Happy Days Day Care & Preschool

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 August 30, 2023, I made an unannounced onsite inspection to the child care center. I discussed the allegations with the program director/licensee designee Ashley Shock. I viewed the shelf that Child A was climbing. The shelf is a free-standing book shelf, the shelf was 2ft. 10in. high and contained bins containing toys at the time of the incident. Ms. Shock explained the shelf was moved out of the classroom after Child A was injured. The child care staff members that were present at the time of the incident were Child Care Staff Member 1 (CCSM 1) and Child Care Staff Member 2 (CCSM 2). During the onsite on August 30, 2023, I interviewed CCSM 1. CCSM 1 stated that she was in the room at the time Child A climbed the shelf. CCSM1 stated that she was at the closet getting books out of a bin, she looked up and saw Child A pulling Legos out of a bin on the shelf, she saw him grabbing the top of the shelf and she yelled to CCSM 2, but by then Child A had already pulled the shelf over. CCSM 2 got to him first and took him out of the classroom to apply first aid and try to stop the bloody nose. 2 During the onsite inspection on August 30, 2024, I interviewed CCSM 2. CCSM 2 stated that at the time of the incident she was sitting on the floor with a group of child care children playing. She heard CCSM 1 yell and she looked up and saw Child A pulling up on the shelf and falling over. CCSM 1 stated she then jumped up and ran to Child A to make sure he was okay. She took him out of the room and cleaned up his bloody nose. During the onsite inspection I completed an onsite inspection with Ashley Shock. We discussed the rule violations and discussed the need to mount secure the shelves so that they would not fall over on the children when they are getting toys. On August 30, 2023. I reviewed the written incident report and Child Care Staff Members (CCSM) written statements. The incident report included correspondence from Child A’s Mother stating that he was behaving normally and being monitored at home. The medical discharge paper work stated that Child A had a bloody nose due to a facial injury and Child A could be given Tylenol for pain if needed.

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R 400.8173 · R 400.8173 Equipment. (4) Play equipment, materials, and furniture, must be all of the following: (b) Safe, clean, and in good repair.

The shelf was not properly anchored in the classroom providing a safety hazard.

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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 3/16/2022 I completed an unannounced on-site inspection at the child care center. I informed program director Ashley Shock of the allegations. Ms. Shock said Child A is a student who frequently does not let the child care staff members know right away when she needs to use the bathroom. Child A often waits too long to let child care staff members know, then soils her underwear before she can make it to the bathroom. Ms. Shock said the preschool children are provided with regularly scheduled bathroom breaks. The bathroom is located inside the preschool classroom, so children can go to the bathroom easily outside of regularly 2 scheduled bathroom breaks. Child care staff members do not go into the bathroom stall with children who are fully potty trained. Child care staff members help children who are just learning to use the toilet by themselves. If any child asks for help with wiping, child care staff members do not have a problem providing help. Sometimes, child care staff members do not realize a child has not wiped themselves properly until they smell an odor coming from the child. When that happens, child care staff members take the child to the bathroom to check the child's underwear. Child Care staff members help the child clean themselves, then change the child into clean underwear. The child care center's policy is that all children should have a clean set of clothing at the child care center at all times. If a child's parents forget to bring extra clothes, or if all the extra clothes are used up before more can be brought in, the child care center has extra clothing they can provide. As a last resort, if there are no other clean clothing available, a child care staff member will call a parent and ask them to bring clean clothing to the child care center. Ms. Shock said if Child A went home with feces-stained underwear, most likely the child care staff members did not realize Child A's underwear were stained because Child A didn't ask for help wiping or the stain was not bad enough to cause an odor for child care staff members to notice. Ms. Shock said she has never heard a child care staff member tell a child they are too busy to help the child clean up soiled underwear. Ms. Shock said if she heard a child care staff member say that to a child, Ms. Shock would address that as a concern with the child care staff member. I interviewed child care staff member Samantha Rubien. Ms. Rubien said she heard there was a time when Child A went home with soiling in her underwear. Ms. Rubien said she believes the soiling in Child A's underwear was a result of Child A not wiping properly and not asking child care staff members to help Child A if she had difficulty wiping herself completely. Ms. Rubien said when children are first potty-training, child care staff members monitor the children and coach them on how to wipe themselves completely. Once the children seem to have a handle on wiping themselves well, the child care staff members back off and give the children more independence and privacy, unless the children ask for help when needed. Ms. Rubien identified Child A as a child who was given more independence in wiping herself without assistance as a result of Child A appearing to have good wiping skills. Ms. Rubien said Ms. Shock communicated the concern about Child A having soiled underwear with the child care staff members. Ms. Shock addressed the concern and encouraged child care staff members to pay more attention to children wiping themselves and double check that children wipe themselves thoroughly. Ms. Rubien said she has never heard a child care staff member tell a child they are too busy to help the child clean up soiled clothing. Ms. Rubien said sometimes child care staff members must tell a child to give them a minute to complete one task before they can move on to the task of helping the child who requested assistance. Ms. Rubien has never heard a child care staff member refuse to help a child in any situation.

