5.5 Monitoring and Enforcement of Licensing and Health and Safety Requirements

5.5.1 Inspections for licensed CCDF providers Licensing inspectors must perform at least one annual, unannounced inspection of each licensed CCDF provider for compliance with all child care licensing standards, including an inspection for compliance with health and safety and fire standards. Lead Agencies must conduct at least one pre-licensure inspection for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards of each child care provider and facility in the State/Territory. a. Licensed CCDF center-based providers i. Does your pre-licensure inspection for licensed center-based providers assess compliance with health standards, safety standards, and fire standards? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: ii. Identify the frequency of annual unannounced inspections for licensed center- based providers addressing compliance with health, safety, and fire standards: [x] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [ ] Other. If other, describe: iii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring licensed center-based providers? appropriate) k. Child abuse and neglect recognition and reporting [x] [x] [x] l. Child development including major domains of cognitive, social, emotional, physical development and approaches to learning. [x] [x] [ ] [x] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. Center-based facilities may qualify to receive a differential monitoring abbreviated visit based on meeting specific criteria. Differential monitoring visits may only be used for two consecutive licensing period renewals. On the third licensing period, a full inspection visit is required. Differential monitoring checklists contain the following items: staff/child ratio and group size; supervision; inaccessibility of toxic and hazardous substances; hand-washing, diaper changing procedures, and bathroom routines; discipline practices; outdoor playground safety; emergency procedures and emergency drills; administration of medication; provider/director and staff qualifications; staff training; child abuse reporting; ensuring that CBR enrollment is on file for all staff. During the visit, if field staff observe an accumulation of non-serious noncompliance, or any serious noncompliance, field staff may stop and switch to use the full renewal checklist. [ ] No. If no, describe: iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed center-based providers. Lead Agency - Child Care Licensing Division Licensing Specialists b. Licensed CCDF family child care providers i. Does your pre-licensure inspection for licensed family child care homes assess compliance with health standards, safety standards, and fire standards? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: ii. Identify the frequency of annual unannounced inspections for licensed family child care homes addressing compliance with health, safety, and fire standards: [x] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [ ] Other. If other, describe: iii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring licensed family child care providers? [x] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. Certified Family child care homes may qualify to receive a differential monitoring abbreviated visit based on meeting specific criteria. Differential monitoring visits may only be used for two consecutive licensing period renewals. On the third licensing period, a full inspection visit is required. Differential monitoring checklists contain the following items: staff/child ratio and group size; supervision; inaccessibility of toxic and hazardous substances; hand-washing, diaper changing procedures, and bathroom routines; discipline practices; outdoor playground safety; emergency procedures and emergency drills; administration of medication; provider/director and staff qualifications; staff training; child abuse reporting; ensuring that CBR enrollment is on file for all staff. During the visit, if field staff observe an accumulation of non-serious noncompliance, or any serious noncompliance, field staff may stop and switch to use the full renewal checklist. [ ] No. If no, describe: iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed family child care providers. Lead Agency - Child Care Licensing Division Licensing Specialists c. Licensed in-home CCDF child care providers i. Does your Lead Agency license CCDF in-home child care (care in the child’s own home) providers? [x] No. [ ] Yes. If yes, does your pre-licensure inspection for licensed in-home providers assess compliance with health, safety, and fire standards? [ ] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: ii. Identify the frequency of annual unannounced inspections for licensed in-home child care providers for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards completed: [ ] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [x] Other. If other, describe: N/A iii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring licensed in-home child care providers? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. [x] No. iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed in-home providers. N/A 5.5.2 Inspections for license-exempt providers Licensing inspectors must perform at least one annual monitoring visit of each license-exempt CCDF provider for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards. Inspections for relative providers will be addressed in subsection 5.8. Describe the policies and practices for the annual monitoring of: a. License-exempt CCDF center-based child care providers i. Identify the frequency of inspections for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards for license-exempt center-based providers: [x] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [ ] Other. If other, describe: ii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring license-exempt center-based providers? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. [x] No. iii. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for license-exempt center-based CCDF providers. Lead Agency - Child Care Licensing Division Licensing Specialists b. License-exempt CCDF family child care providers i. Identify the frequency of the inspections of license-exempt family child care providers to determine compliance with health, safety, and fire standards: [x] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [ ] Other. If other, describe: ii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring license-exempt family child care providers? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. [x] No. iii. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for license-exempt family child care providers. Lead Agency - Child Care Licensing Division Licensing Specialists 5.5.3 Inspections for CCDF license-exempt in-home child care providers Lead Agencies may develop alternate monitoring requirements for care provided in the child’s home that are appropriate to the setting. This flexibility cannot be used to bypass the monitoring requirement altogether. a. Describe the requirements for the annual monitoring of CCDF license-exempt in-home child care (care in the child’s own home) providers, including if monitoring is announced or unannounced, occurs more frequently than once per year, and if differential monitoring procedures are used. Regulated Subsidy providers receive one announced visit each year. Health, safety, and fire standards are reviewed using a checklist of all the applicable rules. b. List the entity(ies) in your State/Territory responsible for conducting inspections of license-exempt CCDF in-home child care (care in the child’s own home) providers: Lead Agency - Child Care Licensing Division Licensing Specialists 5.5.4 Posting monitoring and inspection reports Lead Agencies must