Feds: Florida, Others Need Better Child Care Inspections

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— Federal inspectors found that Florida is not adequately enforcing its rules at child care facilities, discovering violations that exposed children to potential electrocution, poisoning and other injuries, according to two feder...
Feds: Florida, Others Need Better Child Care Inspections
Children from a Manhattan child-care center get a look at two Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs that were introduced at the Central Park Children's Zoo. Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Federal inspectors found that Florida is not adequately enforcing its rules at child care facilities, discovering violations that exposed children to potential electrocution, poisoning and other injuries, according to two federal reports released Friday to The Associated Press.

The Department of Health and Human Services reports are the latest in a series looking at how well states enforce their own rules governing child care centers. Out of 227 facilities inspected in nine states and Puerto Rico, only nine had no health or safety violations, the department found.

The inspected centers are believed to be representative of their state’s facilities and receive federal subsidies for low-income children, officials said. The U.S. government spends $5.4 billion annually subsidizing daycare.

“Child care affects everyone. It affects your kids, it affects my kids. My take away (from the reports) is we have got to do better,” said George Nedder, acting deputy regional inspector general at Health and Human Services.

In Florida, which Nedder said had typical reports, the department’s inspectors found the state is not adequately enforcing its own regulations governing the more than 9,000 child care businesses that receive federal subsidies. Most operations also take higher-income children who don’t receive subsidies. The state’s Office of Early Learning oversees the subsidy program and the Department of Children and Families handles licensing and inspections.

First Lady Michelle Obama during a visit to La Petite Academy childcare center in Bowie, Maryland on February 27, 2014, as part of the Let's Move! Campaign. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
First Lady Michelle Obama during a visit to La Petite Academy childcare center in Bowie, Maryland on February 27, 2014, as part of the Let's Move! Campaign. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images