I thought about this too. I use a DBA (doing business as) so instead of the typical "Brown Family Child Care" I have my business name on my license. I couldn't even find myself and tried some other FCC provider friends DBA's as well and couldn't find them either.

Definetely should have a license number lookup. Actually I think that having a few options would be best. There should be options to look FCC up by provider name, facility name & license number. If you can call the licensing office and use all of those options to have them look up a facility then what's the difference?

As far as the address posting goes, I think that by default provider's addresses should not be posted. I'm one of those that doesn't freak out about having my address posted however I don't think that the choice should be taken from all FCC providers. I think if the provider is comfortable with having their address posted then that should be her choice and she can contact DSS and tell them. Large or small a home is a home.

I do however think that at minimum having the city that the provider lives in should be required. I looked up Perez Family Child Care and got 37 results statewide. Having to click on each to read the first name is way to complicated. I found 3 Maria Perez's 2 of which have the same Licensing Contact Office ... how are parents supposed to know which one is the right one?

I personally like the tabs. I don't however like the limited info that is posted on the site.

I have the feeling that the general consensus will be to not post violations that have been corrected however I don't think this is a good idea. What about providers that constantly get violations that they correct only to have another visit later and more violations? I think that the on-line reporting should be more detailed and include what type of violation and whether it was corrected. I would go even further than that (although I doubt they will take the time for it) to include why they got the violation.
For example:
Brown Family Child Care
Visit 07/19/2001 Type A Citation Over capacity Corrected
Visit 06/26/2004 Type A Citation Failure to maintain smoke detectors Corrected
etc.

This way a parent can check for themselves when they first became licensed, the type of violations they had, what the violation was for and the dates of the violations. Then they can look at a provider like the one above and might say "Oh, they got some violations during the first few years they opened but haven't had any more in 10 years". Why not? If a parent can call the office and get a copy of a site visit which has all of this info anyway then why not put this info on-line too? Heck put copies of the site visit for download. Our addresses aren't on there anyway so why not? Otherwise there's no point to the site because to get good info you have to call the office anyway.

I also think the whole system needs to be reworked and that a major overhaul is needed. Clear rules and regulations and a list of specific violations and attached fines are needed so that one provider in northern CA isn't getting a citation for something that a provider in southern CA isn't. We should have a CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS AND ISN'T OK.

The same applies for complaints. I'd want to know what the complaint was about and what the outcome was.

The whole process of having to cancel a license when we move or stop doing daycare for a while and then get a new license number for our new address or when we reapply for a license again needs to be changed. According to the website a provider that starts off as a small FCC and then upgrades to a Large FCC 10 years later and continues care for 5 years has been "licensed" for 5 years because her original license number does not follow her and the time clock "restarts" itself when you get a new facility number. Facility numbers should follow you when you move and remain your number even if you stop doing daycare and restart again.

Providers get complaints and then close down for a few years and then reapply years later and get a new facility number and start again with a "clean slate". As a parent, that's not cool. I want to know if the provider has been doing DC for a long time and if the provider has a history of violations or not.

These are just a few of my thoughts.

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