Looked up other providers to see their violations? Last night I was looking around on the licensed daycare site and wanted to see what are some of the violations. Most of them I was shocked that they were even still open. Many of them were the same violations over and over again. I think the biggest one was a center based program that had several violations on leaving kids in the van while out on field trips. Then a home one that sat a baby carrier in the road and a passing car almost hit it. They called the police and that is how it became reported on the site. Most were paperwork violations. A lot were equipment violations too. The crazy one was leaving bleach and Ajax on the bathroom sink. I'm sure there are worse ones. We only have two licensed providers in my city and 23 registered voluntarily. The city next to us have several dozen licensed so I found that interesting.

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Oh wow, those violations are pretty serious, especially leaving a baby carrier right in the road! And how do you leave kids in a van while on a field trip??
I have taken a peek but most of local providers' weren't all that scary. Last year I think all of us were spoken to because we didn't have permission slips in our folders about using sunscreen, and other topical lotions, etc. They were on a mission.

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Anyone heard from Vanessa Marina (MV) lately? She got a raw deal IMO. I hope she doesn't leave the childcare industry.

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I had been wondering what happened to her since she's a fellow CA provider. I'm so paranoid about licensing visiting, they've never come in the 2 years I've been open. I don't know her story though but now I'm curious if there's anything I can learn about from other people's experiences with licensing.

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It made for an interesting read. I couldn't believe what all I was reading. Some of the things were just crazy to get written up for. Like a plastic light cover on a motion light needing replaced. Some of it was background checks not being completed. I can see where someone might forget about that but then again with most of us having cell phones you can create a reminder.

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Since I am starting the licensing process I wanted to get an idea of what violations they give out to be aware of.

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Ours are public.

I am on the state DHS e-mail list so I am e-mailed the violation reports when they happen.

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I have looked before. Especially at my daycare psycho/girl who stole my info, she has violations for ratio, staff not having the proper training, dirtiness, and operating without a license along with a few other minor/paperwork ones.

I have one- dcm gave me of an immunization record that was missing half of the doctor's signature (got cut off by the photocopier). That violation will be there until July of this year, too. UGH!

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Sometimes I do. Most violations I find are just paperwork or ratio violations. Although I remember seeing one once where a staff member at a center admitted to dragging a child around by the ear, but was still being left alone with the children.

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In one of my ECE classes, we had to look up violations and after one, I just kept going and going. The most surprising was at a VERY well-known, franchised center.

During nap time, a father came in to pick up. While the lights were out, they directed him to his daughter. He realized after he got home, it wasn't his daughter! The center hadn't even noticed until he showed up with the child! I'm happy he brought her back,it could've been a true horror story.

Another one at the same center:
A teacher realized she was missing a child and after searching for her, calling the police and her parents, they found her in the bathroom.

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They definately caught my attention. I live in a major metropolitan area. It was a shock to see only two licensed and 23 voluntarily registered daycares in my city alone. There are hundreds upon hundreds of daycare ads on Craigslist every single day.

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I looked before my inspection to get an idea on what my inspector would focus on. What were the common things that were caught. Then I double checked those things.

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I almost laughed when I read this, even though it's NOT funny! In August I had a new 3 yo old girl start, sweet as pie little blond cutie. On her third day here, we brought all twelve kids inside from playing in the yard, took twelve pairs of shoes off, and lined six kids in the kitchen and six kids in the bathroom to wash up. When we all sat down for snack, there were only eleven kids! I realized it was my little blondie that we were missing, and started calling her name, then hollering her name, then screaming her name as we tore through the house. We checked under beds, in closets, behind doors, in showers, in boxes, under couches, everywhere! Eventually I assumed she had gone back outdoors and been snatched, so I called 911. The officers were so nice and kind to me when I found her as they were en route...in my couch cushions six feet away from all the other kids. I was near bawling, and she just popped up and said "You didn't find me!" Apparently her favorite game is hide and seek. Correction: was. Haven't played it since. One of my favorite kids now.

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NEAR bawling? I would have been sobbing my eyes out! I cannot keep my composure enough to not cry in a situation where I'm TERRIFIED! It just happens lol

I've never looked, I've heard the site exists, but I'm not even sure how to find it. But I would DEFINITELY like to see some in my area. I'm sure they're not pretty.

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I did before my initial inspection to see what they might be looking for. Most of them around here are paperwork related, having one child too many, or safety things like not having correct padding under playgrounds.

