Oakland Family Services Day Care

R 400.8216a(13) · R 400.8216a(13) Professional development requirements (13) When the department publishes a notice that a new health and safety update document or a new health and safety update training activity is published on MiRegistry, the licensee shall ensure that all identified staff or volunteers in the notice read and acknowledge the document or complete the activity within the timeframe indicated in the notice.

Health and safety updates were not completed by all staff. I reviewed 5 staff files. One staff member did not complete the 2025 Health and Safety Refresher training.

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R 400.8125(2) · R 400.8125(2) Staff; volunteer; requirements. All staff and volunteers shall act in a manner that is conducive to the welfare of children.

On 9/13/2024 CCSM-1 failed to provide appropriate care and supervision of Child A by repeatedly grabbing her by the arm and dropping her to the ground.

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R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. (1) Positive methods of discipline That encourage self- control, self-direction, and self-esteem, and cooperation must be used.

On 7/24/22, I received an incident report from the previous licensee designee Ms. Robinson stating that on 7/22/22, the assistant caregiver, Ms. Lowell had pushed Child A onto his cot and aggressively grabbed Child A and Child B off the cot to take them outside into the hallway. It appeared that Ms. Lowell was also yelling at the children. The incident report stated that Child A and Child B were not physically harmed in any way. There were no bruises or marks on the children. Along with the incident report, Ms. Robinson stated in the e mail that she would call the parents of Child A and Child B on 7/25/22. 2 On 8/1/22, I conducted an unannounced, onsite inspection at the center. I observed the classroom where the incident occurred and watched the video of the incident from 1 pm to 1:30 pm. The video had no sound. The events on the video were as follows: At about 1 pm (nap time), I observed 8 children in classroom 111 with one staff member identified as Ms. Lowell. All the children were settled in their cots. Ms. Lowell was the staff member in the classroom supervising the children. There was no movement in the room except for Child A and Child B were not sleeping on their cots. Both the children were either sitting up on their cots or wiggling on their cots trying to sleep. Ms. Lowell pushed Child A's head down onto the cot aggressively, forcing him to sleep. She pulled a blanket from the floor (Child A's blanket) and threw it up in the air. The blanket settled on the toy shelf nearby. Ms. Lowell continued to sit on the floor with Child A. Child A wiggled and moved around the cot. It appears that Ms. Lowell yelled at him (lunged forward at him and said something), pulled him towards her while he was lying down on the cot and pushed him to the other side of the cot. Through-out the nap time, Ms. Lowell was looking at her phone. Child B was quietly sitting on her cot, but Ms. Lowell did not try to engage her with any activities or try to help her to sleep. There is no voice on the video, but Ms. Lowell's actions indicate that Ms. Lowell said something to Child A in an aggressive manner and pushed his blanket aggressively, while still on the phone. Child A and Child B were not showing any kind of aggressive behavior or inappropriate behavior; they were just struggling to sleep. Ms. Lowell tried to call somebody on the classroom phone. She continued to play with her cell phone and the tablet provided by the center for putting children's information for daily report. She was on the phone more than the tablet. Child B stood up on the cot and started jumping. She pulled her down aggressively and covered her with a blanket and tried to lie down beside her. However, both the children were awake and sitting on their cots. Child B reached out to the soft alphabet blocks and started to play with them. Ms. Lowell snatched it away from them and put it back in the bin. Ms. Lowell pointed a finger at Child A and appeared to yell at both Child A and Child B. Ms. Lowell forcefully pushed Child A from a sitting position to a sleeping position and 3 covered him with a blanket. Ms. Lowell forcefully pushed Child B from a standing position to a sleeping position while Child B was standing up to reach out to the play materials above her cot. Ms. Lowell opened the door, left the room for a few seconds and came back to yell at Child A and Child B. Ms. Lowell spoke to somebody in the hallway. Then Ms. Lowell closed the door. Child B started to throw the soft letters at Ms. Lowell. She picked up Child B with her arm and put her outside the room. Ms. Lowell picked up Child A with his one hand and took him outside into the hallway. Through- out the video, it appeared that Ms. Lowell was extremely frustrated and was very agitated. Even though the children did not show any inappropriate or violent behaviors, her reaction seemed rather extreme and inappropriate. There was one more child on the other side of the room that was moving a lot and was not sleeping

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R 400.8140 · 1 R 400.8140 Discipline. (2) All of the following means of punishment are prohibited: (a) Hitting, spanking, shaking, biting, pinching, or inflicting other forms of corporal punishment.

The staff used prohibited means of punishment when Ms. Lowell picked up Child A aggressively by his one arm and moved him outside into the hallway. Ms. Lowell pushed Child A's head down on the cot to make him sleep. Ms. Lowell pulled Child A towards her on the cot and pushed him to the other side of the cot. ..................................................................... ........ .......

