As a former child care licensor looking at the most newly created Department of Early Learning (DEL) website "Beware the Ides of March" phrase pops into my head.
Why?
Caesar's wife had a dream about treachery and betrayal that would happen mid-March. I don't have the exact date but the "NEW" child care licensing website got launched about mid-March.
As a parent looking up a child care provider on this website you will not be given the information whether or not the provider or facility has a "founded" child protective services (CPS) claim against it.
Parents now have access to all the regulations (called WACs) on the website but the bureaucracy fails to tell you that a WAC can be waived at the whim of a supervisor and manager.
Thus when a parent views a particular provider and the history looks clean, we don't know if they were found to have abused, neglected a child or a child was sexually abused on their property.
The CPS statute is being used to keep secrets. Investigations of child abuse in a licensed facility do not fall under the CPS law (RCW 26.44). That law was written to do with the "private" family not a "licensed" facility.
Perhaps some of our Senators and Representatives will help this next legislative session to clear up this problem for parents who must use licensed child care in order to go to work for the benefit of the state, the economy and stakeholders.
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