Lack of discipline continued

At right: "Our job is not necessarily to put people out of business," says Jim Chaplin, state supervisor of day-care licensing for the Department of Human Services. "Our job is to get people in compliance with rules." Staff photo by John Ewing

Day-care distinctions; Maine regulations vary

DHS' licensing division has seen its role as supporting day-care providers - not acting as a policing agency.

''Our job is not neccessarily to put people out of business,'' said Jim Chaplin, the state supervisor. ''Our job is to get people into compliance with rules.''

Bright said day-care licensing was set up as a weak regulatory agency.

''The whole system that currently exists in the state of Maine puts the Department (of Human Services) in the weakest position. I think the system is designed that way.''

There are two main types of day-care operations in Maine: centers and homes.

Day-care centers, under Maine law, care for 13 or more children. Some larger centers care for well over 100 children. There are about 460 centers in the state, caring for approximately 18,000 children.

All centers must be licensed and are supposed to be inspected annually by DHS licensing workers. They also must pass fire inspections and meet certain minimum conditions, such as letting children play outside each day and keeping inside temperatures at certain levels.

For day-care homes, a regulatory system was set up that allowed providers to pick the level of scrutiny they receive.

Day-care homes can either be licensed or ''registered.'' Licensed homes must meet rules similar to those applied to centers, and must be inspected annually. There are about 1,200 licensed homes and small day-care facilities in Maine. They care for about 11,700 children.

There also are about 1,300 registered day-care homes - caring for 15,000 children - that are largely unregulated.

The owners only have to pass a fire inspection, a criminal background check and a test for tuberculosis. They have no standards to comply with. The state generally visits them only if a complaint is filed.

In addition to day-care providers, Maine has about 280 nursery schools. Again, the schools are not inspected, but licensing workers will respond to complaints.

Finally, there are a large number of unlicensed day-care providers operating both legally and illegally. State law allows people to care for up to two unrelated children without state permission. State officials estimate at least 50,000 children are in unregulated care.

Such operations are potentially the most dangerous because unlicensed providers are an unknown quantity. There are no background criminal checks or state inspections.

Maine is moving into a new regulatory system in July under which all state-regulated home day-care providers will meet the same set of standards. It will take a couple of years for the existing system to be phased out.

It is DHS' job to oversee day-care operators that have state permission to operate - and who often advertise the fact they are licensed or registered.

Concannon says parents have the right to expect their children will not be abused or neglected in day care.

Yet the agency has failed to take steps that would help ensure Maine's day-care system meets that standard.

Janet McDougal's day-care home is a prime example.

Long delay spans findings, DHS action

Four months later, on Dec. 19, 1994, a state investigator filed a report confirming McDougal's son had sexually abused a child, but not a day-care child.

The investigation also showed that McDougal had left members of her family - including the son charged with sexual abuse - in charge of day-care children.

No action was taken.

Four months passed.

State records show that on April 26, 1995, a day-care licensing inspector advised McDougal to keep the day-care children ''within her visual range while playing out of doors'' and not to let children play in the woods any longer.

On May 3, 1995, a police officer called the Department of Human Services to report that a child alleged she was sexually abused at McDougal's day-care home in April 1994.

On May 12, 1995 - nine months after the state was alerted by the physician that McDougal's son may have sexually abused a child - a police officer called DHS and reported that McDougal's son had confessed to sexually abusing several day-care children.

That same day, DHS mailed a letter to McDougal stating that the department had decided to reject her application to renew her day-care registration. She had applied for renewal 10 months earlier - in July 1994.

McDougal says the state offered to let her keep the day-care operation open. ''They said if my son was not in the home, I could continue day care. But I would not continue day care because it is a small town and everybody knew.''

Plus, McDougal said she had no interest in providing day care after what had happened.

A state investigative report filed on Sept. 6, 1995, concluded that McDougal ''failed to provide adequate supervision in her day care as evidence by her son being able to sexually molest seven children . . . some of which were molested repeatedly . . . over a two- to three-year period.''

Juvenile court records show McDougal's son pleaded guilty in September 1995 to four counts of gross sexual assault and three counts of unlawful sexual contact involving four children. He was committed to the Maine Youth Center until age 21.

Court records show he turned 21 on May 3, 1998.

Chaplin, the director of day-care licensing, said DHS should have taken action against McDougal earlier - especially after the December 1994 investigation found that her son had sexually abused a child.

''In hindsight it sure looks like something should have been done when we had that finding,'' he said.

McDougal said she was unaware at the time that her son was abusing children. She disagrees with the state's finding that she was not properly supervising the children.

''If you know anything about child molestation, which I didn't at the time . . . it can happen almost right under your nose and you don't even know it,'' she said.

''The last person a mother suspects is one of your children,'' McDougal said, adding that she also suffered because of what her son did. ''When they choose victims, the mother also becomes a victim.''

Continued....