Low standards, lax oversight

State agency lacks money, staff to vigorously enforce child care rules

State agency lacks money, staff to vigorously enforce child care rules

South Carolina mandates only minimum requirements for child care centers. But the state agency charged with enforcing those rules lacks the power and money to enforce health, safety and preschool education standards.

One national child care association ranks the state near the top nationwide for its oversight of child care centers, but the state's child care standards are rated among the worst in the country. That's because state inspectors can cite child care centers for a loose screw on a swing set, a burned out light bulb or uncut grass.

Yet, the state prescribes virtually no education guidelines, lacks the power to levy fines against centers that repeatedly place children at risk and rarely forces troubled centers to close.

This allows a Byzantine collection of day cares that range from virtual baby-sitting warehouses to state-of-the-art prep schools for toddlers where many caregivers hold education degrees. And parents are left on their own to gauge the difference because the state has no system for ranking the quality of the child care centers it inspects.

The Post and Courier reviewed hundreds of pages of state child care inspection records and found that most Lowcountry child care centers violate some state health and safety regulations. Such problems exist statewide, officials say. It's uncommon to find a center without violations, and even the best centers with national accreditation occasionally fall short.

Any violation, no matter how small, has the potential to harm a child, said Leigh Bolick, who oversees child care services for the state Department of Social Services.

"A frayed carpet — that sounds like it's not a big deal," she said, "but if a 2-year-old stumbles on that and hits their head ..."

'No teeth'

Areas where the state's standards lag behind deal with health and safety, staff-to-child ratios, lack of rules on group sizes, and low education requirements for center directors and staff, according to a 2007 study from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.

South Carolina is one of two states in the country that allows corporal punishment in day care centers.

Though it's not allowed in most centers unless parents sign a waiver, some child care experts say the fact that it is permitted at all speaks volumes about the inadequacies of the state's child care laws.

Nancy Freeman, who heads Gov. Mark Sanford's advisory board on child care, said it's symbolic of the need to improve child care quality. "We are moving forward, but there are some things we are not addressing," she said.

Others point to weaknesses such as vague curriculum regulations that stipulate only that centers provide age-appropriate activities for children.

Candace Jaruszewicz holds a doctorate in education curriculum and directs the N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center at the College of Charleston, one of the few Lowcountry child care centers with national accreditation. The state needs to outlaw mediocrity in child care, she said. "The licensing program should be rigorous enough that any program that is licensed can provide parents confidence that their children will be well cared for."

Those same sentiments were reflected in the conclusions of the state task force that made recommendations in 2004 for improving child care quality. The state should strengthen child care regulations "so that lower quality facilities are not an option for families," the study's authors said.

Child care experts say the state's regulations don't go far enough. For example, South Carolina mandates staffing requirements, but it does not regulate the number of children centers can crowd in a single space.

Too many children can stifle development because the children might have trouble hearing and interacting with others in a chaotic environment surrounded by kids of varying ages, Freeman said.

State inspectors have few tools for dealing with child care centers that don't obey the law. In most cases, the state Department of Social Services can do little more than send letters and dispatch its undersized staff of inspectors for extra visits to problem facilities.

Many centers are ordered repeatedly to improve their supervision of children, fix unsafe conditions or clean up unhealthy areas such as bathrooms and play areas.

But the state's demands often go ignored or forgotten. Some centers simply can't afford to address violations within the required time frame.

And when they don't, the state again tells them to fix the problem and sets a new deadline.

Licenses rarely pulled

The state can pull the license of a facility that fails to follow regulations, but it rarely does so because that could lead to a lengthy legal fight.

State officials also are reluctant to close a center that might be the only child care option for some families.

"We are not in business to put them out of business," said Ella Gooden, who oversees the state's regional child care licensing office in Charleston. "We really try to work closely with them."

It's just as likely that a problem center will voluntarily close its doors before the state can successfully yank its license. "I had some close on their own when they couldn't make the corrections," Gooden said.

Bolick agrees that the state DSS "does not have a lot of enforcement tools. We have to work with the centers or shut them down."

In the past two years, the agency has moved to pull the licenses of about 14 child care centers out of nearly 3,000 operating around the state.

But some of those are still operating on appeal, she said.

Before Bolick took over the office in 2004, the state averaged just one license revocation per year, she said.

Last year, Rep. Wallace Scarborough, R-James Island, called together representatives from all sides of the child care issue.

