Audit Report on the All My Children Daycare and Nursery School’s Screening of Personnel through the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This audit determined whether personnel working at the All My Children Daycare and Nursery School (All My Children) located at 317 Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn had been properly screened through the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR).  New York City Health Code §47.19 requires that all child care center employees and volunteers undergo an SCR clearance review prior to being appointed and every two years thereafter.

Child care centers provide essential services for many families, including education, recreation, and a safe and structured environment for children while their parents work.  All My Children operates an EarlyLearn NYC child care center for two to four year-old children at 317 Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn (and at nine other locations) under a contract with the New York City (City) Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

All My Children also operates a separate EarlyLearn NYC “family child care” network under the same contract with ACS.  The network encompasses a total of 96 licensed “family child care” providers in Brooklyn and Queens, which All My Children supports and monitors through personnel assigned to the 317 Rogers Avenue site.  Each provider in the “family child care” network is responsible for providing child care services in a home setting for up to 12 children who are six weeks to four years of age.  This audit focuses on the screening of personnel who work at the All My Children child care center located at 317 Rogers Avenue, including both the child care center employees and the network employees who support and monitor All My Children’s “family child care” providers.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

We reviewed the SCR-clearance status of 25 individuals who were working as employees at the All My Children’s child care center location at 317 Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn as of March 10, 2017, the date of our unannounced visit to the center[1].   We found that for two employees, All My Children did not obtain the most recently required SCR clearances on time; one clearance was late by eight days and the other by 24 days.  We also found that All My Children did not: (1) ensure that those employees or volunteers whose job functions require work across multiple sites have the central administrative office address on their SCR results; (2) prepare and maintain at each child care center appointment letters establishing the start dates for all of its new personnel (employees and volunteers) at the center; or (3) consistently maintain complete and readily-available personnel files at the child care center located at 317 Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn.

Audit Recommendations

To address these issues, the report makes a total of four recommendations, including that All My Children ensure that all of its personnel receive renewal SCR clearances within two years of their prior clearances, as required by the New York City Health Code, and that it maintain appointment letters for its new personnel.

Agency Response

In its written response, All My Children generally agreed with the audit’s four recommendations and stated that it is in the process of implementing them as part of its best practices.  The full text of All My Children’s response is included as an addendum to this report.

[1] All 25 individuals were employees of the center; no volunteers worked at the center on the day of our visit.