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You can use Wisconsin's child care search engine to find them:
http://childcarefinder.wisconsin.gov...sicSearch.aspx

Once you enter a search, it'll bring up a list of daycares that meet your search criteria. Then just click on one and scroll down to "Regulation Details"

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If you are anywhere near me, I know what you mean. Once upon a time, I went on Craigslist to get the going rate in the area. After seeing so many people offering childcare for anything under $100/week, I just knew these people weren't registered (in this area, you can't survive on that unless your ratio is 30:1 lol). What's even more shocking is the parents who send their children to these illegal daycares! Maybe they don't know any better

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I'm not too far south of you. I'm in the hampton roads area of Virginia so between Williamsburg and Virginia Beach. Oh I'm sure parents know better they just care about the cost.

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omg!!!!!!!

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OK, what???? How does the dad not realize that it's not his kid while putting the child in the car? What the heck?

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I agree, she did get a raw deal!

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I don't think we can look up licensing info here, but I may be wrong. I've never seen it anywhere. From what I understand anyone can call licensing and ask info on a specific provider.

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Yes. I've looked at mine and others in my area. I've done that every once in a while for years. I used to be personal friends with a few providers and have been at their houses. I know which ones of us do our jobs well and which ones of us don't. The online reports used to be quite accurate in my opinion. The ones of us that did our jobs well never had negative comments on our reports. Then we got a new supervisor. The ones of us who never had one bad comment, all of the sudden had 15 - 20 negative remarks! Every one of us!! I did notice that she reiterated herself on numerous of them. For instance, she'd say, 'dangerous substance' and ' area unsafe for children's use' for the same one problem so it would look like 2 different problems. She'd often list one problem 3 different ways. So if you had 3 things wrong, she'd list them 3 different ways so it looked like you had 9 different things wrong!

And the way they word things makes us sound like we have cocaine sitting on the daycare tables or something!

My personal kids had just come home from a trip to the ocean and put their little travel bottle of hair spray on the kitchen sink. My supervisor wrote that up as a 'dangerous substance'. I was like, that could be anything from hair spray to cocaine! I think they need to be more specific with their wording. Yes, I know hair spray can be dangerous for kids in they spray it in their eyes or ingest it. But you do see my point don't you? I think if the report said, 'hair spray on kitchen counter', parents would be less freaked out, but simply saying 'dangerous substance' makes a parent get really scared as to what that substance might have been.

And, in my defense, I have told my supervisor to take the kitchen off my license and make it not count as a daycare room (which would make it not be inspected) many, many times! She hasn't bothered taking it off yet. I finally gave up telling her to do so. My kids NEVER go into the kitchen.

I have had perfect inspections with nothing found to be wrong for 25 years. And I've had at least 5 different supervisors doing inspections throughout the years. This new one is completely absurd!

So, I know not to believe the comments she has put on everyone's inspection reports since she's replaced our old supervisor. But even though us providers know the woman is 'bulking up' the things she finds wrong, the parents don't know that about her. So when the parents check our reports, they must be scared to death to hire any of us.

Hmmm.... I have been telling you guys for a while now that many of us licensed daycare providers have been having a hard time getting kids. I wonder if that's part of the reason!

Another thing I am bothered by with the online reports is that they only show the supervisor's 'findings'. They don't show our responses to their 'findings'. Even though we can write our rebuttals on the reports. For example, I wrote that I had requested numerous times that the kitchen be excluded from my license as I do not use it for daycare, but she still hasn't removed the room from my license. I also stated that the 'dangerous substance' was a small travel sized container of hair spray. But there is no place for my statements to be put on the online reports. ...Imagine that!

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For the past several years, I've heard that violations will be available online for parents/public to check out. I've asked my licensors each time they've visited me. They all say it's coming but they're not sure when.

I think it would be interesting to see what violations others have been written up for so I can make sure I haven't missed something. It would also be nice to be able to gauge how well I'm doing compared to others in my area.

To me, though, it's kind of like having your yearly job review posted for all to see. I'm not sure I want everyone to see any little mistake I might make. There are times when I catch something like an unlocked cabinet that I usually have latched and think, "Wow! If my licensor had come in at that moment and seen that, she could have written me up for it." If it were listed online, any one looking at my record would see that and assume I'm not as safety conscious as I am. At least if the parent has to call and speak with my licensor, she knows me in a wider context and can explain to that person that this was an unusual thing for me and that I'm generally very careful about locking my cabinets, that I'm a very loving care provider, offer a lot of activities, etc...

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Violations are listed online here as well..most are for staff/ratio. I wonder how many violations you can get and still stay open because some providers obviously are never in compliance with staff/ratio BUT there are some violations listed like "no toilet paper" that is rediculous????? Maybe this was after several vists/observations???? I don't Know!!!!

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