2AAP, The Role of the Pediatrician in Youth Violence Prevention in Clinical Practice and at the Community Level, January 1999; in addition, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, From America's Front Line Against Crime: A School and Youth Violence Protection Plan, available online at http://www.fightcrime.org.reports.
3The Children of the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes Study Go to School Executive Summary, June 1999.
4Ten Critical Threats to America's Children: Warning Signs for the Next Millennium presented by The National League of Cities, National School Boards Association, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital and Youth Crime Watch of America, November 29, 1999.
5National Institute of Health and Human Development, Spring 1998 findings from the NICHD study of early child care, available from the NICHD's online clearing house at http://www.nichd.nih.gov.
6United States, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 1998 (Washington: Government Printing Office) 55.
7Testimony of Joe Willard, Jobs Policy Network, at DPW hearing on June 14, 1999.
8Building Blocks: A Legislators' Guide to Child Care Policy, December 1997.
9The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Child Care You Can Count On (Baltimore: 1999), online at http://www.aecf.org. The Annie E. Casey Foundation was established by-and named for the mother of-the founders of United Parcel Service and is not related to Pennsylvania Auditor General Robert P. Casey, Jr., and his family.
10Child Care You Can Count On, online.
1155 Pa. Code Sections 3270.1, 3280.1, 3290.1 (1999).
1255 Pa. Code Sections 3270.2, 3280.2, 3290.2 (1999).
1355 Pa. Code Sections 3270.2, 3280.2, 3290.2 (1999).
14See 55 Pa. Code Section 3270.1 et seq.
15See 55 Pa. Code Section 3280.1 et seq.
16See 55 Pa. Code Section 3290.1 et seq.
17In addition, DPW does not regulate care furnished in places of worship during religious services, care provided in a facility where the parent is present at all times during the time child care is being provided, and care provided during the hours of instruction in nonpublic schools and in private nursery schools and kindergartens.
18A breakdown of all four regional offices and the counties they serve is included in the appendices.
1923 Pa. C.S.A. Section 6311 (Supp. 1999).
2023 Pa. C.S.A. Section 6312 (Supp. 1999).
2123 Pa. C.S.A. Section 6303 (Supp. 1999).
22BCDCS's procedures also require it to encourage complainants to call ChildLine themselves immediately. However, we could not determine if this policy was followed. Other BCDCS procedures require that BCDCS act immediately in an "emergency," which is defined as including child abuse; however, as discussed in Conclusion 2, BCDCS has failed to comply with this policy. Furthermore, as discussed in this conclusion, BCDCS does not even consider certain categories of incidents to constitute child abuse.
23Physical punishment is prohibited by the regulations that govern all three types of child care facilities. 55 Pa. Code Sections 3270.113(b), 3280.113(b), and 3290.113(b) (1999).
24These assessments and timeframes are detailed in BCDCS Licensing Operations Memorandum #12 (Revised) dated August 30, 1996.
25For family day care homes for which no annual inspections are required - we reviewed 30 application files (at the applicable DPW regional offices) to determine if the required application data had been submitted, including a current certificate of registration, a completed and signed application, a state police criminal history check, a child abuse background check, a current signed health assessment form, and a current occupancy permit issued from the state Department of Labor and Industry. The results of our review showed no missing documents in any of the 30 case files that we reviewed, meaning that in those cases each regional office had ensured that application requirements were met.
26Initially, the report listed 2 and 13 facilities in the Central and Western regions, respectively, operating with expired licenses, but DPW regional directors subsequently determined that those facilities should not have been listed in the report.
27See 55 Pa. Code Section 3270.11(e) (1999) (child day care centers); 55 Pa. Code Section 3280.11(e) (1999) (group child day care homes).
28On the other hand, as noted later in Conclusion 5, the Southeast Region conducted half of its random sample inspections of family child day care homes on an announced basis.
29Fiene, Richard, Ph.D., Unannounced vs. Announced Licensing Inspections in Monitoring Child Care Programs (1996), Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), U.S. Department of Education, Dec. 1997.
30Some family child day care providers might request an inspection of their facility as a proactive measure to assure families that the facility has passed such inspection.
