Is your child safe in Valley child-care centers?

RELATED: Rating the Valley's child care centers

By Marc Kovac, Ashley Luthern and Grace Wyler

news@vindy.com

When a state inspector visited Youngstown’s Jump Start Child Development Center in early 2008, she watched as an infant, left

unattended, fell head-first to the floor.

A year later, the inspector found mouse feces in a children’s bathroom, a jagged metal floor strip, uncovered electric outlets and numerous other safety violations.

These weren’t the only times the state identified violations at the center. Since late 2006, Jump Start has been cited for repeatedly violating licensing rules, including failing to conduct criminal background checks on employees working with children and numerous safety issues.

Licensed child-care centers in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties have been cited nearly 3,200 times during the past two years for violating state rules aimed at keeping youngsters safe.

An analysis by The Vindicator of the inspection database compiled by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services — the state agency responsible for centers — revealed 190 full-time centers in the Mahoning Valley area averaged about five violations per visit.

That’s a number that’s in line with inspections statewide, and 11 area centers completed the inspection process over the past two years without any citations.

More than 200 violations at other centers, however, were deemed serious infractions by inspectors, the types of violations that would put children most at risk, such as failing to complete required criminal background checks on employees or neglecting to have required Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification records on site.

JUMP START

Of the 190 licensed child-care centers in the Mahoning Valley counties, Jump Start on Wick Avenue in Youngstown had the highest number of violations per inspection. It was cited 216 times during seven inspections, an average of about 31 per visit, more than five times the average among centers in the three counties.

With 24 red-flag citations, Jump Start has been the most repeated and serious violator in the tri-county area over the past two years, according to state records.

The center, which opened in 2002, is licensed to care for 74 children, including 12 infants and 24 toddlers.

It faced violations for unsafe or unsanitary conditions — an exposed electrical outlet hanging off a wall in a pre-school room, cleaning products and other hazardous products kept within reach of children, and diaper containers not emptied on a daily basis.

During one visit, the cleaning solution being used contained so much bleach, when “it spilled on [the inspector’s] jacket and pants, bleaching out the color immediately and had not been mixed fresh daily to ensure its potency,” according to documents.

During another inspection, a child-care staff member “left children unattended to go into the kitchen to check on the overflowing sink. The child-care staff member had one child in the office watching television and one child in the staff lounge eating.”

The center also has been cited for not having enough qualified staff to care for the children in its charge, for failing to complete required criminal background checks of employees and for neglecting to keep needed first-aid supplies on site. On one occasion, staff provided false criminal background results for an employee.

Janell Howell, a supervisor at Jump Start, attributed the center’s high number of violations to her hospitalization for lupus treatment. She said problems have been corrected.

One of the center’s major problems has been finding adequate staff members, Howell said, adding that it can take up to a month for employee background checks to be processed. The center often has to accept job applicants on their word in order to keep staff ratios at state-mandated levels, she said.

“Your providers can make or break you,” Howell said. “We don’t feel like we are being picked on [by inspectors], but you just hire people and you never know.”

Like most of the child-care centers contacted by The Vindicator, Howell said she understands the need for regulations and inspections. In fact, while Jump Start’s regular inspector is “strict,” Howell credited the vigilance for helping the center improve.

“If you have strict inspectors, they can only make your center better,” Howell said. “The rules and regulations are black and white, and it’s the inspector’s job to find where you are out of compliance.”

Still, in 2009, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services decided not to renew Jump Start’s license.

Jump Start has fought the decision, claiming it was denied the right to contest the state’s claims. The child-care center has remained open during the appeals process.

Howell said that she mistakenly believed ODJFS had dismissed the case. She said the center has corrected its violations and is now in compliance with the state’s requirements.

OTHER VIOLATORS

In addition to Jump Start, the state has red-flagged four other child-care centers in the tri-county area for nine or more serious violations over the past two years.

Of the four centers, only one, Happy Campers Learning Center on Midlothian Boulevard in Youngstown, spoke to The Vindicator.

In five inspections in the past two years, Happy Campers Day Care has had 68 violations, or an average of 13.6 per visit. In four inspections in 2009 and 2010, inspectors recorded 13 serious, or red-flag violations, such as missing background checks for employees.

“You have to strive for perfection,” said administrator Debbie Laswell.

Laswell spoke candidly about her responsibility for paperwork violations, noting that she had missed details such as dates on medical papers indicating a child needed an updated medical check-up.

Another red-flag violation was an aerosol glitter spray can in children’s reach, which Laswell said an employee brought in without her knowledge, but the can was disposed of as soon as the inspector pointed it out.

“I would say the inspection process is fair,” said Happy Campers owner Tracy L. Jordan. “We strive to be in compliance.”

She said the physical needs of the children come first at the center, even though she could spend between 25 and 30 hours each week on paperwork. Jordan added that children’s families also require a large part of her attention.

“Many of the moms here are single moms, so they come to you with personal problems, help looking for jobs and you become more than a day-care provider and more like a mentor,” she said.

Jordan said she learns from the write-ups and corrects the problem as soon as possible, often with the inspector still on site.

“Our doors are always open,” she said. “I tell our employees and volunteers don’t relax, stay on our toes and provide the best service we can.”