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 Lead Agency’s customer service line is staffed by agency personnel during working hours and available to the public to report complaints related to child care facilities or individuals associated with the facility. The customer service line is available during business hours, and the public may leave messages outside of normal business hours. Families making a complaint may request to remain anonymous. Following is the online link for submitting a complaint: https://www.oregon.gov/delc/families/pages/child-care- safety.aspx#HowToMakeAComplaint There are various places on the Lead Agency’s website for families to initiate the complaint process, routed to the URL listed above. Families may also contact the Direct Pay Unit at 1-800-699-9074 during normal business hours to report a complaint regarding a subsidy provider, or e-mail DPU.CustomerService@delc.oregon.gov. b. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for families that speak languages other than English: The Lead Agency aims to provide all vital licensing and provider documents in the five primary languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese), and posts them to the website. The Lead Agency also provides a staff contact that users can call if they need additional ADA or language support. The Lead Agency employs bilingual staff and strives to hire staff fluent in the five languages listed above. In addition, the Lead Agency provides a Language and Translation Coordinator and offers language line assistance that a caller can use if they need additional language support. The Lead Agency utilizes a translation process for important documents and communications around complaints, provides interpretation for public meetings, and contracts with Language Link at the state level to provide services in languages without available translation and/or interpretation services. Google translate provides basic web page translation for the DELC primary site and DELC News website. In addition, the following is posted on the Lead Agency’s website: ￿You are entitled to language assistance services and other accommodations at no cost. If you need help in your language or other accommodations, please contact the Child Care Licensing Division (CCLD) at 503-947- 1400.￿ The DELC websites (Delc-News.org and Oregon.gov/Delc are designed by a third-party vendor and are formatted to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA, Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Plain Language Act of 2010. DELC uses the Oregon.gov framework and is continually audited for ADA compliance as content changes are made. Content owners and program staff review materials for appropriate language level. An 8th grade reading level is the target for written materials. The Oregon.gov website is tested and designed to be accessible by the website platform provider. c. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for persons with disabilities: The Lead Agency’s websites meet ADA standards as detailed below and are regularly evaluated for compliance.￿ Oregon is committed to providing all customers, including individuals with disabilities, equal access to web-based information and services. The Lead Agency is continually engaged in the process of improving the web experience for all users. The primary site is available in English and google translate is available to view the information in 10 other common languages spoken in Oregon. The news site relies on Google Translate and is therefore available in 133 mechanically translated languages. The Lead Agency’s Social Equity Office has a primary charge of operationalizing equity, diversity and inclusion practices in Early Learning and Care programs, policies, and performances. The Social Equity Office serves as front-end accountability structure, helping DELC to be prepared for back-end accountability expectations. The Oregon Department of Human Services’ (ODHS) Office of Equity and Multicultural Services is responsible for service equity communications for subsidy recipients, ensuring programs are available to all qualified Oregonians. More information about the Office of Equity and Multicultural Services can be found () here. The DELC websites (Delc-News.org and Oregon.gov/DELC are designed by a third-party vendor and are formatted to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA, Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Plain Language Act of 2010. DELC uses the Oregon.gov framework and is continually audited for ADA compliance as content changes are made. Content owners and program staff review materials for appropriate language level. An 8th grade reading level is the target for written materials. The Oregon.gov website is tested and designed to be accessible by the website platform provider. 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: When the Lead Agency receives a complaint on a licensed child care facility, the process calls for an onsite investigation typically within three business days after the assignment is received by an Investigative Specialist. Investigative Specialists are assigned a complaint visit, which they conduct unannounced at the child care facility. The Investigative Specialists review records, interview staff and review all partner agency reports before assigning a visit finding of valid, invalid, or unable to substantiate. After the finding is assigned, agency management will decide whether additional monitoring or legal action are appropriate. Most complaints with a valid finding receive a compliance verification monitoring visit. A complaint filed with the Direct Pay Unit on a license-exempt provider who receives CCDF is referred to the Child Care Licensing Division within the Lead Agency when there is a health or safety concern. The Investigative Specialist follows the same assignment procedure for responding to the assignment but does not assess a visit finding. The Investigative Specialist will provide a report of observations made and any information gathered to the Child Care Assistance Program Office. Complaints are received by the Subsidy Suspensions unit from various sources including the Direct Pay Unit (billing and payment processing unit for child care subsidies), Child Welfare, Office of Training Investigations and Safety (OTIS), and the Child Care Licensing Division (CCLD). Child Welfare records are reviewed weekly. Reports including child safety concerns are reviewed upon receipt to the Subsidy Suspensions Team (SST). Any report of child safety concerns or neglect that did not originate from Child Welfare/OTIS are reported to Oregon Child Abuse Hotline (ORCAH) immediately. Child Welfare/OTIS investigates and responds accordingly, including site visits. Providers with no current subsidy families receive a note on the provider database not to connect new subsidy families without a review. When subsidy families are actively connected to the provider, an analysis is completed of all documentation available, including record reviews and interviews. When Child Welfare/OTIS investigations are ongoing, the SST unit may connect with CCLD and OTIS during the investigation to evaluate the situation for potential risks. Because ERDC listing requirements are not identical to licensing requirements, there may be times where SST takes a different enforcement action from CCLD regarding a provider serving child care assistance families. For example, if a provider refused to allow the Lead Agency to conduct a site visit, this could result in a suspension as an ERDC provider where it would not impact the provider’s licensure. DELC views a temporary suspension of subsidy payment to be less severe than termination of a child care provider’s license. Not all ERDC requirements could lead to a suspension. Requirements that can easily be corrected do not result in suspension. When an ERDC health and safety rule violation has occurred, the SST proceeds with a minimum six-month suspension from subsidy care, a failure notice, or a Notice of Awareness. Suspensions are applied when there are clear safety risks. A failed status is used when a violation is easily corrected and can be lifted once the violation is corrected. A Notice of Awareness is used when no safety risk is established, the violation appeared to be unintentional (many times this is a failure to report contact with Child Welfare/OTIS) and the provider did not realize they were in violation with ERDC. [ ] No. e. For substantiated parental complaints, who maintains the record for CCDF and non-CCDF providers? All complaints are logged into the Child Care Licensing Division (CCLD)’s data management system under the licensing record of the child care facility. Agency staff assign complaint visits to investigative specialist staff within the system, and investigative specialist staff document their findings within the system. Substantiated complaints are issued valid findings, and the data management system maintains the records. Valid complaint findings are posted on the agency child care safety portal. For license-exempt providers, all complaints are logged, and electronic files are held in the Direct Pay Unit Drive. Complaints are emailed to DELC Suspension Team and CCLD Compliance Specialists if the provider is licensed. Substantiated complaints resulting in the provider being placed in a suspended status are recorded in the Provider Status Tracking System. This system tracks suspended providers within the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) including providers for Aging and People with Disabilities, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Self-Sufficiency Programs. 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: Information on substantiated parent complaints is made available to the public on the Lead Agency’s online child care safety portal. All complaints in which the finding result is valid are reported to the public via the Lead Agency’s website for a period of five years or by telephone for a period of ten years. All findings that are unable to substantiate are reported on the web and by phone for a period of two years. No invalid complaints are reported to the public.