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R 400.8137 · 1 R 400.8137 Diapering; toileting. (10) Toilet learning or training must be planned cooperatively between the child's regular caregivers and the child's parent, so the toilet routine established is consistent between the center and the child's home.

On 3/16/2022 I completed an unannounced on-site inspection at the child care center. I informed program director Ashley Shock of the allegations. Ms. Shock said Child A has soiled her underwear on occasion at the child care center. The child care center has a general routine they follow for children who are potty training. The child care staff members provide the children who are potty training with regularly scheduled bathroom breaks to allow the children to get used to using the potty. Child care staff members encourage children to try going to the bathroom on the toilet and use verbal positive reinforcement when children use the toilet successfully. Child care staff members integrate special requests made by parents to keep potty training consistent between home and the child care center. If parents do not make a request for a special accommodation, the child care staff members use the general guidelines put in place at the child care center. Ms. Shock does not recall Child A's Mother to request any special accommodations for potty training Child A. Ms. Shock said she believes it is common for children to have more accidents at the child care center than at home. Children often get caught up in play with friends and forget to use the bathroom until it is too late resulting in soiling their underwear. I interviewed child care staff member Samantha Rubien. Ms. Rubien said the child care staff members provide regularly scheduled bathroom breaks and encourage children to use the toilet when children are first potty training. Child care staff members provide verbal praise when children are successful using the toilet. Ms. Rubien said child care staff members support family decisions for potty training if the family requests a schedule or type of reward that differs from that of the center. Ms. Rubien does not recall Child A having a special potty-training schedule requested by a parent. On 5/11/2022 I spoke to Child B's Mother by telephone. Child B's Mother said Child B was able to learn to potty train successfully with the daily schedule the child care center provides for children who are learning to use the toilet. Child B's Mother never requested special accommodations for Child B while potty training. Child B's Mother believes if she had requested anything special, the child care staff members would not hesitate to accommodate Child B's needs. Child B's Mother has heard other parents make request several accommodations and Child B's Mother believes the child care staff members did their best to meet the needs of the families. Child B's Mother said Child B had accidents at the child care center on occasion. Child B's Mother did not find this to be out of the ordinary for any child who is just learning to use the toilet. 5

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R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. ............................................. ....... .......... ... ......... (3) In each room orwell-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of child care staff members to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, must be as shown in Table 4: Age Child Care Staff Maximum Group Size member to Child Ratio a) Infants and 1 to 4 12 toddlers, birth until 30 months of age. b) Preschoolers, 1 to 8 16 30 months of age until 3 years of age c)Preschoolers, 1 to 10 30 3 years of age until 4 years of age d)Preschoolers, I to 12 36 4 years of age until school age e School-a ers I to 18 36 7 ..... .............................................