He said the state's main problem is evident: "They have no teeth. We don't have sufficient authority to fine these day care centers. Their only recourse is to shut them down. It's like using a howitzer when you need a rifle."

In 2006, the state Department of Social Services asked for the authority to fine centers that repeatedly violate the law. The governor's child care advisory board signed off on the agency's request, but state lawmakers killed the proposal, which would have allowed the agency to levy fines of up to $1,000.

Most child care centers want to do right by the children, but the state needs a way to get the attention of the centers that continually flaunt state regulations, Freeman said. Without the threat of fines, "there is no good reason to comply except good will."

Child care providers have mixed feelings on the idea of fines.

Shannon Erickson represented the state's child care industry through a trade association until her recent election to the Statehouse. She is not convinced that fines would solve the problem of repeated violations. "If people aren't going to follow rules, they aren't going to pay fines, either," she said.

Margie Lawson, director of Rainbows and Memories day care in Dorchester County, said centers that immediately address the findings of state inspectors have nothing to fear.

"I think it's fair to fine child care centers who are continually violating because that puts the children in danger," she said. "I mean, they come out and inspect, and they give you ample time to correct it."

Some child care directors blame the state for violations, arguing that state inspectors are subjective, show favoritism and seem especially bent on finding violations when responding to complaints.

Angela Tanner-Hicks, owner and director of Acres of Discovery Child Development Center in Berkeley County, said that if the state is going to fine providers, it also should go after parents and others who cost the state money when they make unfounded allegations.

The state investigates hundreds of complaints every year about alleged problems at child care centers, no matter how far-fetched. While many lead to violations, inspectors are just as likely to find nothing to back up the charges.

"If it were true, and we were neglecting the children, I could see fining the center for it," Tanner-Hicks said. "But if these parents are just making these accusations, they should be fined."

Denise Gaskins, director of Carousel Early Childhood Center in Charleston County, said a center's compliance with state law might only be as good as its relationship with the state inspectors. After she and her staff recently had a disagreement with an inspector that left one of her employees sobbing, the inspector seemed to have it in for the facility, she said.

"We got burned with lots of nit-picky things," she said. "You have to be nice or it's going to get worse."

Erickson said the state seemed to shine a spotlight on her Hobbit Hill child care centers in the Beaufort County area after she became president of the state child care association. An inspector cited her for not having her own FBI background check on file, even though she had completed one. Another time, she was almost forced to cut several children from her rolls when an inspector wrongly interpreted a regulation on the number of toilets required.

As a lawmaker, she hopes to improve training for child care inspectors to provide more consistency in inspections and to eliminate the need for on-the-spot interpretations of the law.

"Most have never worked in child care," she said of state inspectors.

Bolick denies allegations that inspectors are nit-picky or that the inspection process is inconsistent. "DSS does not make decisions about which regulations we follow and which ones we don't," she said. "Everything we cite people for — it's the law."

But Gooden, who spent nearly a decade inspecting Lowcountry day cares before taking over the regional licensing office earlier this year, acknowledges that the thoroughness of inspections might vary.

"Maybe it's the specialists," she said. "Some of us go a little deeper than others."

Underfunded, overworked

At least some of the problems with child care inspections are tied to money. South Carolina pays only about three percent of the cost for running the child care licensing office, a division of the Department of Social Services. Federal funds cover most of the state office's $2.2 million annual budget.

Calls for higher preschool education standards will only add to the cost. The state offers grants to help child care centers pay for education materials, but these grants reach only a small number of centers.

Without enough money to attract and hire additional inspectors, the state dumps more work on an overburdened staff of inspectors, whose caseloads are more than twice what national recommendations suggest.

Bolick said a dozen of her inspector positions remain unfilled, leaving her staff to juggle about 116 centers each. The National Association for Regulatory Administration recommends 50 centers per investigator.

Even at full staff, the agency's caseload is about 82 per investigator.

And those numbers don't include nearly 1,500 home-based child care centers, which investigators must register and, if there's a complaint, visit for an on-site inspection.

The state's regional child care licensing office in Charleston has just eight inspectors to cover 12 counties, Gooden said. Its inspectors average about 80 centers each.

The state should get its own house in order before it starts cracking down on child care violators, said Susan Daughtrey, director of Loving and Learning Education Center in Charleston County.

"DSS doesn't operate smoothly. They're undermanned," she said. "If they're going to levy fines on day cares, they need to get their stuff straight first."

Reach Ron Menchaca at rmenchaca@postandcourier.com or 937-5724.