Finding: The Department of Children, Youth, and Families did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with health and safety requirements for the Child Care and Development Fund program. Questioned Costs: Assistance Listing # 93.575 93.575 COVID-19 93.596 Amount $412 Sta...
Finding: The Department of Children, Youth, and Families did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with health and safety requirements for the Child Care and Development Fund program. Questioned Costs: Assistance Listing # 93.575 93.575 COVID-19 93.596 Amount $412 Status: Corrective action in progress Corrective Action: The Department is strongly committed to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of all children in care. The Department concurs with the finding and has taken the following actions: ? In September 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department obtained grantor?s approval to revise the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) State Plan to waive the annual unannounced monitoring requirement and allowing for virtual monitoring, through September 30, 2021, but some providers were unable to participate in the virtual process resulting in monitoring visits not being conducted during state fiscal year 2022. ? In the fall of 2022, to address staff turnover issues, the Department began recruiting new staff and providing training on child care licensing rules and regulations. This included adding a new position in November 2022 to assist supervisors with onboarding and training new staff hired during the audit period. ? The Department implemented a data driven, phased in approach, to return staff to in-person field work after the COVID-19 pandemic: o In July 2022, began authorizing staff, subject to pandemic related restrictions, to visit providers on-site to provide assistance with meeting health and safety requirements. o In the spring of 2023, prioritized monitoring visits to return to compliance with CCDF health and safety requirements. ? Established an overpayment for the questioned costs and referred to the Office of Financial Recovery for collection. ? For license-exempt family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) providers, the Department: o Requested approval from the Office of Child Care for a hybrid monitoring approach (in-person and virtual visits). o Dedicated staff resources to update WA Compass to include all health and safety requirements for FFNs and address data format issues. The Department will continue to strengthen internal controls as follows: For licensed providers: ? Continue to implement return to in-person field work by reducing pandemic level requirements. ? Prioritize new staff training to first focus on monitoring visits and health and safety requirements. ? Continue to track and monitor health and safety requirements with available tools until all WA Compass system development is completed. ? Create an in-training licensing position to assist staff recruitment efforts and add additional lead worker positions to assist supervisors with training and caseload management. ? Conduct a root cause analysis to determine other underlying causes for missed monitoring visits and untimely follow-ups, and how to address them. ? Examine ways to secure resources to add additional full-time staff to support caseload needs. For FFN providers: ? Continue to track and monitor FFN health and safety requirements with available tools until all WA Compass system development is completed. The conditions noted in this finding were previously reported in findings 2021-039, 2020-042, 2019-039, 2018-035, 2017-025, 2016-022 and 2015-024. Completion Date: Estimated July 2024 Agency Contact: Stefanie Niemela Audit Liaison PO Box 40970 Olympia, WA 98504-0970 (360) 725-4402 stefanie.niemela@dcyf.wa.gov