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: Complaints about licensed child care providers can be submitted to the local licensing specialist. Contact information can be found at https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2126/Find-my-Surveyor-PDF. Complaints can also be reported by calling 785-296-1270 or by completing a complaint form online at https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/381/File-a-Complaint---Licensed-Child-Care-F. In addition, the Lead Agency provides a hotline that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for individuals to report concerns related to child abuse and neglect. The Protection and Reporting Center (PRC) located within Kansas Department for Children and Families can be contacted at 1-800-922-5330 or online at http://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/PPS/Pages/KIPS/KIPSWebIntake.aspx b. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for families that speak languages other than English: The Kansas Department of Health and Environment website with the online complaint form at https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/381/File-a-Complaint---Licensed-Child-Care-F operate using Google Translate. Users are able to choose their language from a long list of those available, which then translates the compliant form into the selected language. The Protection Reporting Center (PRC) hotline is called for concerns related to child abuse and neglect and customers receive a greeting in English and Spanish when they call the hotline. The message directs them to select an English line, or a Spanish line and staff are assigned to both lines. All staff have access to a translation service for other languages as needed. c. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for persons with disabilities: The Kansas Department of Health and Environment website that contains the online complaint form at https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/381/File-a-Complaint---Licensed- Child-Care-F is ADA compliant and therefore accessible for those with disabilities. The Lead Agency’s Protection and Reporting Center provides a phone number to the Kansas Relay Center. The Kansas Relay Center can facilitate communication with Kansans that have hearing and/or speech disabilities by calling 1-800-922-5330. The PRC also has an online report form for mandated reporters found at https://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/PPS/Pages/Mandated-Reporter-Portal.aspx. 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: Complaints about licensed child care providers can be submitted to the local licensing specialist. Contact information can be found at https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2126/Find-my-Surveyor-PDF. Complaints can also be reported by calling (785) 296-1270 or by completing a complaint form online at https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/381/File-a-Complaint---Licensed-Child-Care-F. Child care licensing specialists investigate all complaints related to regulatory noncompliance. Complaint investigations must be initiated within 5 days of receipt unless the seriousness requires immediate investigation and possible emergency order of suspension of the license. A complaint with substantiated results may result in enforcement action including a notice of noncompliance, request for an emergency suspension of the licensee, civil penalty, suspension of the license or revocation of the license. The total time it takes the licensing specialist to complete a complaint investigation may vary based on several factors, including the request from Kansas Department for Children and Families or law enforcement to hold the child care licensing investigation pending the completion of an ongoing investigation. However, it is expected that complaint investigations are prioritized, completed and submitted to the department within 30 days. The findings of the investigation are available on the public portal after a review of the compliant has been completed by the department. Investigations involving allegations of abuse/neglect may be conducted jointly with Kansas Department for Children and Families/Law Enforcement. However, the focus of the child care investigation is regulatory compliance. Kansas Department of Health and Environment documentation is to be shared with Kansas Department for Children and Families or other state or local agency officials. K.S.A. 38-2212 allows for the exchange of information between Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Kansas Department for Children and Families. K.S.A. 38-2213 allows for the exchange of information between Kansas Department of Health and Environment and local law enforcement. An unannounced inspection is conducted and a walk through of the facility completed. Child and adult records for compliance, as it pertains to the complaint allegations, are reviewed. If video is available specific to the allegations, it is viewed. It is most frequently necessary to interview staff and parents as part of your complaint investigation, including those no longer employed or parents of children no longer enrolled. Neighbors or other outside parties may also be interviewed, as determined necessary. Individuals interviewed are referred to as collateral contacts and they can provide very relevant and helpful information in most cases. Collateral contacts may provide information that substantiates or unsubstantiated the original allegations and or leads to citing other noncompliance found during the course of the investigation. A substantiated complaint, or a complaint that was unsubstantiated but where other noncompliance was found, may require ongoing compliance/monitoring visits or other enforcement action. Complaints involving license exempt providers can be submitted to the Kansas Department for Children and Families Child Care Provider Enrollment Unit by calling Customer Service at 1-833-765-2003. The caller will be connected to the provider enrollment specialist who is responsible for that county. The customer service number can be found on the Kansas Department for Children and Families website at http://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/ees/Pages/EEScontacts.aspx. Kansas Department for Children and Families follows the same procedures for investigating complaints related to the health and safety of children and violations of regulations that would involve noncompliance as Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The difference is that Kansas Department for Children and Families would terminate the Provider Agreement giving a 30-day notice of termination. If the violation resulted in a substantiated complaint of child abuse/or neglect by the provider or anyone living or working in the facility, the provider agreement would be terminated immediately. (KEESM:10022 #5). [ ] No. e. For substantiated parental complaints, who maintains the record for CCDF and non-CCDF providers? Through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Kansas Department for Children and Families has access to all complaint inspections and findings through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment web-based system of record (CLARIS). It is expected that Kansas Department of Health and Environment will maintain a record of substantiated facility complaints, including parental complaints, for three years. For license exempt child care providers, all substantiated facility complaints including parental complaints and findings are stored in Image Now under the license exempt provider file. All substantiated complaints for license exempt child care providers can be found for a period of 3 years from the date of substantiation on the Child Care in Kansas Consumer Education Website at https://childcareinkansas.com/resource/inspection-reports/. 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: Substantiated Complaints for all licensed providers are available on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Child Care Licensing Facility Inspection Reports found at https://khap2.kdhe.state.ks.us/OIDS/. Substantiated Complaints about license exempt child care providers for the last 3 years can be found on the Child Care in Kansas website at https://childcareinkansas.com/resource/inspection-reports/.