Audit Report on the Staten Island Mental Health Society’s Screening of Personnel through the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This audit determined whether personnel working at the Staten Island Mental Health Society (SIMHS) child care center located at 16 Osgood Avenue in Staten Island (16 Osgood) 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 (renewal clearances).

Child care centers provide essential services for many families, including education, recreation, and a safe and structured environment for children while their parents work.  SIMHS operates an EarlyLearn NYC child care center for three to four year-old children at 16 Osgood (and at three other locations) under a contract with the New York City (City) Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

At a different location in Staten Island, SIMHS operates the Elizabeth W. Pouch Center for Special People (Pouch) program, which provides various educational and therapeutic support services to children with special needs.  Pouch program services are also provided in two classrooms at 16 Osgood in collaboration with the EarlyLearn NYC program.  In those two EarlyLearn NYC classrooms, special needs children are integrated with their mainstream peers.  Finally, SIMHS maintains its headquarters elsewhere in Staten Island, where its human resources unit for all SIMHS personnel is located and the hiring of employees for the Pouch program is conducted.  This audit focuses on the screening of personnel who work at the SIMHS location at 16 Osgood, including EarlyLearn NYC and Pouch program employees and volunteers.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

We reviewed the SCR-clearance status of 35 individuals who were working at the SIMHS child care center at 16 Osgood as of February 2, 2017, the date of our unannounced visit to the center.  We found that for nine employees, SIMHS had obtained the most recently required SCR renewal clearances late by periods that ranged from four days to more than two years and four months (866 days).  In addition, for three individuals (one employee and two volunteers), SIMHS had not obtained the most recently required SCR renewal clearances at all.  As of the date of our visit, the three clearances were overdue by 19 days, 363 days, and 482 days (more than one year and three months), respectively.  SIMHS subsequently obtained the required SCR renewal clearances for the three individuals about a year after our visit.  For two employees whose SCR clearances were current as of our February 2, 2017 visit, we were unable to determine whether SIMHS had obtained them in a timely manner, because their personnel files did not contain evidence of the dates of their previous SCR clearances.

We also found other areas of concern, specifically that SIMHS did not: (1) ensure that it provides the correct current work address information to the SCR for all of its personnel; (2) prepare and maintain at each child care center location copies of appointment letters that establish the start dates for all of the new personnel (EarlyLearn NYC and Pouch program employees) at the location; and (3) obtain from the City Department for the Aging (DFTA), appointment documentation that establishes the start dates for any “foster grandparent volunteers” providing services at its child care centers.

Audit Recommendations

To address these issues, the report makes a total of four recommendations, including that SIMHS 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 copies of appointment letters for its new personnel.

Agency Response

In its written response, SIMHS agreed with the audit’s four recommendations and stated that it has already begun to implement them.  SIMHS also stated that it has developed a new tracking system to ensure that SCR clearances are renewed within two years of the prior clearance.  The full text of SIMHS’s response is included as an addendum to this report.