Statesman investigation spurs lawmakers to file 11 bills on child care safety

Feb. 07--Months after an American-Statesman investigation into dangerous conditions in some Texas child care centers, state legislators are proposing sweeping reforms aimed at improving safety.

At least 11 bills targeting a wide range of problems are in the works. One increases penalties for abuse and neglect of children. Another mandates inspections of currently unregulated day cares. Another requires cameras in child care classrooms.

Other proposals call for better reporting of child sexual abuse, providing parents with more information about day cares through an online database and creating a fund that would be used to produce safety training materials that would be free for child cares.

Gov. Greg Abbott is keeping an eye on the bills.

"Ensuring the safety and security of children in Texas' child care facilities is of the utmost importance to the governor," said Abbott spokesman John Wittman. "He looks forward to working with the Legislature and key stakeholders on these bills to find solutions to prevent any tragedies from occurring in the future."

The actions come two months after the Statesman published "Unwatched," a three-day, 12-part investigative series that found that nearly 90 children had died of abuse and neglect suffered in child cares since 2007, while another 450 were sexually abused. Though thousands of children have been injured, lax oversight has allowed hundreds of day cares with scores of violations to continue operating without serious consequences.

Texas child care inspectors are often hamstrung when it comes to disciplining day care facilities, and, in some cases, the state's enforcement strategy has failed to correct dangerous caregiver behavior before injury or death. Usually, there are no financial penalties or extra training ordered when children are abused, neglected or wrongly punished. And the legislatively-set fines that are levied -- mainly for background checks -- are paltry, averaging $112, even as day cares with scores of violations are allowed to continue operating.

Senate Bill 568 by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, takes aim at those enforcement problems. Under her proposal, child care facilities would pay $1,000 for each abuse, neglect or exploitation violation; $500 for failure to report to a parent or guardian or the state Health and Human Services Commission child had an injury or illness that required medical care by a professional; and $50 for failing to tell parents about an abuse or neglect finding.

Huffman also wants to give the Health and Human Services Commission the power to place restrictions or special conditions on child cares that have shown a pattern of violations.

"I filed these child care bills because the safety of our children is paramount," she said. "In less than two years, nearly 5,000 children were injured in child care facilities, and of those incidents, more than 800 of them were serious injuries. That is simply unacceptable."

Senate Bill 569 by Huffman tackles listed family homes, which are day cares that watch up to three unrelated children. Currently, those facilities are not inspected, do not have to meet any minimum health and safety standards and are not required to carry liability insurance.

Under Huffman's bill, all those things would change. If passed, her legislation would require the state to adopt minimum health and safety standards for listed homes. They would have to be inspected at least every three years and carry at least $300,000 in liability insurance.

Huffman also proposes forcing day cares to inform parents any time they are cited for a sleep violation, such as putting a baby to sleep on his or her belly. The regulation is modeled after one in Colorado, which eliminated day care sleep deaths after imposing a similar rule.

"Because child care is already unaffordable for many families, I took that to heart when crafting these bills," Huffman said. "I do not believe that any child care facility or home can legitimately raise tuition prices based on the components of these bills. I am hopeful these bills would immediately start addressing these appalling acts against our most vulnerable population."

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, has at least four bills in the works. His proposals include requiring child cares to notify parents of sexual abuse allegations; increasing financial penalties for violations of state standards; requiring training and site visits for listed day cares; and requiring more details about a day care's violations be placed on the state website.

Watson also backs the idea of cameras in day care classrooms. The senator has teamed up with Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, who has filed her own such bill in the House.

"My hope is that these bills will provide parents some peace of mind," Watson said. "By strengthening training, oversight and enforcement at child care facilities, we better assure parents that their children will be safe when they go to day care. And by improving transparency, we can give them the information they need to make the best decision for their children."

In "Unwatched," the Statesman noted that Texas regulations for day care staffing levels -- a key predictor of classroom safety and child brain development -- are among the worst in the country, and state officials have repeatedly refused to change them. In 2016, they went so far as to pull out of a study analyzing the impact of staffing levels on injury rates, effectively shutting it down before researchers could produce specific recommendations, the Statesman reported.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Rep. John Raney, R-College Station, are carrying a bill that will require the agency to study the issue again and also make additional child safety data available more easily accessible for the public online.

"Protecting Texas children is and always will be my No. 1 priority," Raney said. "Creating a more efficient system to track day cares and the number of children they're responsible for, this bill will help us ensure there will be no more deaths at child care facilities."

Rep. James White, R-Hillister, said he was inspired to file House Bill 941 after reading the Statesman series. In his proposed legislation, a state database on child cares would be required to include information such as whether they had liability insurance and cameras. It would also require links to previous state investigations.

The Department of Family and Protective Services currently hosts a website that provides details on individual day cares, and White said the additional facts could be added to it.

"Reading through these gripping stories leads you to believe we need to respond in some way, but how do we respond and not have the heavy hand of government there?" he said.

Providing parents more information is a way to help them make good decisions, he said.

The Health and Human Services Commission has taken its own action in response to the newspaper's series.

Although nearly half of the abuse or neglect deaths happened in so-called illegal child cares -- day cares that operate without licenses -- the state in 2017 did away with a unit tasked specifically with finding them. After the newspaper inquired about the move, the Health and Human Services Commission asked state legislators to give them money to restore the unit.

House Bill 1431 by Rep. Bobby Guerra, D-Mission, would require the unit to be re-established.

"We are grateful that a spotlight has been shone on something that is so important for kids," said Melanie Rubin, director of the Dallas Early Education Alliance. "We are hopeful. We certainly think there is enough momentum from the community and support from our state legislators and hope leadership will ensure the safety of children in care."

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