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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
July 19, 2002
Report No. 2002-52
State
officials do not proactively seek unlicensed child care providers and state law
does not limit a facility�s overall child capacity number
This
audit analyzed the effectiveness of state laws regulating child care providers,
how well providers comply with such laws and provider oversight by the state
child care bureau. �In general, child
care providers are required to be licensed in Missouri if they care for more
than four unrelated children.� Auditors
found bureau officials have not always effectively dealt with unlicensed child
care facilities and current state penalties do not deter some providers from
operating illegally.
State penalties do not deter unlicensed providers from
operating
Unlicensed providers can only
be charged with an infraction, which carries a maximum $200 fine for the first
violation of state law.� The fine has
not deterred providers from operating illegally even though some were
prosecuted and fined.� Statements from
providers show how they openly refuse to follow state law:� �I do keep more than four non-related
children at one time.� I plan to
continue to do so.� I do not want to
give the names.� I do not want a
license.�� In addition, fines levied
against unlicensed providers are much higher in other states.� (See pages 5 and 6)
Children related to
provider not included in capacity limits
State law allows a licensed �family child care home to care for 10
unrelated children and an unlimited number of related children.� The National Fire Protection Association
recommends a minimum of one adult for every six children. �Auditors found 97 percent of state licensed family
child care homes could already care for more children than this recommended limit,
but by excluding related children from capacity limits it only makes a
potentially dangerous situation worse.�
The eight states surrounding Missouri include related children in
capacity limits. �(See pages 10, 11 and
13)
Unlicensed providers are
not annually inspected
Unlicensed providers are not subject to annual sanitation and fire inspections. �Auditors reviewed the bureau's investigations of two unlicensed providers.� In both cases, bureau staff found serious fire and sanitation hazards.� (See page 7)
No
one knows how many unlicensed providers exist �
Bureau officials do not know how many unlicensed
providers operate in Missouri and do not have the staff to proactively identify
or investigate unlicensed providers, particularly those operating in the anonymity
of their homes.� Officials said they did
not have the authority to enter unlicensed facilities to determine state law
violations unless they had a formal complaint filed.� Increased public awareness about the potential hazards of
unlicensed care could encourage citizens to notify the bureau about
offenders.� (See page 3)
No standard criteria for
penalizing facilities
Bureau officials have not established standard guidelines to determine the severity of rule violations or effectively assess penalties.� State law allows bureau staff to issue warning and censure letters or to deny, suspend or revoke a provider�s license when facilities do not follow the bureau�s 100 safety and sanitation rules.� But bureau officials did not document the decision-making process used to assess penalties, which made it difficult for auditors to determine if recommended penalties were too severe or consistently applied statewide. (See page 15)
