Vermont parents aren’t always told when their child’s daycare provider breaks safety rules because of inconsistent enforcement by regulators, the state’s auditor says.
An audit of the child care licensing arm of the Vermont Department for Children and Families found that state inspectors have been undercounting serious violations of safety regulations.
The problem stems from lacking enforcement guidelines for inspectors — but also a practice of granting leniency to child care providers that identify and report their lapses to the department, the audit released March 5 concluded.
When child care inspectors do not classify a safety lapse as a “serious violation,” the provider is not required to alert parents.
Inspectors issue relatively few citations for serious violations at Vermont child care centers: Just 131 of the 3,771 violations noted between 2022 and 2024 were classified as serious, according to the audit.
But the auditor’s office reviewed a sample of citations and determined that the number should be higher. Of 40 citations that the office reviewed, the auditor found 11 that should have been classified as serious violations and triggered parental notification.
Most of the problems related to inadequate child supervision or staffing. Serious violations can also include corporal punishment or inappropriate physical or sexual contact.
State regulators also have a practice of downgrading a serious violation in certain cases if the child care center reports it to the department voluntarily. Auditor Doug Hoffer said the practice doesn’t appear to comply with state law.
“I don't see why it's OK,” he said.
Inspectors do sometimes elect not to designate certain violations as “serious” if they were self-reported and corrected, said Janet McLaughlin, deputy commissioner of the Child Development Division. The practice ensures that more child care providers are willing to disclose their mistakes, she said.
“That gives us a much clearer sense of what's happening in the system,” McLaughlin said.
The department is already working to upgrade its enforcement software, which Hoffer characterized in an interview as a “mess.” McLaughlin said the improvements should help inspectors make more consistent decisions about how to classify violations.
The auditor’s report also highlighted a well-documented problem with the background check process for child care employees. It can take months in Vermont for mandatory checks to be completed, which hinders providers’ ability to bring on new employees, Jolie Frechette, lobbyist for the YMCA Alliance of Vermont, said.
"This is the second quarter of the 21st century. I don't get it."State Auditor Doug Hoffer
There are pinch points throughout the process: Paper forms are passed back and forth by mail, and the Vermont Crime Information Center takes about 30 business days to complete its screenings, director Jeffrey Wallin said.
The process takes a fraction of the time in New Hampshire and Maine. Hoffer is confounded by how far Vermont lags.
“This is the second quarter of the 21st century. I don't get it,” he said.
The Department for Children and Families recently received a $1 million federal grant that it’s using to help Wallin’s office overhaul the background check system. The state will seek a contractor for the work this spring.
In the meantime, the Department for Children and Families has allowed new hires to begin work under staff supervision before their background checks are complete.
The auditor’s report noted that the policy is out of step with federal law.
McLaughlin said the department conducts many parts of the background check process, such as sex offender registry checks, before clearing new hires to begin supervised work.
Without that option, the industry would struggle even more to hire sufficient staff.
“We also really need to make sure that people who are excited to work within the field are able to enter it in a timely fashion,” McLaughlin said.
