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 can be called into the statewide Child Protective Services Intake hotline. In addition, Child Care Licensing Specialists are assigned to the daily complaint intake on a rotating basis. Those calls come in to the main number for Child Care Licensing and are transferred to the Child Care Licensing Specialist assigned to the complaint intake. In addition, any parental complaints can be reported to the Department by means of phone, fax, or email. https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/support-for-families/child-care/reporting-child-care- concerns b. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for families that speak languages other than English: The Lead Agency provides all staff with Language Link, a telephone language line for assistance with translation. The State of Maine provides translators as needed. c. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for persons with disabilities: Child care licensing investigates all complaints received. Intake is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends and holidays. For those that are hearing impaired dialing the extension 711 for support. In addition the Lead Agency contracts with the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies and the University of Maine to support children, families, early educators staff and state staff in navigating support for children with disabilities and special needs. 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: The report comes into intake and is forwarded to licensing once assigned. Once it is assigned to a Licensing Specialist, they have 5 business days to begin the investigation (sometimes a more immediate response is necessary). The Licensing Specialist then has 35 days from the date of assignment to complete the investigation and send their summary to their supervisor. Almost all reports are responded to by going to the program. Complaints are received by Child Protective Intake. Complaint information is recorded in Katahdin and submitted to the Out of Home Investigation Supervisor or designee. The Out of Home Investigation Supervisor or designee determines which complaints are referred to child care licensing or to Out of Home to investigate. Complaints alleging high risk or other serious situations will be brought to the attention of management as soon as the information is received. Child care licensing investigates all complaints received. The timeframe for investigation begins from the date assigned. Investigations must begin within five (5) business days. Children’s Licensing Supervisors (CLS) may request more immediate response, when necessary. There are times other agencies are involved in investigating a complaint including but not limited to law enforcement, town code enforcement officers, and Child Protective Services if there is a companion report and Maine Center for Disease Control. If the report is assigned to our Out of Home Investigation team to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect the Investigator will reach out to the Child Care Licensing Specialist (CCLS) upon beginning their investigation to learn about the program’s history (in addition to doing a review of the program’s record), and to see if the CCLS has any relevant information in regard to the complaint. The CCLS begins the investigation process by contacting the referent when they are known. The referent is asked about the report they made, and if they are aware of any other witnesses that might be able to corroborate their allegations. They are also asked if there is any new information that has come to their attention or any concerns they have that they did not include in their original report. Since each complaint is unique there is no set format for how to conduct the investigation. The CCLS will review the program’s history and determine if there is anything in their history that may be relevant to the investigation. Complaint investigations are unannounced unless circumstances indicate a phone call or appointment would be more effective. The majority of complaint investigations involve the CCLS going to the program to investigate the complaint. On very rare occasions, based on the nature of the complaint and with the approval of a CLS, the investigation may be conducted by phone, Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Upon entering the home or facility to investigate the complaint, the CCLS will explain the reason for the visit without stating the exact nature of the complaint. The CCLS interviews all relevant individuals. These individuals may include, but not limited to: persons present during a reported incident, witnesses, the person in charge of the program, parents of involved child(ren), and persons with knowledge of program operation. Permission is obtained for any Child Care Staff Members who are minors (sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds) from their parent or legal guardian. Interviews are conducted in private whenever possible. The CCLS plans an appropriate sequence of interviews based on the nature of the complaint. In addition to interviews the CCLS will view pertinent written materials. These materials may include but are not limited to: a written complaint by a referent, prior complaints, provider licensing history, program policies and records, personnel records, child records and attendance records. The CCLS may also conduct observations as part of the investigation process if the nature of the complaint warrants them to. If at any point during a complaint investigation the CCLS becomes aware of or observes behavior or conditions in the child care setting that poses an immediate threat of harm to a child’s safety or wellbeing, the CCLS immediately contacts a CLS to develop a plan to remediate the threat of harm. At the conclusion of the on-site complaint investigation, the CCLS may discuss any possible rule violations with the program, unless such a discussion would place children at risk. It is optional for the CCLS to use the site record form to document they were on- site to conduct a complaint investigation and any discussion that occurred with the program. Once all relevant information has been gathered the CCLS will document the information obtained and results of the investigation on our investigation summary form, which includes any potential rule violations and the supporting evidence. The completed investigation summary form is submitted to the CLS for review and approval. The investigation will be conducted, and documentation completed within 35 days of assignment to the CCLS. Extensions may be granted with prior approval from the CLS. In the case of an Out of Home Investigation the investigator has up to 90 days to complete the investigation and provide the results of the investigation using the Out of Home Investigation report form. The report is submitted to the Out of Home Supervisor for review and approval of the report and any identified rule violations. If the rule violations indicate a need for potential licensing action (Directed Plan of Action (DPOA), Notice of Conditional License, Denial of license, etc.). The CCLS and/or Out of Home Investigator (if assigned to OOH) and CLS will present the investigation results to the Compliance Advisory Panel (CAP) for decision. Within ten (10) business days of CLS approval or CAP decision, a closing letter, Letter of Deficiencies (LOD) or licensing action is sent to the provider stating the outcome of the investigation. The CCLS documents the results of the investigation in MACWIS and supporting materials are forwarded to the Office Associate II (OAII) for scanning into DocuWare. [ ] No. e. For substantiated parental complaints, who maintains the record for CCDF and non-CCDF providers? Child care Licensing for licensed providers and the Child Care Affordability Program for license-exempt providers. 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: Children's Licensing and Investigation Services provides monitoring inspection reports for each on-site visit to licensed and license-exempt Early Care and Education Programs. This report outlines any health and safety violations and includes action step(s) the child care program took to correct the violation(s). To find the licensing history and inspection reports of an Early Care and Education Program, go to: https://search.childcarechoices.me/. If it is determined by the Children's Licensing Supervisors that a Letter of Deficiencies or licensing action is warranted a Child Care Licensing Specialist will draft the appropriate follow up documentation for review and approval by the supervisors. Letter of Deficiencies and any licensing action is posted to the Consumer Education website, also known as Child Care Choices, in the program’s inspection history. In addition, the program is required to post any licensing action at the program in a conspicuous location to be viewed on-site.