Some Louisiana Family Child Day Care Home Providers Did Not Always Comply With State Health and Safety Requirements

Providers in Louisiana who received Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) funds did not always comply with applicable State requirements on ensuring the health and safety of children in their care. Specifically, each of the 20 providers who we reviewed did not comply with at least 1 of the applicable registration requirements, and 7 providers did not comply with required criminal background checks. The State issued disqualification notices to eight providers after we notified them of our results. The Department of Children and Family Services' (State agency) oversight was not adequate to ensure that providers complied with State health and safety regulations.

We recommended that the State agency perform periodic onsite visits to providers to ensure compliance with registration and program requirements, including compliance with criminal background checks. The State agency described actions that it has taken to address our findings. The State agency also said that contractors monitor providers on site. However, the State agency did not provide any documentation to support that the monitoring covered health and safety requirements. In addition, the State agency said that it cannot implement our recommendation because the State is currently transitioning authority over CCDF to another State department. However, the State agency said that it would share the recommendation with the succeeding department.