New York City Department of Health

Monitoring of Child Day Care

The New York City Department of Health regulates day care providers in New York City. We examined the actions taken by the Department in responding to complaints about providers and in ensuring that employees are properly screened by day care centers. We found no system had been developed by the Department to account for the status of the complaints that were received. As a result, Department officials lacked assurance that all the complaints were appropriately addressed. In addition, complaints are supposed to be rated for urgency when they are received and investigated within the time frame established for that level of urgency. However, we found that some complaints were not rated when they were received, and many of the complaints that were rated were not investigated within the time frames established for their level of urgency. We also identified several day care employees who may not have been properly screened before they were hired, and determined that unlicensed day centers may be allowed to continue operation for extended periods. We recommended that certain improvements be made in Department practices for monitoring day care providers.

For a complete copy of Report 2000-N-20 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.