Office of Children and Family Services

New York City Day Care Complaints (Follow-Up Report)

Child care providers in New York City are regulated by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The Department’s regulation of the providers is overseen by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). As part of its regulation, the Department is expected to investigate and resolve complaints regarding possible health or safety violations.

In audit 2005-S-40, we examined the adequacy of OCFS’s oversight of the Department’s complaint resolution process and found that improvements were needed. For example, nearly one-third of the complaints in our sample were not properly classified with respect to their severity and half were not investigated within the required timeframes. We also determined that the statewide toll-free telephone number established by OCFS for day care complaints was not staffed during evenings or weekends. We recommended that a number of actions be taken by OCFS to improve the complaint resolution process for child day care in New York City. When we followed up on these matters with OCFS officials, we found that they had made some progress in implementing our audit recommendations, but additional actions were still needed.

For a complete copy of Report 2008-F-5 click here.