• Violation

  R 400.8125 · R 400.8125 Staff; volunteer; requirements. (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times.

  On 2/8/2023, the department received an incident report involving Child A biting Child B three times on their face while out on the playground. On 2/9/2023, I contacted Child B's Mother. She stated that the school has contacted her regarding the incident and that she had some concerns regarding how the children were being supervised on the playground. She also stated that she took Child B to children's hospital after school and she was given a cream and a prescription, but no stitches were necessary. On 2/13/2023, I arrived onsite for an unannounced inspection at 9:55 a.m. I spoke to Licensee Designee, Jessica Moore regarding the incident. She stated that Child A has been at the facility all year but has just recently started biting. The staff believe that this behavior is linked to changes happening at home. The center is now having a third child care staff member (CCSM) stay in the classroom so that the child can be more one — on — one with a CCSM until the biting is under control. While on site I observed the children both inside the classroom and outside on the playground. In the classroom, children were participating in a large group activity on the rug. One CCSM was leading the activity and one CCSM was on the rug with the children. Children then got ready to go outside. While outside, CCSMs were spaced out, and focused and engaged with the children. I did observe Child A while onsite. There was an additional CCSM in the room as well. On 2/13/2023, I interviewed CCSM, Evelyn Rice. She stated that the day of incident they had a new child at school who was really upset. Ms. Rice, along with CCSM Hamida Kali worked on getting her engaged with classmates. The new child later fell on the playground, and as Ms. Kali was tending to her, Ms. Rice was helping a group of boys who were arguing over a ball. She stated that as she was working on conflict resolution with the group of boys, she noticed that Child A was near the slide, he was standing on the climber and then he jumped down and went around to the front of the slide. Child B went down the slide. That is when Ms. Rice saw Child A bite Child B. She ran over and checked Child B. Child B did not cry and did not say anything. She took Child B inside to clean her up and noticed an additional bite marks. Ms. Rice applied first aid to Child A and placed an ice pack on the bite marks. I also interviewed Yashieka Cooper who is one of the family advocates at the facility. She stated that she was not in the classroom at the time of the incident but was called down because Child A bite Child B three times. She got Child A and contacted his parents. They talked via phone about the situation. She also stated that they talked to Child B and are working with him on what to do when he feels the urge to bite. 3 On 2/13/2023, I called Child C's Mother, Child D's Mother, Child E's Mother, and Child F's Mother. No one had any concerns with supervision at the center. Child D's Mother said that there have been a few times where her child has gotten hurt while at school, but the teachers do a great job at communicating to her about the situation and about what happened. Child E's Mother added that the staff are doing a terrific job. On 3/3/2023, I called Child A's Father. He said that he thinks the CCSM's are doing a wonderful job with his child. There have been no other biting incidents and he is working with Child A's Mother so that they are all on the same page with everything. On 2/14/2023, I conducted an exit conference with Program Director, Muriel Reed. She stated that she has been trying to contact Child B's Mother, but she has not returned her phone calls. We discussed my findings, and I gave her consultation regarding Child A's behavior. Since Child A has been acting out in the classroom to get attention, I suggested doing schedule breaks outside of the classroom with Ms. Reed since he really enjoys spending time with her.

Child A (4-year-old male), bit Child B (3-year-old female), three times on the playground.

Disposition: Substantiated