org)) b. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for families that speak languages other than English: To ensure all parents have broad access to the parental complaint process, the DCF developed the Auxiliary Aids and Service Plan that provides procedures, policies, and protocol to provide auxiliary aids for persons with Limited English Proficiency. The 2019 Statewide Auxiliary Aids and Service Plan provides protocol and available resources for the implementation of DCF policy and procedures for the provision of auxiliary aids and services in ensuring accessibility to all programs, benefits, and services such as foreign language interpreters for persons with Limited English Proficiency. The DCF Auxiliary Aids and Service Plan consists of regional points of contact, multilingual staff, and a complete list of available resources and contact information. c. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for persons with disabilities: FLDOE and DEL adhere to all ADA compliance standards. Section 282.603, F.S., requires that each state agency use accessible electronic information and information technology that conforms to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities. To maintain compliance with the Statute and Act, DEL has staff trained in formatting guidelines set by the ADA to ensure all information is accessible to persons with disabilities. Additionally, materials developed by DEL for print also follow the ADA guidelines for design. DCF has resources regarding access to services for persons with disabilities that can be found on their website. While these standards currently apply to federal government, it is the direct responsibility of Florida state government agencies and their web designers and developers to become familiar with these accessibility guidelines and to apply these principles in designing and creating any official web site. d. For complaints about providers, including CCDF providers and non-CCDF providers, does the Lead Agency have a process and timeline for screening, substantiating, and responding to complaints, including information about whether the process includes monitoring? [x] Yes. If yes, describe: Health and safety complaints are sent to DCF and LLAs, as applicable, who determine if the complaint is substantiated. When the regional licensing office receives the complaint, they review the information to determine if the allegations fall under the purview of their office. If they do, the assigned licensing counselor will conduct a complaint inspection to investigate the allegation and all applicable health and safety standards. If the allegation is outside their purview they will share the complaint information with the appropriate authorities, such as the Florida DOG, Building and Zoning Office, Accrediting Association, etc. When the information or alleged violation given in a complaint is verified, the complaint is considered a substantiated complaint. If the complaint is not related to health and safety concerns, DEL staff collect a summary of the complaint and coordinate with the ELC to resolve. In addition to DEL’s process, ELCs monitor CCDF providers on whom the ELCs receive parental complaints using the Statewide SR Provider Contract Monitoring Tool. Health and safety complaints are sent to DCF and LLAs, as applicable, who determine if the complaint is substantiated. DCF’s response time for commencing complaint investigations is as follows: - Allegations involving abuse/neglect require an investigation to be commenced within two business days of receipt. If a child is hurt and there is an abuse/neglect report called in and accepted to the hotline, the Child Protective Investigator (CPI) makes contact immediately. CPI and licensing aim to conduct joint visits but this is not always the case as the CPI may make contact on the weekend and licensing will follow up the next business day. - Allegations not involving abuse/neglect but alleging other noncompliance of licensing/registration/exemption/SR standards require an investigation to be commenced within five business days of receipt. - Allegations involving noncompliance with standards outside of DCF’s purview for inspection (i.e.: tuition or payroll issues) do not require an investigation. - All complaints must be completed within 30 business days from the date the investigation was initiated. If an extension is requested and granted, licensing staff must document the approval for an extension on the complaint inspection report. Parents may also complete DCF’s Child Care Provider Online Complaint Form to initiate investigation of complaint allegations relevant to the governing statutes and/or rules for child care services. DCF’s process for substantiating and responding to complaints for CCDF and non-CCDF providers is the same. However, CCDF providers are also monitored according to DEL rules/standards. [ ] No. e. For substantiated parental complaints, who maintains the record for CCDF and non-CCDF providers? After the on-site investigation, the evidence is evaluated to determine whether the complaint is valid or not and if there are possible violations or deficiencies. The analyzed information is used to generate a complaint inspection report. A complaint inspection report must be completed in its entirety, thoroughly documenting allegations, response, and investigative findings in the Licensing Application and archived in the Child Care Administration, Regulation and Enforcement System (CARES). The investigation is considered ￿complete￿ when all information has been evaluated and findings are determined. Once all the evidence has been evaluated and a decision has been made, the findings must be reviewed with the facility owner/director or home operator. A copy of the complaint inspection and complaint narrative is given to the facility owner/director or home operator upon completion of the investigation and an exit interview is conducted. If a plan for corrective action is required, the licensing counselor must complete a follow up to determine compliance. Upon completion of required corrective actions, compliance is documented in the CARES through completion of a re-inspection report in the Licensing Application. All investigations of complaints must be included in the licensing/registration file regardless of the findings. The provider must come into compliance within a reasonably determined timeline. All complaint inspections are stored in the DCF licensing system (CARES). Complaint inspections that contain a finding of non-compliance are displayed to the public after all necessary investigations have been complete. For complaints that are not related to licensing or health and safety concerns, DEL uses Cherwell to document and maintain complaints received from families and providers participating in the SR program. DEL collaborates with the early learning coalitions to resolve inquiries that are substantiated and unsubstantiated due to the parent or provider not understanding program requirements and the coalition’s eligibility determinations. In these instances, the coalition and the CCR&R State Network share information with the parent and provider and offer resources to the parent or technical assistance to the provider to address the concern. f. Describe how information about substantiated parental complaints is made available to the public; this information can include the consumer education website discussed in subsection 9.2: All complaint inspections regarding health and safety standards are stored in the DCF licensing system (CARES). Complaint inspections that contain a finding of noncompliance are displayed to the public after all necessary investigations have been completed. Florida has a public provider search tool located on the DCF website: https://caressearch.myflfamilies.com/PublicSearch. Through this search tool, provider inspections are listed by date of inspection. When a compliant inspection is conducted, it will display on the website if any violations are recorded. If a non-compliance is identified during that inspection, there will be a red dot next to the date. The report will open by clicking on the inspection date. If no violations were issued, then the complaint inspection is stored in the CARES system but will not be displayed to the public.