Jumpstart Childcare of Kalamazoo

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. 3

On January 11, 2021 I completed an unannounced onsite inspection and interviewed Program Director, Amanda Trembley, and Staff Member, Terri Matthews. Ms. Trembley reported that Child A's parents recently withdrew their child because they were unhappy with the number of times he had been bitten. She stated that over the last year the "waddler" room has had three children with biting issues. She has not had any concerns with supervision by the staff members in that room. They have implemented different practices to try and keep the children separated, and placed them with different primary caregivers, but the biting still happens occasionally. Ms. Trembley reported that Child A was rather aggressive towards the other children and would often push, scratch, and have his hands on the other children. He was not the only child getting bitten, but the children were often reacting to Child A's physical actions. She reported the parents of the children bitten and the parents of the child who bites are always given written notice of the incident. 2 She stated they have not received any complaints from other parents about how they are handling biting. Ms. Trembley attempted talking with Child A's parents about his aggressive behavior, but they did not see his behavior as the problem. Ms. Matthews reported that she worked in the waddler room while Child A attended the childcare. She reported that Child A would often provoke children by getting in their face, pulling hair, and hitting. She stated he was a very physical child and always had to be grabbing/touching someone. Ms. Matthews reported that the action they took with Child A, and the 1-2 children who regularly bit him, is they would shadow them and supervise as close to one-on-one as possible. She reported that Child A was not the only child being bitten, but it was happening to him the most. On February 16, 2021 I made telephone contact with former Lead Caregiver, Sam Turner. She left the childcare in October but worked in the waddler room while employed at Jumpstart. She stated that Child A always instigated physical contact with the child that bit him the most. She said he would "go at the child like he was going to fight him", and the child would defend himself by biting Child A. Ms. Turner reported in an effort to try and stop the biting she would hold Child A's hand and bring him everywhere with her in the room, while the other staff member would hold the other child's hand and do one-on-one as much as possible. Ms. Turner said the problem was when changing another child's diaper or trying to help another child, they would always get to each other. Ms. Turner talked with Ms. Trembley about separating the children, by moving one of them up to the next age group, but due to ratio and space neither child could be moved at that time. On February 16, 2021 I made telephone contact with Child A's mother, Child B's mother, Child C's mother, and Child D's mother. Child A's mother reported that when the biting first started happening, she did not think much of it, because she knows it happens with children in this age group. When the biting became more frequent, she spoke with staff members about the steps they were taking to stop it from happening. Child A's mother said she felt they were not handling the situation because they said all they could do was try to keep them apart and talk with them about their behavior. She said that once Covid-19 hit and she was no longer allowed in the building to observe the classroom, she was no longer comfortable sending her child. Child B's mother, Child C's mother, and Child D's mother all reported that their children are in the waddler room and have been bitten a few times, but nothing that has caused them concern. They did not report any issues regarding care and supervision.

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