• Violation

  MCL 722.115m j Child care center, group child care home, or family child care home; requirements for licensure. (2) ... Except as otherwise provided in this subsection and sections 5q and 5r, if the department is satisfied as to the need for a child care center, group child care home, or family child care home, as to its financial stability, and that the service, facility, applicant, licensee, child care staff member, or member of the household is conducive to the welfare of the children, the department shall issue or renew the child care center, group child care home, or family child care home license. If the department determines that a service, facility, applicant, licensee, child care staff member, or member of the household is not conducive to the welfare of the children, the department shall deny that application or revoke that licensee's license according to section 11.

  On 02/24/2021 I received a Special Investigation Intake for Jennifer Ruwersma's child care facility, stating that Ms. Ruwersma would like to hire Elizabeth Lingeman as a child care staff member. Ms. Lingeman must be assessed for conducive to the welfare of children, as she is currently ineligible. Her ineligibility is due to past disciplinary action taken by the Department against Ms. Lingeman's child care facility due to non-compliance with a special investigation in 2017. Elizabeth Lingeman was issued group child care license Error! Reference source not found. in July 2011. On October 25, 2017, Licensing Consultant Donald Vita completed Special Investigation Report (SIR) 2017D0789019. The report documents that between 09/22/17-10/02/17 (during the course of the open investigation), Mr. Vita attempted four contacts with Ms. Lingeman, which she did not respond to. Two of those attempted contacts were on-site inspections, one was a document sent, and one was a phone call. On 10/02/2017 Mr. Vita tried for a fifth contact and called Ms. Lingeman, and she called back that same day for an exit conference. The report also details that on 08/15/2017 two key witnesses were not home to be interviewed. Ms. Lingeman agreed to have them contact Mr. Vita. The report indicates that on 10/02/2017 when Mr. Vita spoke with her on the phone, Ms. Lingeman said she closed the child care on 09/25/2017 and no longer lived in the home. Mr. Vita told her that the two witnesses had still not contacted him and asked for their contact information. She said she would text it to him. As of 10/25/2017, the date of the finished signed report, she still had not sent the requested information. Mr. Vita cited violations R400.1903, for failure to report to the department of changes in the household composition, and R400.1910, for not maintaining the required caregiver to child ratio. Mr. Vita's recommendation at the conclusion of the SIR was for Ms. Lingeman to submit an acceptable corrective action plan to show compliance, and no change to the license status would occur. The report stated, "Failure to submit an acceptable corrective action plan will result in disciplinary action." On December 1, 2017, Mr. Vita sent a letter to Ms. Lingeman, informing her that she had yet to submit the corrective action plan. Mr. Vita informed her in the letter that she had "5 working days from receipt of this letter to submit a corrective action plan regarding the violation of each rule listed in the report. Failure to submit an acceptable corrective action plan may result in disciplinary action." Mr. Vita called Ms. Lingeman on 12/01/2017 and 01/05/2018 but could not reach her. On January 12, 2018, Mr. Vita forwarded another letter to Ms. Lingeman which stated, "because you have not responded to multiple requests for the CAP, I recommend the revocation of your child care group home license." A Notice of Intent (NOI) was sent to Ms. Lingeman on 01/15/2018. The NOI included instructions for Ms. Lingeman on how to appeal the revocation of the license. Ms. Lingeman did not appeal and did not correspond again with the Department. The license was closed on 01/30/2018 through disciplinary action. On 03/01/2021 I corresponded with Mr. Vita over email. He stated that Ms. Lingeman "basically disappeared in the middle of the special investigation. She moved and changed phone numbers. Key witnesses were never located and 3 interviewed because of that. She did not provide information that she said she would provide. She requested closure in the middle of the investigation but "did not tell me it was because she was moving. She was advised she couldn't close [her license] until the investigation was closed." Mr. Vita stated that he advised Ms. Lingeman that failure to submit a corrective action plan could negatively affect her in the future. He said "she was not cooperative with the special investigation, and then disappeared." On 02/25/2021 I spoke with Ms. Ruwersma on the phone, to expla

Jennifer Ruwersma would like to hire Elizabeth Lingeman as a child care staff member. Ms. Lingeman is currently ineligible and an investigation is needed to determine if Ms. Lingeman is conducive to the welfare of children. 2

Disposition: Substantiated