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R 400.8158 · 1 R 400.8158 Incident, accident, injury, illness, death, fire reporting. (2) A licensee, licensee designee, or program director shall report to the child's parent and the department, directly or via phone, fax, or email, within 24 hours of the occurrence of any of the following: (b) An incident involving an allegation of inappropriate contact. C:

The incident with Child A and Child B occurred on 7/22/22 and it was reported to the department on 7/24/22. Ms. Robinson stated that she reported the incidents to the parents of Child A and Child B on 7/25/22.

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

The center did not provide appropriate care and supervision to Child A and Child B when Ms. Lowell was on her cell phone without engaging with the children that could not sleep, and she did not help them to sleep either. Ms. Lowell put Child A and Child B out in the hallway with no adult supervision.

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R 400.8188 · R 400.8188 Sleeping, resting, and supervision (14) Resting or sleeping areas must have adequate soft lighting to allow the child care staff member to access children.

On 02/11/2022 I received a phone call from program director, Stephanie Atwood. She called to report an incident that occurred at the center on 02/10/2022, Ms. Atwood stated that Child Care Staff Member Kayla Simpson left children unattended for approximately 30 minutes during naptime. On 02/14/2022 received a written incident report regarding the incident. On 02/16/2022 I conducted on announced onsite inspection. I interviewed Ms. Atwood, Ms. Simpson, and Child Care Staff Members Chelsea Mckeever (Lead GSRP, room 109) and Samina Hooks (Assistant GSRP, room 108). Ms. Atwood stated Ms. Simpson is a child care assistant. Ms. Simpson provides coverage when staff take breaks according to the schedule Ms. Atwood provides to her. The schedule is provided daily to staff. Ms. Atwood stated that there are changes to the break schedule from time to time and she notifies staff of changes through email, notes, and face to face communication. Ms. Atwood developed a break schedule and distributed it to staff via email on 2/10/2022. Ms. Simpson received the break schedule. Ms. Atwood said she worked in classroom 106 from 1 pm to 2 pm on 02/10/2022. She recalled that Ms. Simpson came into room 106 and informed her that she was having personal problems and was unable to work during after care hours. Ms. Atwood asked her if she could finish out the day and Ms. Simpson confirmed she 3 could. Ms. Atwood stated that Ms. Simpson walked out of the classroom after their conversation. She was unaware that Ms. Simpson did not return to classroom 108. Ms. Atwood did not contact families regarding the incident. She met with management on 2/14/2022 and it was determined that the administrative team would inform families of the incident. As of 02/16/2022, parents had not been contacted. I interviewed Ms. Simpson. She indicated she worked Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6pm as a child care assistant and provides break coverage for classroom staff. She said she was assigned to break both staff members in room 108, from 1 pm to 2 pm on 02/10/2022. Ms. Simpson arrived in classroom 108. She recalled that the classroom did not have a lot of children at the time and that several children were still awake. As she walked in, Child Care Staff Member Amy Empey walked out. She told Ms. Simpson, "I am exhausted, I am leaving (for break)." She did not observe Ms. Hooks leave the classroom. Ms. Simpson recalled she did not get into room 108 until after 1 pm. Ms. Simpson said sometimes Ms. Hooks and Ms. Empey will stay and help with children that need assistance at naptime. Ms. Hooks will lie down on the floor or on a bean bag beside children and rub their backs or talk with them to help them fall asleep. She did not realize that Ms. Hooks was not in the classroom. Ms. Simpson stated she felt very flustered and had personal issues that bothered her. She sat next to Child A. He struggled to settle down. He fidgeted on his cot and had a toy in his mouth. Child A would not spit out the toy when she asked, so she used her finger to swoop the toy out. Once the toy was dislodged, she threw it across the floor in the room. That's when she realized she was losing her patience with the children and recognized she needed to calm herself down and refocus. Ms. Simpson said her plan was to step out of the room briefly, compose herself, then return to the classroom. However, once she stepped out of the room, she felt very overwhelmed and went to find Ms. Atwood. She told Ms. Atwood that she felt she was not emotionally able to care for children and was not able to provide care in the late afternoon, during after care hours (3 pm to 6 pm). Ms. Atwood stated she could take a leave of absence from work, however she needed Ms. Simpson to provide coverage today. Ms. Simpson left classroom 106, still feeling overwhelmed and reeling from emotion. She thought she needed a minute to think and looked for a place to be alone. As she walked towards the back office, she observed Ms. Mckeever sit

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R400.8158 · R400.8158 Incident, accident, injury, illness, death, and fire reporting. (2) A licensee, licensee designee, or program director shall report to the child's parents and the department, directly or via phone, fax, or email, within 24 hours of the occurrence of any of the following: (a) A child is lost of left unsupervised.

The licensee designee or program director did not report to children's parents that children were left unsupervised within 24 hours of the incident. Ms. Atwood did not contact families regarding the incident. She met with management on 2/14/2022 and it was determined that a letter would be sent out to families by the administrative team. On 02/16/2022, I was informed that parents had not been contacted. The incident occurred on 02/10/2022. On 04/13/2022, Ms. Gentry stated parents were not informed of the incident by the center. She said a miscommunication between staff occurred, which resulted in the parents not being contacted.

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