National News
Lax enforcement by state of background checks on child care workers, auditors find
July 05, 2016 posted by Steve Brownstein
The State Department of Education hasn’t been doing enough to make sure Maryland child care workers have the required criminal background checks, and sometimes missed following up on criminal alerts for those workers, state auditors found. The department disputed some of the findings, but the auditors held their ground.
The audit report released Tuesday also called for more checks to secure a system that processes $81 million in child care subsidies. Auditors found that former employees still had access to the system and current employees could access functions without any oversight.
Auditors found much to criticize in the department's financial dealings. (See separate story.)
In a repeat recommendation, the Office of Legislative Audits suggested the education department (MSDE) do more to ensure that all child care employees are recorded in the state’s system so they undergo required criminal background checks and subsequent criminal monitoring.
MSDE licenses child care facilities and in-home child care providers around the state.
Workers in the Child Care Administration Tracking System (CCATS) undergo the initial criminal background check and subsequent criminal alerts. During its annual unannounced inspection visits to child care facilities, the audit said MSDE should compare the names of employees listed in payroll records with the employees listed in the tracking system so that the state knows all employees are in the system.
A test of nine child care facility workers recorded in the CCATS system found no evidence that two employees had undergone the initial required background check, even though they were hired six and 30 months prior to the test. Files indicated that in the case of a third employee (out of nine in the test), the state had reviewed the background check, but there was no documentation to show that had happened.