31The percentage was determined by DPW regional day care directors and licensing supervisors at an annual meeting.
32The 202 number assumes that the Northeast region (not covered in the licensing, inspection, and complaint portion of our audit) performed its five percent random inspections. Furthermore, the five percent number for 1999-2000 will be 216 of the 4,328 facilities.
33The Southeast Region conducted 50 percent of its random sample inspections of family child day care homes on an unannounced basis.
34DPW's regional offices (1) request that providers return their certificates of compliance, (2) write to providers to confirm closures, and (3) generate internal forms for use by licensing staff. Still, there is no separate on-site verification.
35When the facility did not renew its January 1996 registration certificate, DPW sent the facility a standard form letter stating it was no longer registered and that continued operation of caring for more than three children unrelated to the operator was illegal.
36The reports we obtained from DPW for our use in selecting the test sample did not indicate if a facility was closed voluntarily. We determined if closures were voluntary by reviewing documents maintained in provider files.
3755 Pennsylvania Code Section 20.54 (1996).
38The percentages of these provisionally licensed facilities based on each region's total number of facilities as of June 30, 1999, are Central Region-4.4 percent; Western Region-11.3 percent; Southeast Region-17.8 percent. Included in the numbers are facilities which received provisional licenses because they had not yet accepted children.
39Nalbert Chang, MD, MPH and George Sterne, MD and others, National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for out-of-home child care programs, 1992.
4029 Pa. Bulletin 271, 275 (Jan. 9, 1999) (discussion of public comments on proposed regulations and DPW's response).
4129 Pa. Bulletin 271, 275 (Jan. 9, 1999) (discussion of public comments on proposed regulations and DPW's response).
42The schedule is in the appendices.
43Information about the Berks County and Northampton County CCIS agencies is included in this report only as it pertains to our on-site visits to those two offices. In Chapter 1, when we discuss licensing, inspection, and complaint issues based on DPW files maintained at its Central, Southeast, and Western regional offices, information from the Berks County CCIS and the Northampton County CCIS is not included because they are in the Northeast Region.
44During our audit period, Philadelphia County was divided among five CCIS agencies.
45At the time of our audit, Pittsburgh had only one CCIS agency. Effective July 1, 1999, the region was divided and is now served by three CCIS agencies.
46Year-end financial data was reported in the next year's report.
47At the time of our audit, the eligibility was determined at 12-month intervals rather than the six-month interval now used.
48When we realized that the computer system's listing of cases was inaccurate, in some cases we had to take each list and reconcile each name with clients' individual files in order to verify that the client received child care subsidies.
4942 United States Code Annotated Section 9858c(c)(4)(A) (Supp. 1999).
5045 Code of Federal Regulations Section 98.43(b) (1998).
51See 63 Federal Register 39935, 39959 (July 24, 1998).
53Diana Pearce, Ph.D., University of Washington, "When Wages Aren't Enough II: How the Child Care Works Program Impacts Family Self-Sufficiency," September 1999.
54U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Access to Child Care for Low-Income Working Families," October 19, 1999.
55Preamble to 55 Pennsylvania Code Section 3040.27 et seq., at 5 (October 1, 1999).
56Results of these interviews were published in Watching Out for Children in Changing Times, a joint effort between the two groups to track how changing public policies are affecting children, families, and the agencies that serve them. This specific report is entitled "What 50 Families Have to Say: A Second Look at Welfare Reform."
57Coordination of outreach services is not unknown in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, for example, has distributed flyers advertising Pennsylvania's Tuition Account Program in driver's license and automotive renewal notices.
58The appendices contain a Family Day Care Homes Orientation outline and handout index that we received when we attended a family child day care home orientation session in the Southeast Region.
59We did not review any of these materials for the quality of information provided, but-as an example of topics addressed in one handout-we have included in the appendices a summary of the information in the DPW Southeast Region's A Day Care How To - Family Day Care Homes.
60Ridge Administration Increases Reimbursement Rates for Child-Care Providers, press release issued by the Department of Public Welfare through the Commonwealth News Bureau, October 28, 1999.