On 3/16/2022 I completed an unannounced on-site inspection at the child care center. I informed program director Ashley Shock of the allegations. Ms. Shock said recently she has had to shuffle kids and child care staff members to different classrooms more often than usual due to having less child care staff members employed right now. Despite the need to do more shuffling Ms. Shock said the classrooms are always in ratio. I interviewed child care staff member Samantha Rubien. Ms. Rubien said the child care staff members often have to shuffle themselves and children to various classrooms in order to maintain ratios. Child care staff members do this on days where they are short staffed or at the beginning or end of the day when they have less children. Ms. Rubien said she believes the classrooms always remain in the correct ratios. I observed all the classrooms. I found the 3-year-old classroom to contain ten children with one child care staff member. The required ratio for this age is one child care staff member to 10 children. I observed both toddler classrooms to each contain four children and one child care staff member. The required ratio for toddlers is one child care staff member to four children. I observed the infant room to contain two children and one child care staff member. The required ratio for infants is four children to one child care staff member. Therefore, during my unannounced inspection, all classrooms were within the required ratios. I reviewed attendance records from the previous week. I found all of the classrooms to be within the required ratios as stated above at all times. On 5/11/2022 I spoke to Child B's Mother by telephone. Child B's Mother said she believes the center has an appropriate number of child care staff members to children in all of the classrooms. Child B's Mother has heard child care staff members count children and staff members to make sure there are enough before allowing a child care staff member to leave for the day.

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

On April 22, 2021, I made an unannounced onsite inspection to the child care center. I spoke to the program director Ashley Shock and made her aware of the allegations in the complaint. Ms. Shock stated that she is unaware of any child care staff members being rough with the children. Ms. Shock said they talk to the children and verbally redirect them when necessary, however they do not use any physical discipline. During the onsite inspection I interviewed child care staff members Breanne Ditto and Samantha Rubien. I made Ms. Ditto and Ms. Rubien aware of the allegations in the complaint. Ms. Ditto and Ms. Rubien stated that they are never rough with the children and are unaware of any child current child care staff members being rough with the children. Ms. Rubien stated there was a previous child care staff member that she felt spoke roughly with the children back in October of 2020, however she only worked there a couple of weeks. 2 During the onsite inspection on April 22, 2021, I interviewed child care staff member Julie Cousino. Ms. Cousino stated that none of the child care staff members are rough with the children. They use verbal redirection and offer alternative activities for the children; they will also have child sit and calm down when they are upset. On December 3, 2021, I called Child B's Mother. Child B (male, age 6 years old) attends the childcare center. Child B's Mother stated that she loved the child care center, and the staff has been really good with her son.

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R 400.8330 · R 400.8330 Food services and nutrition generally. .................................... .... ...... (6) A center shall make water available to drink throughout the day to children 1 year of age and older.

On April 22, 2021, I made an unannounced onsite inspection to the child care center. I interviewed the program director Ashley Shock. At the time of the onsite inspection Ms. Shock stated that the children can have water whenever they want to have it. They have a water pitcher full of water and disposable cups that the children can use for water. Because of Covid-19 most of the children have their own water bottles accessible to them in the center. During the onsite inspection I observed both a water pitcher and disposable cups as well children with water bottles on the table near them. During the onsite inspection I interviewed child care staff member Julie Cousino in the preschool classroom. Ms. Cousino stated that the child children can have water anytime they want it, prior to Covid-19 she stated she kept the water pitcher and disposable cups where they could pour the water themselves, since Covid-19 she has started pouring the water for them when they ask for it to cut down on the number of people touching the water pitcher. During the onsite inspection on April 22, 2021, I interviewed child care staff members Breanne Ditto and Samantha Rubien. Ms. Ditto and Ms. Rubien stated that the child care children can have water whenever they like. Each child in their 3 classroom has a sippy cup for water that they can have whenever they are thirsty. During the inspection I viewed the sippy cups used for water. On December 3, 2021, I interviewed spoke to Child B's Mother. Child B's Mother stated that the child care children all have water bottles that they keep at the center. They have access to water all day and the staff wash the water bottles in the dishwasher at night. She has never had any concerns with the center.

