Maine Hires 16 Safety Investigators for Child Care Oversight
The state hired them to improve oversight on child care organizations, attempting to better comply with federal child care safety regulations.
The state of Maine's child care licensing office has used federal grants to hire 16 new safety investigators in an attempt to better comply with federal child care safety regulations, according to a article from the Bangor Daily News. The article also reported the state is moving toward completing more annual inspections that would "target poorer-performing facilities for up to four unannounced reviews per year." According to a report from Child Care Aware of America, Maine ranked 47th out of all states in regulations and oversight.
The state has hired 16 of 19 new positions, with three vacancies still open, bringing the number of safety investigators to 25. Those 25 safety investigators are responsible for the oversight of 1,300 family child care providers, 90 nursery schools, and 740 child care facilities. According to the article, the inspections completed by the state cover proper staff training, nutrition guidelines, building code compliance, and more.
In addition to performing routine inspections, the state follows up on complaints. There were roughly 250 complaints in Maine in 2013.