Pasco day care's actions anger parents (w/ pdf of complaints) | Tri-City Herald - The News Tribune
A thank you to the Tri-Cities Herald, the Tacoma Tribune and other media outlets (King 5 News) for doing the job that the Department of Early Learning (DEL) with its millions of dollars is not doing.
Unelected child care licensing manager (DEL), Elizabeth Winter's nose might be growing longer or her training in child care licensing was seriously flawed.
As former licensor and now expert analyst/witness on the failings of the unelected bureaucratic managers let me present that training.
Getting a license is not an entitlement. Like a driver's license, a cosmetology license or dog grooming license getting a child care license is not an entitlement. An initial license is not a job training program. Getting 4 initials license is not an entitlement.
When all Washington Administrative Code (WAC) that can be observed by the licensor are met then an initial license is issued only for DEL to do it's job of observing the day care in action.
DEL is required to make observations when actual children are in care. You see if the provider is still in compliance with the requirements observed at the licensing visit. Then you look at the children. How many are there? Are they happy? Are they treated well? Are staff watching the children? Are there enough staff?
Most important as we learned in Michelle Dupler's, Herald Staff Writer's story on March 27, 2011...ARE THE CHILDREN STILL THERE?
From Dupler's report: "Elizabeth Winter told the Herald, "It doesn't rise to an immediate health and safety danger, however, that would cause us to force them to close immediately."
Two toddlers gone for at least 12 minutes does rise to an immediate health and safety danger. Yes, it does.
DEL would have done their job and taken action if the Tribune had known and written the story back in August 2010.
Like King 5 News story of day care provider Anne Ladale Moore getting $232,000.00 in one year from the taxpayer by the time the story aired, DEL took action to revoke her license.
The Fourth Estate and the reason why our founding fathers with the insistence of Patrick Henry put in the First Amendment in our Constitution, the importance of freedom of the press is demonstrated in the work the media did on these stories.
As a 20 year plus former employee of DSHS and as a former child care licensor, and whistle blower a number of times in my state government career these stories are only the tip of the iceberg.
Parents were and are so dismissed by the unelected bureaucratic managers. It is my opinion there are thousands of parents out there who were treated in a denigrated manner by some day care providers and then treated dismissively by the child care licensing agency.
A thank you again to the Tacoma News Tribune, Tri-Cities Herald, Columbian Newspaper, Willamette Week and King 5 News among others for the work they do.
It is citizens standing up for their children, whistle blowers on the inside and the media who will expose the failures of child care licensing in Washington and other states.
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