ACF finds gaps in childcare‑check reporting; DCYF outlines steps to post inspection results and corrective action

The federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) identified compliance issues during on‑site monitoring of Washington’s Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) consumer‑education requirements, and DCYF licensing staff outlined steps to bring the state into compliance.

Why it matters: ACF requires states to post inspection/monitoring reports, complaints, injuries and corrective actions for licensed providers in plain language and to make at least three years of records available on a consumer website. ACF’s finding cited absent reports from the pandemic period, incomplete complaint documentation in some reports, and situations where injuries appeared on no public record because no licensing standard was violated.

Matt Judge, DCYF’s federal initiatives administrator, said ACF noted four core issues: missing reports from the pandemic, inspection reports that omit the reason for complaints, the absence of publicly posted incident details (injuries/fatalities) even when no WAC violation occurred, and missing documentation of corrective actions after noncompliance findings.

Licensing product staff said DCYF will prioritize achieving 100% inspection coverage (annual unannounced inspections) to ensure the historical record is complete. The department also convened an internal work group to propose compliance solutions and expects to present a compliance plan to ACF for review this fall.

Michelle Stimpilo, product owner for WA Compass (the licensing and provider portal system), demonstrated planned changes to the inspection‑report layout that will make licensor observations easier to read and reduce duplicated or confusing entries. Under the update (scheduled to roll out by the end of the year), each regulatory citation will show a single associated observation rather than grouping multiple unrelated observations under a single WAC entry; items corrected on‑site will be clearly marked. The online Child Care Check version omits “first‑time forgiveness” items and removes signatures before posting to the public website.

Providers raised concerns that some reports list technical assistance and observations in ways that insurers have read as punitive and that similar issues (for example, one staff training lapse cited across multiple WACs) create long, confusing reports. DCYF licensing staff acknowledged inconsistent documentation and said they are building refresher training for licensors and streamlining checklists to emphasize core health‑and‑safety items.

Ending: DCYF said it will return with progress updates and that initial checklist and report changes will be shared with provider groups before public rollout. Licensing staff emphasized the priority is completing all required inspections and making corrective‑action communication more consistent.