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 make a complaint about child care providers by calling the complaint line in our ABC Quality area at 1-800-763-2223 or contact us at https://www.scchildcare.org/families/filing-a-complaint/. A decision has to be made depending on the nature of the report. Report may be forwarded to Child Care Licensing, Child Care Scholarship, or retained by the ABC Quality area for review and response. Parent can also use the hotline in our Office of Inspector General's area to make a complaint at 1-800-694-8518 or contact us at https://dss.sc.gov/about/fraud/. b. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for families that speak languages other than English: When a parent calls into any program area and it is determined that an interpreter is needed to assist the caller, staff answering the call will reach out to the Lead Agency’s contracted language line services. The agency staff, the caller and the interpreter are then on the same call to collect the complaint information. Complaints from families that speak languages other than English may also be made via the Lead Agency’s website, www.dss.sc.gov and by completing an online complaint form through the fraud hotline. Currently, the website offers translation in multiple languages. There is a translate button that allows the user to switch the language on the website to their required language. However, if they complainant calls the fraud hotline number, the same process of contacting the interpreter is followed as listed above. c. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for persons with disabilities: For parental complaints for persons with disabilities, the Lead Agency utilizes accommodation services provided by the Lead Agency. This may include providing an interpreter for American Sign Language or for providing written translations of documents and policies to persons that are visually impaired The Lead Agency utilizes their contracted partner SC Inclusion Collaborative to provide supports to families as a result of complaint determinations. Complaints may also be made via the Lead Agency’s website, www.dss.sc.gov and by completing an online complaint form through the fraud hotline. 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: For licensed/regulated CCDF or non-CCDF providers, when a concern come in either by phone, email, or in person the information is gathered by the Child Care Licensing Regional Offices using the internal Complaint Information Checklist. The complaint information is gathered and keyed into the Child Care Licensing (CCL) system called the Child Care Services System (CCSS) in the complaint section of the database in the region where the center is located and assigned to the Child Care Licensing Specialist that monitors that facility. During the intake, if it is determined that there is/are possible violation(s) of the statute and/or the regulation, the region will conduct an unannounced investigation based on the timeframe indicated on the internal Complaint Response Categories list. Each complaint category is listed in 1 of 3 classes. The response time is determined by the class; however, any complaint can be upgraded to a Class I if circumstances dictate. ▪ Class I Complaint ￿ Immediate Response (at least by the next day of business)* if a death or severe injury of a child at a facility. ▪ Class II Complaint ￿ Heightened Response (within 2-3 business days) if other regulatory concerns involving ratio, supervision, unqualified caregivers and/or tracking ▪ Class III Complaint ￿ Normal Response (within 5 business days) if other regulatory matters involving paperwork or less serious complaints * Category I complaints must be staffed with the Regional Supervisor immediately after the visit to determine the next course of action. During the visit, the Child Care Licensing Specialist will also, monitor the facility to determine compliance with other regulations, i.e. ratio, supervision, qualified staff and other health and safety. Each complaint has a data field to enter the intake information and the results of the investigation in the Child Care Licensing System. If a complaint is substantiated after the investigation, the facility is cited based on the law and/or regulation violated. An official letter is emailed or mailed to the facility noting the violation(s), provision of the law and regulation relied upon and timeframe of correction. The deficiency(ies) are listed on our website under the facility’s page and the inspection sheet is added within 10 days. The citation must be corrected in a set number of days based on the severity of the violation. For example, a ratio violation must be corrected at the time of the visit and/or a fence violation may be corrected within 30 days. A CCL Specialist will conduct an unannounced follow-up monitoring visit after the noted timeframe to ensure compliance of that citation to ensure compliance is being met throughout the facility. Additionally, if the complaint is a high severity matter, other negative actions may be taken, such as revoking the license or withdrawing the registration, filing for an injunction to close the program, or referring the program to other agencies (example, law enforcement). If fraud information is intertwined with regulatory information, the Office of Inspector General will investigate the fraud related issues. If abuse and neglect concerns are intertwined with regulatory concerns, the Office of Child Welfare, Out of Home Abuse and Neglect Unit (OHAN) will investigate. They will investigate within 45 days and we may hold our determination until the outcome of the OHAN investigation. If there are no OHAN or fraud issues, CCL will make our determination within 30 days unless there are other complications. If there is a complicating concern, the regional office can make a staffing request for the Staffing Team to review the matter and provide additional assistance. ABC Quality responds to complaints made on license-exempt programs participating in ABC Quality. A Quality Assessor makes a visit to the license-exempt program within three days of the complaint. A determination of further action is made immediately after conducting the on-site visit. The severity of the complaint is determined as to whether the complaint is founded, whether further action is needed, and whether the incident violates the program’s eligibility to participate in ABC Quality. Most complaints warrant the program to provide corrective action. Programs with founded complaints are given 45 days to come into compliance of the deficiency through a 1st, 2nd, and final notice. Corrective action received is updated on a new Health and Safety Inspection posted to the website. If program is not incompliance after this timeframe, the program is subject to termination from ABC Quality. Depending on the severity of the complaint incident and findings as a result of the on-site inspection, ABC Quality may immediately staff the program for termination consideration. Findings of the complaint, any subsequent visits and corrections made pertaining to the incident are recorded on the Health and Safety Inspection Report. These reports are also posted on the license-exempt profile found on the website. ABC Quality maintains a record of all complaints for verification of programs ability to maintain History of Compliance to eligibility criteria and business procedures. The Child Care Scholarship area will research and respond to any subsidy related issues within 5 days. The research process may also involve the ABC Quality and licensing depending on the nature of the complaint. [ ] No. e. For substantiated parental complaints, who maintains the record for CCDF and non-CCDF providers? For licensed/regulated non-CCDF and CCDF child care providers, South Carolina maintains a CCL database called the Child Care Services System (CCSS). All regulatory complaints are entered into this database and maintained there per the Lead Agency's file retention policy. ABC Quality maintains a record of complaints made on license-exempt programs participating in the QRIS. ABC Quality follows the Lead Agency's policies for retention of records Substantiated complaints are reflected on the website for 3 years and updated on the Health and Safety Inspection form after the on-site visit is conducted and the results of finding determination is made. ABC Quality maintains the record of all substantiated complaints for as long as the provider is active for data purposes and to meet Lead Agency retention policies. For inactive providers, complaints are kept as per the Lead Agency retention policy, 5 years plus the current year. 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 are made available on the www.scchildcare.org website by searching for the name of the child care facility or zip code in the search query box, then clicking on the desired facility's name to open their page. On the facility page, the inspection report for any regulatory complaints will be listed as well and the consumer can review the inspection for information as needed. Also, requests for additional information regarding a complaint can be made by calling the respective CCL regional office. FFN non-related child care providers will have a Health and Safety inspection report conducted and made available on the website. The family being served by that FFN Provider receives information so they can review the inspection report on the website. ABC Quality posts substantiated parental complaints made on license-exempt programs participating in the QRIS on the consumer education website within each program's profile by uploading a copy of the Health and Safety Inspection.