post monitoring and inspection reports on their consumer education website for each licensed and CCDF child care provider, except in cases where the provider is related to all the children in their care. These reports must include the results of required annual monitoring visits and visits due to major substantiated complaints about a provider’s failure to comply with health and safety requirements and child care policies. A full report covers everything in the monitoring visit, including areas of compliance and non-compliance. If the Lead Agency does not produce any reports that include areas of compliance, the website must include information about all areas covered by a monitoring visit. The reports must be in plain language or provide a plain language summary Lead Agency and be timely to ensure that the results of the reports are available and easily understood by parents when they are deciding on a child care provider. Lead Agencies must post at least 3 years of monitoring and inspection reports. a. Does the Lead Agency post: i. [x] Pre-licensing inspection reports for licensed programs. ii. [x] Full monitoring and inspection reports that include areas of compliance and non-compliance for all non-relative providers eligible to provide CCDF services. iii. [ ] Monitoring and inspection reports that include areas of non-compliance only, with information about all areas covered by a monitoring visit posted separately on the website (e.g., a blank checklist used by monitors) for all non-relative providers eligible to provide CCDF services. If checked, provide a direct URL/website link to the website where a blank checklist is posted: iv. [ ] Other. Describe: b. Check if the monitoring and inspection reports and any related plain language summaries include: i. [x] Date of inspection. ii. [x] Health and safety violations, including those violations that resulted in fatalities or serious injuries occurring at the provider. Describe how these health and safety violations are prominently displayed: All health & safety violations are visible on the safety portal. Visit reports are available to download and view. Serious injuries and fatalities are displaying on the program/providers front page on the child care safety portal. iii. [x] Corrective action plans taken by the Lead Agency and/or child care provider. Describe: Plans for correction are documented at the time of the visit on the visit report/checklist and in the database. The licensing specialist follows-up to ensure the correction(s) happen in a timely manner. If the violation was serious a compliance verification visit is conducted in person to verify and review the corrections. iv. [x] A minimum of 3 years of results, where available. v. If any of the components above are not selected, please explain: c. Lead Agencies must post monitoring and inspection reports and/or any related summaries in a timely manner. i. Provide the direct URL/website link to where the reports are posted: https://stage.worklifesystems.com/Login/LoginGuest?AgencyId=34&activetab=Se archCompliances The reports are posted by provider, so this must be searched first. ii. Identify the Lead Agency’s established timeline for posting monitoring reports and describe how it is timely: Visit Reports (health and safety inspections and monitoring inspections) are redacted and uploaded to the child care safety portal within 30 days of completing the visit. The safety portal is monitored by licensing staff, investigative specialists and Managers using a PowerBI report that indicates any visit that does not have a visit report available to view on the portal. See Licensing Manual Section 16E. d. Does the Lead Agency certify that the monitoring and inspection reports or the summaries are in plain language that is understandable to parents and other consumers? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: e. Does the Lead Agency certify that there is a process for correcting inaccuracies in the monitoring and inspection reports? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: f. Does the Lead Agency maintain monitoring and inspection reports on the consumer education website? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: 5.5.5 Qualifications and training of licensing inspectors Lead Agencies must ensure that individuals who are hired as licensing inspectors (or qualified monitors designated by the Lead Agency) are qualified to inspect child care providers and facilities and have received health and safety training appropriate to the provider setting and age of the children served. Describe how the Lead Agency ensures that licensing inspectors (or qualified monitors designated by the Lead Agency) are qualified and have received training on health and safety requirements that are appropriate to the age of the children in care and the type of provider setting. The Lead Agency hires the Child Care Licensing Division Licensing Specialists with a minimum of four years of related education and experience. As a part of a comprehensive onboarding process new licensing specialists complete the trainings required of caregivers in Oregon (if not taken previously), spend extensive time shadowing experienced colleagues on visits/inspections, study child care OARs, and take several CCLD internal trainings, which includes a 10-part training on the CCLD licensing manual. In addition, Senior Licensing Specialists provide one-on-one training on many aspects of the licensor’s role, review and approve reports and redaction of visit forms to ensure accuracy and provide continued support as needed. When the rules are revised licensing staff and investigative staff are provided with training and technical support to understand the new rules and implement changes in Lead Agency inspection forms. New Rule guidance documents are often created to assist field staff and programs with understanding the rules and what compliance looks like. 5.5.6 Ratio of licensing inspectors Lead Agencies must ensure the ratio of licensing inspectors to child care providers and facilities in the State/Territory are maintained at a level sufficient to enable the Lead Agency to conduct effective inspections of child care providers and facilities on a timely basis in accordance with federal, State, and local laws. Provide the ratio of licensing inspectors to child care providers (i.e., number of inspectors per number of child care providers) and facilities in the State/Territory and include how the ratio is sufficient to conduct effective inspections on a timely basis. Several factors are considered to determine the facility-to-licensing specialist ratio. The average caseload is 60-70 facilities per licensing specialist. All license types are weighted equally; however, some consideration may be given for: Sizes of facility: There may be some considerations for caseloads that have a considerably high number of large centers due to the length of time needed for oversight; Travel in rural areas: Licensing staff members serving in rural areas of the state where extensive travel is required may have lower caseloads; Language considerations: Staff members who monitor facilities in which the provider may speak a language other than English may also have a reduced caseload. Wherever possible, the provider (usually a home-based facility), is matched with a licensing specialist who speaks their primary language; Unlicensed program assignments: Considerations to caseload size may be made based on the Regulated Subsidy Programs or recorded program assignments; Multiple programs: When child care programs in multiple regions have the same owner, managers for those regions will determine if the programs can all be licensed by one member of staff. Factors may include the number of programs, size of the company and geographic distance of the related programs.