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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 February 9, 2021 I along with viewed the child care center video surveillance from February 4, 2021. The classroom was observed to have twelve children with two child care staff members. During the onsite inspection on February 9, 2021 I interviewed Nicole Beard child care staff member. I asked her about the ratios on February 4, 2021. Ms. Beard reported they were short staffed that day and had twelve children with two child care staff members. I asked Ms. Beard the age of the youngest child that day, she reported the youngest was 4 months old. The school agers generally leave out of the toddler room around 9:00am; however, they were short staffed on February 4, 2021. On February 9, 2021 I discussed the ratio requirements with Ms. Shock. Ms. Shock acknowledged that the classroom was out of ratio, as they had a child care staff member unexpectedly call off that day. On February 9, 2021 I called the licensee, owner, and co-program director Tracy Debreczeny, I discussed my observations and concerns with the center continuing to be out of ratio and the infant safe sleep violations. Ms. Debreczeny, stated she and Ms. Shock have an staff meeting planned and will discuss these findings with the staff. Ms. Debreczeny further indicated that she has been working to hire people, however this has been a challenge.

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R 400.8140 · 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. (b) Placing any substances in a child's mouth, including but not limited to, soap, hot sauce, or vinegar. (c) Restricting a child's movement by binding or tying him or her. (d) Inflicting mental or emotional punishment, such as humiliating, shaming, or threatening a child. (e) Depriving a child of meals, snacks, rest, or necessary toilet use. (f) Excluding a child from outdoor play or other gross motor activities. (g) Excluding a child from daily learning experiences. (h) Confining a child in an enclosed area, such as a closet, locked room, box, or similar enclosure. (i) Time out must not be used for children under 3 years of age.

The child care staff members did not discipline Child A in an inappropriate manner.

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R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (7) If there are children of mixed ages in the same room or well-defined space, then the ratio and group size is determined by the age of the youngest child, unless each group of children is clearly separated and the appropriate child care staff member-to-child ratios and group sizes, if applicable, for each age group are maintained.

The child care center was out of ratio on February 4, 2021. They had twelve children of mixed ages in the same room with the youngest child being 4 months old with only two child care staff members. .............................................

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R400.176(6) · R400.176(6) Sleeping Equipment Car seats, infant seats, swings, bassinets, and play yards are not approved sleeping equipment.

The child care staff members allowed an infant to sleep in an infant seat.

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R400.8188(11) · R400.8188(11) Sleeping, resting, and supervision.

Child care staff members allowed an infant to sleep in an infant sleep and did not move the infant to an approved crib.

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MCL 722.120 Investigation, inspection, and examination of conditions, books, records, and reports; access by department, bureau of fire services, or local authorities; records; report; forms; confidentiality; disclosure of information; availability of confidential records; child information cards to be provided to department; failure of licensee to cooperate with investigation, inspection, or examination.

Ms. Shock cooperated with the investigation of the allegations and the child care staff members complied with wearing mask durina the inspection.

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R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (3) In each room or well-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of child care staff members to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, must be as shown in Table 4: Age Child Care Staff Maximum Group Size member to Child Ratio (a) Infants and toddlers, birth until 30 months 1 to 4 Maximum Group Size 12

At the time of inspection on January 26, 2021 the child care center had nineteen children of mixed ages in the classroom with only two child care staff members. The oldest was 7 years old and the youngest was an infant. The maximum group size based on the youngest child in the room was 12. Infant room was also out of ratio as there were five children resent with one child care staff member.

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R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (7) If there are children of mixed ages in the same room or well-defined space, then the ratio and group size is determined by the age of the youngest child, unless each group of children is clearly separated and the appropriate child care staff member-to-child ratios and group sizes, if applicable, for each age group are maintained.

At the time of inspection on January 26, 2021 the child care center had nineteen children of mixed ages in the classroom with only two child care staff members. The oldest was 7 years old and the youngest was an infant. The ratio for the classroom was 1:4 and the maximum group size was 12.

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