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: Parents can submit complaints about licensed providers in a few different manners. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline is available by phone and is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-652-1999. Parents can also contact Children’s Services Licensing with the Division of Public Health through their phone hotline at 1-800-600-1289. Complaints may be submitted by fax to Children’s Services Licensing at 402-471-7763, and electronically at https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/Pages/Childrens-Services-Licensing-How-to-File-a- Complaint.aspx Complaints about License Exempt and In-Home providers can also be made to the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline, or through the Child Care Subsidy general line at 402-471-9152. Information will be collected from the caller and sent to the Resource Developer Supervisor and CCDF Administrator for follow-up. b. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for families that speak languages other than English: When complaints are made by phone, callers who speak a language other than English have access to the Language Line services, where they can be connected with an interpreter. For complaints made online, the reporter can select an option to translate the website into the language of their choice. Complaints can also be made in the reporter’s spoken/written language when submitted via mail. c. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for persons with disabilities: The Lead Agency phone line offers a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) phone line. Complaints can also be made in writing, by fax, or electronically. 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: Children’s Services Licensing partners with Children and Family Services (CFS) Protection and Safety staff to screen for abuse and neglect allegations, work collaboratively to investigate the complaint and determine if abuse or neglect occurred with a child care provider. Complaints that do not involve abuse or neglect but are in violation of licensing regulations are investigated by Children’s Services Licensing. If the provider is a CCDF provider, Children’s Services Licensing Investigators will work in collaboration with Resource Development staff, as well. Complaints on all licensed child care programs are documented on a form called a Compliance Review Report, which is maintained for a minimum of seven years. Complaints are maintained and stored in a central file located in the Children’s Services Licensing office at the State Office Building in Lincoln, Nebraska. All complaint information is maintained for a minimum of seven years. Complaints received for license exempt and in-home providers are sent to the CCDF team. The CCDF team works with Children’s Services Licensing and CFS staff to identify the issue and make recommendations to improve the care provided. The CCDF team records and maintains electronic records of complaints made against license exempt and in-home providers. [ ] No. e. For substantiated parental complaints, who maintains the record for CCDF and non-CCDF providers? Complaints on all child care programs licensed by the Division of Public Health are documented on a form called a Compliance Review Report. These complaints and investigations are stored and tracked within an electronic system through narratives and scanned documentation allowing the Lead Agency to review past issues and consider past offenses when new complaints occur. All information entered into the electronic system is retained indefinitely. Past issues with providers are considered when determining appropriate action on new complaints. 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: The public can review monitoring and disciplinary information at any time on this site: https://www.nebraska.gov/LISSearch/search.cgi. For this link, a user must click on either "individual search" or "business/service search" and type in the name or license number of the child care or provider. If they are a licensed provider, any disciplinary action and monitoring will appear at the bottom of the screen. This includes all licensed CCDF providers. Reports before 10/01/18 are not posted, but can be requested through the Licensure Unit at 402-471-9278 or DHHS.ChildCareLicensing@nebraska.gov. Traditionally, most complaints about license exempt child care providers are received through the Lead Agency’s abuse and neglect hotline. If complaints are substantiated, the provider subsidy agreement is closed or terminated immediately. If the provider is closed and no longer eligible for child care subsidy, the complaint is not posted. The Lead Agency does not make public relative-exempt complaints. Other complaints would be posted with annual monitoring compliance at the following link: https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Search- for-Child-Care-Providers.aspx.