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 Statewide Intake division of the Texas DFPS is available for parents to report abuse, neglect, or exploitation of children, as well as violations of minimum standards in child care operations. Individuals may report abuse by using the following methods: Texas Abuse Hotline: 1-800-252-5400; and Non-emergency reports may be submitted at http://www.txabusehotline.org. Both the hotline and website are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across the United States. The DFPS Statewide intake division receives and routes the following types of allegations regarding operations that are subject to regulation by CCR: All reports that allege abuse, neglect, or exploitation of children in care (routed to the Child Care Investigations division of DFPS); and Some, but not all, reports that allege violations of CCR statute, administrative rules, or minimum standards at child day care operations (routed to CCR). Parents can also make reports that allege violations of CCR statute, administrative rules, or minimum standards to their local licensing office. The list of local child care regulation offices is posted on the HHS website by regional areas in Texas. CCR also has an information line, 1-800-862-5252, and a centralized email inbox, CCRQuestions@hhs.texas.gov, where parents can contact CCR with questions or concerns. Effective February 18, 2024, consumer complaints can also be made through the Search Texas Child Care website. CCR requires child care operations to post the Texas Abuse Hotline and local licensing office telephone numbers in a prominent place in the operation for parents to see. CCR requires that operational policies for licensed facilities and registered homes include instructions on how a parent may contact the local Licensing office, access the Texas Abuse and Neglect Hotline, and access the HHSC website. b. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for families that speak languages other than English: The child care consumer information on the CCR website is available in both English and Spanish. c. Describe how the parental complaint process ensures broad access to services for persons with disabilities: All CCR web content meets accessibility standards. HHSC has a dedicated accessibility department that works with new computer systems to ensure the widest possible access to individuals with disabilities. The new systems use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, and specialized accessibility testing occurs during the development life cycle. 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: DFPS investigates reports of abuse, neglect, or exploitation that allege a child in care of an operation was or may be harmed because of an act or omission by an individual working under the supervision of a child care operation. Such harm must meet the definitions of abuse, neglect, or exploitation as described in the Texas Family Code and Texas Administrative Code. (DFPS also investigates reports of exploitation that allege an individual working under the auspices of an operation engaged in illegal or improper use of a child or used a child’s resources for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain.) The operation where the alleged abuse, neglect, or exploitation occurred may also be violating statutes, administrative rules, or minimum standards. CCR investigates reports, including self-reports made by the operation, that allege statute, administrative rules, or minimum standards have been or are in violation when no allegation of abuse, neglect, or exploitation is involved. Self-reports made by the operation include incidents involving an employee or child at an operation contracting a communicable disease; a disaster or emergency causing an operation to close or rendering part of the operation unsafe or unsanitary; or a minor accident involving a child in care. The timeline for responding to and resolving complaints depends on the priority of the investigation. DFPS must respond to a report of an allegation of abuse or neglect within the first 24 or 72 hours of receiving the complaint, and the investigation must be resolved within 30 days unless there is good cause for an extension. At the child care operation, DFPS may conduct on-site visits and interviews, gather information, and observe areas pertaining to the priority 1 or priority 2 allegation of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. The initial investigation of a report that alleges statute, administrative rules, or minimum standards have been or are in violation must occur within 5 to 15 days and resolved within 30 to 60 days, depending on priority. The timeline for resolution may be extended if there is good cause. All investigations of reports that allege statute, administrative rules, or minimum standards have been or are in violation, assigned a priority of 1, 2, 3, or 4, require CCR staff to conduct an unannounced, on-site inspection of the operation. During the inspection, CCR staff evaluates compliance with the minimum standards related to the allegation and any plain-view observations. CCR does not conduct an on-site inspection for investigations assigned a priority 5, which are self-reports of minor violations of minimum standards or a serious injury. After any investigation (including DFPS abuse, neglect, or exploitation investigation) a written report is given to the operation and agency staff members discuss deficiencies with the individual in charge. This report is required to be posted at the operation and, once due process has been exhausted for any deficiencies, is available for review on the Search Texas Child Care website, a searchable website maintained by CCR. If a provider disagrees with a deficiency, the provider may request an administrative review. Licensing staff follows up on all deficiencies to ensure that they are corrected. If deficiencies are of such a serious nature that the health and safety of the children are threatened, enforcement actions such as administrative penalties, probation, suspension, and permit denial or revocation may be warranted. If DFPS makes the determination of Reason to Believe that abuse, neglect, or exploitation occurred to a child in care, then the alleged perpetrator is notified of the finding and his or her due process rights. The alleged perpetrator is registered in the Central Registry of Abuse, Neglect, or Exploitation. The Centralized Background Check Unit will notify the alleged perpetrator of his or her eligibility to remain at the operation depending on the results of the risk evaluation process. [ ] No. e. For substantiated parental complaints, who maintains the record for CCDF and non-CCDF providers? Records of abuse, neglect, or exploitation investigations are maintained by DFPS in the Information Management Protecting Adults and Children in Texas (IMPACT) system. Records of complaints regarding providers are maintained in CLASS, the automated system that CCR uses to document all inspections and investigations. CLASS records go back to 2002. 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 about complaints is available to the public through the Search Texas Child Care website, a searchable website maintained by CCR. The public can review a provider’s Five-Year Inspection Summary and compliance history, which includes complaints. An individual may also contact HHSC or the local CCR office for complaint information. Public records of complaints are featured prominently on the CCR website. Parents can also easily find public records of complaints and other violations through a simple Google search that involves key terms such as Texas child care. The first result for this search is the Search Texas Child Care site noted above where they can search the specific child care operation in which they are interested.