Q&A for How to Report Daycare Violations

To report a child safety issue in the US, contact 1-800-422-4453 or 1-800-4ACHILD. You can also call the police if it is urgent.

Have you talked with the child care provider? If that is unsuccessful, you can report it to the agency who licenses child care facilities. The agency should be able to help you with your issue.

Yes, as this is probably not allowed. Follow the correct steps, though. First, talk to the director about this, informally: "Hey, I think I saw you drinking the other day on the playground, that's not very appropriate." Follow it up with an email to create a paper trail: "Thanks for the little chat today, these are the points we discussed." If that doesn't work, talk to the director more sternly: "I already let you know I feel this is unacceptable." Next, file a formal complaint, and persist until the behavior stops.

You can report a daycare violation to the proper authorities, depending on severity. If the case is not very serious, then you could report it to the manager or whoever is in charge/runs the daycare. If the case is more severe, you can always report it to the local police dept. As always, if there are issues with the manager of the daycare, you can still go to the local police department to report the daycare manager and the issue you had with the daycare before telling the manager about the issue you had at the daycare. More help is offered in the steps above.

Yes, employees are also responsible for violations.

If this is the only mistake they ever made, I would not suddenly change my entire opinion or trust base of them from just this incident. Think back to their previous track record and take that into account before you decide; i.e. if in the last 99 days they never once lost this inhaler, then it's only once in 100, or 1%. Sure, it's bad, careless too, and could perhaps have had serious consequences. But instead of going all in immediately, I would firmly let them know this cannot happen again, making sure everyone understands the gravity of this. As to who exactly is to blame, that's a lot of investigative effort for little return, so I would let that go.

Regulations depend on the area in which you live. In the US, states regulate how many children can be cared for without a license, as well as how many children are allowed per attending adult in licensed daycare. Check your local laws, and report the daycare if they are out of compliance with regard to the number of children being cared for.

If you live in the United States (not including Puerto Rico, American Samoa or Guam) the best way is to go through the FTC's complaint assistant which can be found here: ftc.gov/complaint

Rudeness is not illegal. It's merely rude. Forget about it. The pen is another matter. If you have a second witness, you could go to local authorities and see what they say.

The company has rules and regulations for a reason, to protect their employees. There are laws to protect whistle blowers. Your name shouldn’t even be mentioned the the other employee, your superior can’t just go to the one you’re reporting and say that you’re the one who reported them. However, if you’re scared of getting in trouble, then talk to a lawyer.

That yelling and getting defensive is choosing right over flight. I think that based off what you said, it means the teacher is definitely doing something sketchy and wrong. I would first make sure I have all the information from my daughter and try to treat her wounds. If this keeps happening I would seem help from the police. This is a big thing and there is no time for hesitation.

Yes. If your child's daycare or babysitter is dirty or the daycare room is dirty than you have every right to report that. It's your child's safety and health, so don't be hesitant to report these things.

Check the "Contact Us" section of the daycare's website for telephone and email options. If the daycare doesn't have a web presence, you should be able to find the phone number via a Google search.

At fault for what? If they are unaware of the policies and unknowingly violate the policies, then they are not at fault. However, if they knew that what they were doing was against the policy, then they are to blame. Also, there are basic standards everyone caring for children would be expected to know regardless of policies in place. Talk to your lawyer if you have an issue.

It depends on what the violation is. If a teacher is criminally charged with child abuse or neglect, then that can result in a sentence of incarceration according to your state's statutes. However, if the violation is from an accrediting agency or a civil offense (i.e. a lawsuit by a person or an accrediting agency for something such as willful negligence or violation of a civil statute) then the person being accused would not be able to be jailed; they would only be able to be issued a fine and/or monetary damages.

You can try to find a babysitter to leave the child with all day when the daycare has an appointment that day. If the daycare demands money for the day they didn't watch the children, tell them that you pay for the days the child is cared for but not the days the daycare is unavailable as you pay to get a service and when it's not provided, then you don't pay. Infrequent days of unavailability for training the carers are fine but weekly days off is not okay and is not a proper way to run a business. If they don't agree with you or you find it too hard to juggle the unavailability, remove your child out of that daycare and place them in another one or leave them with a babysitter/stay-at-home relative until a place becomes free elsewhere.

Walk in and ask for the number directly or ask to see the manager. You have a right to put your case forward and to ask exactly why you weren't told earlier about this behaviour and what the usual protocol for treating such issues is. Unenrolling a child just like that, without warning, is not okay and appears to be a preemptive action to stop you from talking to the owner of the daycare. Keep asking until you get the opportunity to speak with the owner and put your case.

Yes, teachers have a legal responsibility to report child abuse. If they fail to, they could get a fine or unpaid leave.

Yes, that is a very serious matter. You need to report this daycare right away (and sue, if you have the funds).

It depends. Sometimes pre-k children need assistance with wiping, and the only way they know how is to do this. If they are doing it to "examine" the cleanliness of the kids after using the restroom, then that is inappropriate. If it If they are doing it as punishment, then that is illegal.