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 June 9, 2022, a complaint was received alleging that there have been several instances of biting at the center with nothing been done by child care staff members to prevent it. I attempted to contact the complainant but did not receive a response. During the onsite inspection on June 10, 2022, I interviewed lead preschool child care staff member Kathleen Allen. Ms. Allen stated that program director Kelly Marble was not present at the center but that she was in charge during Ms. Marble's absence. Ms. Allen stated that biting has occurred in the toddler room where children are 18 months to 3 years old. Ms. Allen stated that multiple children were bit on June 8, 2022. She stated that two children in the toddler room are biters, Child A (male, age 2 years) and Child B (male, 20 months). An additional child care staff member was added to the toddler room within the last two to three weeks so that they can shadow Child A and Child B. Child A stopped biting for a while but started again last week. On June 8, 2022, Child A bit three children including Child B, Child C (female, age 19 months) and Child D (male, age 2 years). Ms. Allen stated that Rachel Lysakowski, Joleen Clark and Kara Nowland were the child care staff members present in the toddler room on June 8, 2022. The child care staff members have kept a log of the biting incidents and the log indicates that the child care staff members did not see Child A bite Child B, Child C or Child D but they assumed that Child A was responsible for the biting. Rachel Lysakowski toddler lead caregiver stated that she moved from the infant room to the toddler room on March 17, 2022. Ms. Lysakowski stated that she cared for Child A and Child B in the infant room before they transitioned to the toddler room. Child A and Child B were biting in the infant room and continued to bite in the toddler room. She has been working to correct Child A and Child B's behavior. There are always three child care staff members in the classroom so that Child A and Child B can be shadowed. On Wednesday, June 8, 2022, Child C had a bite mark that was seen on her arm during a diaper change after lunch. Child D had a bite mark that was seen on his arm when child care staff members were coming inside from the outdoor play area with the nine children in the class. Ms. Lysakowski stated that none of the child care staff members saw Child C and Child D being bitten but she assumed that they were bitten by Child A because of the type of marks that were left. Child A typically leaves a full mouth bite on the arm which is what Child C and Child D had. Child B typically leaves more of a smaller bite because he nips when he bites and not with his mouth wide open. Child A, B, C and D are mostly non- verbal so none of them could explain what happened. Neither Child C nor Child D cried at any point, so child care staff members were not alerted that they were bit. 3 Ms. Lysakowsksi stated that there have been several instances of biting, but child care staff members have been working to prevent it from happening. Child care staff member Joleen Clark has worked at the center for almost one year. She stated that she was a floater in both the infant and toddler rooms until May 2022 when she started working full-time in the toddler room. Ms. Clark has worked in child care her entire adult life and she knows that toddlers sometimes go through a phase when they bite at this age due to teething or being angry. She stated that she and the other child care staff members separate the children in groups and try to shadow Child A and Child B, but sometimes children move so quickly that child care staff members are not able to catch them before they bite. Ms. Clark stated that Child C sometimes bites on her own arm and has left bite marks. She stated that she keeps a log of every bite mark that she sees or every incident of biting that she witnesses. Ms. Clark states that Child D has been bitten quite a bit. Child D is not aggressive,

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

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

Child A's Father stated that Child A started attending the center in February 2021 when he was about 8 months old. A few months later, Child A started getting bitten by another child while in care. The biting seemed to be progressing. Child A was being bitten sometimes three times a week. Some of the bites were not noticed on Child A's body after he had been picked up for the day. Child A's Mother and Father spoke to Ms. Debra Mulder, the lead caregiver in the infant classroom. She had no suggestions on how to stop the biting and said the child care staff members were doing the best they could to prevent the biting. After a few more weeks, Child A's Mother and Father spoke to Ms. Kelly Marble, program director, about the incidents. Ms. Marble stated that the child care staff members would try to keep a closer eye on Child A and the other child, but they can't really keep them separated. Ms. Marble did not indicate exactly what was 3 being done to prevent further biting incidents but did state that Child A could not be moved into a different classroom at that time. Child A's Father stated that he is not sure who bites Child A, but he believes it is primarily done by the same child. He believes the other child's parent works at the center; therefore, the center is not handling the situation because they don't want to lose a staff member. Child A's Father stated that he believes that Child A was bitten approximately 30-40 times from 07/29/2021 until he withdrew Child A from care on 01/30/3022. Many of the bites were not documented and were noted after Child A was home for the day. Child A's Father stated that he was frustrated with the final incident report received on 01/27/2022 as it seemed like the child care staff members were blaming Child A for being bitten because he pulled another child's hair. Child A's Mother and Father made the decision to withdraw Child A from the center following that incident. Child A did not return to care after the 01/27/2022 incident. Child A's Father stated that there were several occasions when Child A was in a crib at pick up time. This was to keep Child A separated from the other child. Child A's Father stated that he did not notice any toys or any activities for Child A to do while in the crib. Child A's Father felt that Child A was being punished for being bitten by another child. Child A's Father provided me with photos of injuries to Child A, copies of incident reports he received from the center, screenshots of email messages exchanged between Child A's Mother and Father and Ms. Marble, and a voice message received from Ms. Marble. The documentation outlines the following injuries and communication: 07/29/2021: This was the first noted bite of Child A. Child A's Father stated that they received an incident report from the center regarding the incident. This incident report noted that Child A was bitten on his left arm at 12:30p.m. Child A's Father provided a picture of the injury. The picture showed a bite mark on Child A on his lower left forearm right above his wrist on the top of his arm. The mark was red and showed a clear upper and lower tooth line. 08/04/2021: Child A's Father provided an incident report for this date indicating that Child A was bitten by a friend at 3:11p .m. The incident report does not indicate where the bite occurred on Child A's body. 08/06/2021: Child A's Father provided a screen shot of a video of Child A. There is a faint bite mark on Child A's left upper arm mid-way between his elbow and shoulder. The mark is hard to see and appears as if it could be fading. This could be the mark from the bite received on 08/04/2021. 4 08/25/2021: Child A's Father provided two pictures of injuries to Child A's arm. The first picture showed a red mark on the top of Child A's left arm next to his shoulder. The mark appeared to be a bite mark where the teeth were moved around while biting. The mark did not have a clear arch for the upper and lower tooth line but did resemble

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. .......................................... .................... ..... (2) All of the following means of punishment are prohibited: (h) Confining a child in an enclosed area, such as a closet, locked room, box, or similar enclosure.

Child A and other children were placed in cribs briefly to keep them safe while a child care staff member was providing direct care to a child. This was not done as a form of discipline. This practice was ceased and replaced with using a fenced coral to keep children separated.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Open / not marked corrected.